Sound and Image Assignment 2

#1 The Initiative Post (Shutter Island)

For the first part of the assignment, I will be deconstructing the first dream sequence of Teddy Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio from Martin Scorsese's 2010 film, Shutter Island. The film is about a U.S. Marshal, Edward "Teddy" Daniels, who is investigating a psychiatric facility on Shutter Island after one of the patients goes missing.

In this scene, we see close up shot of Teddy falling to sleep as lightning flashes on his face before entering the scene in his dream. Johnnie Ray's Cry can be heard in the background of the dream as the camera slowly moves towards the window before showing a record player playing the song. This is actually an indication of the dream's timeline since that the song was published in 1951, 3 years before the events of the film which is set in 1954. The dream Teddy is having in the scene is actually a memory from when the time his wife, Dolores complaint about his drinking problems. We can see this when Dolores is standing before the window with a bottle of alcohol on her left hand. As Teddy walked towards his wife, debris can be seen falling from above. When Teddy asked if his wife is real, the bottle that she was holding earlier disappeared as she denies the question. This shows that what we were lead to believe about the external problem on Teddy's drinking is not what is actually important here. The previous conversation suddenly abandon as Dolores's tone suddenly shifted when she revealed that 'she' is still here. The camera zooms in to Teddy's face, showing his confusion and curiosity on what Dolores is talking about. She was talking about Rachel, the patient that disappeared, is still on the island.

This is a misdirection that Scorsese had planned in this dream sequence. This is not a memory of Teddy's past but a mental space that explores his mental state, where he is conflicted on what is real and what isn't. We can see this when Dolores moves to a second window, which viewed a cottage by the lake. We later see what seems to be an error in editing when we see Dolores turning her head slightly to her back while talking about a memory they spent in the cabin during summer but is shown looking out from the window. We then see Dolores already facing Teddy, telling him not to leave the island but a shot of her turning towards Teddy was never shown. This was done intentionally.

What really intrigue me about this scene is how Scorsese portrayed the guilt Teddy felt on the death of his wife by constantly directing the viewer's eyes towards Teddy's hands. In the scene when Teddy embraces his wife from behind, watered blood starts pouring out from Dolores's gut and the sound of water rapidly dripping can be heard. As Dolores turns to ashes, 3 shots focus on Teddy's hands as the room starts burning. The rapid water dripping sound can still be heard in the background as the music grew intense before he wakes up suddenly. Another shot of his hands were shown again, being wet because of a leaked. This is actually an indication of the real story of Teddy's past which would be shown at the end of the film but also shows the guilt that Teddy carries after the death of his wife.

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#2 Readings

Sound Design

One of the points that intrigue me in this reading is the sensitivity of listening a sound designer must acquire. According to the Stanley Alten (Audio in Media, 1994), a sound designer must be sensitive to all sound, pleasant or unpleasant, exciting or unexciting, significant or insignificant, well performed or poorly performed. To really get in the headspace of a sound designer, one should have the knowledge of appreciating the aesthetic nature and sonic attributes of a sound. That way it would be easier to grasp on the emotion or feeling a sound can portray through its sonic characteristics in a scene. The more aware you are of sound, the better you will be able to articulate the literal and aesthetic sonic requirements of a production.

Next is the few components of sound structure. Understanding the component structures of a sound is a crucial step in understanding the characteristics of a sound. For example, pitch refers to the highness and lowness of a sound in a frequency-related scale which can indicate the overall feel of a scene, whether if it's sinister with the sound of high pitched violin scratches or something bright from a playful sound of the piano. Timbre is the one that differentiate sounds from one another. It can be characterised as the tonal colour or quality of a sound. For example, the sound that a flute makes can be described as rich, woody, almost milky in a way as it brings a sense of smoothness with its soothing tone.

Sight and Hearing

In this notes on cinematographer (Brensson, R 1986), the phrase "The ear goes more towards the within, the eye towards the outer" can be described as what is presented on screen should not be equal with what can be heard. Sound should be working in the background as to not overpower the visual presentation of what is portrayed on screen as it can be distracting to the audience unless it is done intentionally to draw attention towards a source.

Besides that, the note says if the eye is entirely won, give nothing or almost nothing to the ear. This could apply to voice overs as filmmakers tend to use narration to make clear on the plot if the visual is unclear. This could strike a problem as the action of a scene does not need a narrator to explain every action that is committed in a scene. Actions speak louder than words, goes the saying as voice overs tend to overshadow what is presented on screen.

