Skip to Main Content

Occult Aesthetics: Synchronization in Sound Film

Online ISBN:
9780199358816
Print ISBN:
9780199773497
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Occult Aesthetics: Synchronization in Sound Film

K.J. Donnelly
K.J. Donnelly

Reader in Film

University of Southampton
Find on
Published online:
16 April 2014
Published in print:
16 January 2014
Online ISBN:
9780199358816
Print ISBN:
9780199773497
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

Occult Aesthetics: Synchronization in Sound Film focuses on an often overlooked aspect of audiovisual culture that is crucial to the medium’s powerful illusions. This book examines the perceptual origins for audiovisual culture, as well as the technological basis of this psychological process. Concentrating on the connection between sound and image, it contends that attending to the musicality of film soundtracks can unlock the veiled ‘occult’ psychology invoked by the hidden marriage of the two. Most writing about film has abided by the illusionist perspective that considers it fundamentally as a representation of the world and often assumes that it is in essence visual. Approaching audiovisual culture from a more abstract than representational perspective removes the overly familiar aspects that have militated against sustained theorization of sound in films, and the notion of sound cinema more generally. The locking together of audio and visual exerts a synergetic effect: a secret and esoteric effect that can dissipate in the face of an awareness of its existence. This book focuses on the hidden and compulsive form of aesthetics that synchronizes sound and image into a seeming coherent whole that is massively absorbing and emotionally affecting. It concentrates mainly on mainstream films and includes analysis of instances of asynchrony and ambiguous synchronization, illustrating how far films vary the momentary relationship between sound and image matching. Occult Aesthetics marks a notable intervention in writing about audiovisual culture as the first dedicated study of the aesthetics of sound and image synchronization in film.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close