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#3 TK2 Taxi Driver deconstruction

In the scene from Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver, we see a close up shot of the main character, Travis Bickle played Robert De Niro, before he comes out from the taxi. As he gets out from the taxi, the camera switches to a wide shot showing the side of the taxi, the main character and a building, which indicates that Travis have arrived at his location and is going in to the building. We can see this when the camera follows Travis as he walks straight towards the building entrance and zooms in as he opens and enters the building. With the main character in the building, the camera changes angle facing the front of Travis with a medium close up. The camera continues to follow by moving backwards as Travis moves through the busy workspace. We can hear phones ringing and people talking on the phone, telling the audience that this is a busy workspace. The camera switches to Travis's point of view as he marches towards two people conversing but his focus is on Betsy, the woman that Travis wanted to speak to even though there are two people at the desk. We can see that Betsy is main destination Travis aim to get as the camera from Travis's point of view, moves closer to Betsy.

While Travis and Betsy are having their conversation, Tom the man talking to Betsy earlier can be seen in the background walking around them and pretending to be busy while possibly trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. The camera was set up in a way to show Tom constant stares at the two individual by leaving a certain distance between the two and Tom visibly shown in the background. The cameras are set in regards to the 180 degree rule as to show two individuals conversing with each other. The camera changes angles, portraying different reactions of the two characters.

At the end of the scene, we see Travis walking outside as he pass by another building with the same election banner. The camera follows Travis by dollying to the left with a medium shot of him, indicating that he is leaving the building where Betsy works.

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#4 Another Scene

The scene that I have chosen is from a Christopher Nolan's 2017 film Dunkirk. It is the scene when the beach that the British soldiers were getting extracted gets bombarded by German dive-bombers.

In this scene, we follow a young British private, Tommy played by Fionn Whitehead, as he walks on the beach of Dunkirk to get in line in order to be extracted. The camera follows the point of view of Tommy in the beginning of the scene to portray this. He stands in line but was told off when another private turns around and said something in another language, indirectly telling him that he is in the wrong line. He walks off as the camera follows him from behind and then changes to a medium close up angle in front of him, showing that he is looking some men were carried off by medics without any sort of reaction.

The music that was playing in the background earlier suddenly stops and we see Tommy looking around as if something were to happen. In the silence, the sound of motor can be faintly heard in the background. The camera shift to a wide shot, showing the other privates that were standing in line slowly start to panic as the sound of the motor grew louder. The camera shifts back to Tommy as he looks up, which reviews that the sound of motor is coming from German bombers. They were not shown on screen but were portrayed with a growl sound, making the other privates aware of the situation. We see this as the camera portrays the troops to run for their life in a wide angle shot. We later see a private shooting at something from above with his rifle. The bombers were revealed as the camera moves to a dirty over the shoulder shot of the shooting private's head. When the bombers dropped bombs on the beach, everyone immediately ducks down to protect themselves. The camera portrays the bombing on the beach by framing a medium closed up Tommy, in a ducked down position, and the bombs exploding as it reach on the surface of the beach in the background. The bombs explosion can be seen making its way towards tommy but stops with a bit of distance between them, which shows the intensity of the situation and that Tommy was nearly killed by the bombs.

The music score for this scene is what really intrigues me as Hans Zimmer, the music composer of the film, is able to thrill the audience and able to bring out the intensity of a scene with the score by using so little. At the start of the scene, we can hear a faint clock ticking noise, which is a famous theme used in the composer's work. This is one of the driving factor for the intensity of the score because a constant sound, played in a constant speed changes the feel of a song or situation. For example, Electronic Dance Music (EDM) is able to make someone feel like dancing because of its fast tempo. The constant sound of the ticking noise of a clock at a fast pace psychologically tends to make someone to feel anxious or at least makes your heart race. Another driving factor is an auditory illusion that is used by the composer, called a Shepard Tone. It is when three different octave of scales are played together with the higher pitched scale gradually fades and the lower pitch scale gradually becomes louder. Because we are able to perceived only two tones ascending in pitch at the same time, this creates the illusion of a never ending piano scale that could continue going up in pitch on forever. Using that method in film creates a rising tension that carries screenplay forward. Adding these factors together brings out a what seems to be a never ending tension with time for the audience that drives them to the edge to their seats as they wait for what is going to be presented on screen.