Tuesday Musings - The Sound of Sound and Silence
Last "Musings" I touched briefly on Chantal Akerman's soundless films from the 70s. "Room" (1972) was one of her earliest films, and is 11 minutes of a camera panning 360 degrees around a room several times, in complete silence. I wasn't that taken with it, so the prospect of seeing "Hotel Monterey" (also 1972), coming in at a little over an hour, didn't really excite me...but it was a revelation. Soundless again, we start in the lobby of the old hotel. There are people, almost like part of a still life. But as you begin exploring the now-empty hallways in long dollies forward and backwards, it actually takes on its own rhythm, becomes compelling and, at times, filled with a sense of foreboding. Proceeding down the hall at an almost imperceptible pace, you are entering the unknown. Pulling back down the hall you are now relieved to be passing back through the familiar. The hallways are fairly dark and you eventually get a sense of endless night. Then, you dolly down a hall and discover the edge of a window! There IS an outside world! It is dawn. You end up on the roof, panning 360 around other rooftops and out over the landscape into the clouds. It is only then that you realize you have traveled from the very bottom of this hotel up through to the sky (like returning from the underworld). I keep saying "you" because in this case you are the camera and the camera is you. It's a contemplative and strangely mesmerizing work, and one in which the audience is not manipulated by mood-altering music or sounds...and is definitely not for everyone.
Then there is the polar opposite: cases in which the music is so meshed with the visuals that they are one. "Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) is almost the antithesis of Akerman's film. With music by Philip Glass and directed by Godfrey Reggio, the once-beautiful and inspiring world is seen as spiralling out of control. It's a "message" film (while "Hotel Monterey" is simply an experience), but the theme of life out of balance (that's what the Hopi word of the title means) draws you in completely. Glass' music is quite incredible and paired with the visuals (which are jaw-dropping) becomes quite awe-inspiring. It's an amazing pairing.
These two films are both without dialogue (except for some of the Hopi prophecies sung in Hopi), yet two more different films you could not see. One soundless, one relying on sound; one almost timeless, one speeding through time; one a finite and very personal fraction of time and space and the other a vast expanse of those...and yet they are oddly similar as you are drawn into an experience that is both mesmerizing and powerful.
Next time I'll delve into some more traditional movie music and sound design...and also give an update on my own projects.
*****
"And She Rode Forth...." has been selected to screen at the McMinnville Film Festival in Oregon in February. We are very, very pleased to be a part of this festival!
My web series, "22 Bones, the Adventures of Yorick, a Skull" has been honoured with TWO awards! It was chosen as best animated/comedy web series at the fourth annual Avalonia Film Festival, and as Best Web Series 2019 by the Orion International Film Festival! Ah, the power of a tiny, kind little skull in this big, wide scary world.
Then there is the polar opposite: cases in which the music is so meshed with the visuals that they are one. "Koyaanisqatsi" (1982) is almost the antithesis of Akerman's film. With music by Philip Glass and directed by Godfrey Reggio, the once-beautiful and inspiring world is seen as spiralling out of control. It's a "message" film (while "Hotel Monterey" is simply an experience), but the theme of life out of balance (that's what the Hopi word of the title means) draws you in completely. Glass' music is quite incredible and paired with the visuals (which are jaw-dropping) becomes quite awe-inspiring. It's an amazing pairing.
These two films are both without dialogue (except for some of the Hopi prophecies sung in Hopi), yet two more different films you could not see. One soundless, one relying on sound; one almost timeless, one speeding through time; one a finite and very personal fraction of time and space and the other a vast expanse of those...and yet they are oddly similar as you are drawn into an experience that is both mesmerizing and powerful.
Next time I'll delve into some more traditional movie music and sound design...and also give an update on my own projects.
*****
UPDATES!
"And She Rode Forth...." has been selected to screen at the McMinnville Film Festival in Oregon in February. We are very, very pleased to be a part of this festival!
My web series, "22 Bones, the Adventures of Yorick, a Skull" has been honoured with TWO awards! It was chosen as best animated/comedy web series at the fourth annual Avalonia Film Festival, and as Best Web Series 2019 by the Orion International Film Festival! Ah, the power of a tiny, kind little skull in this big, wide scary world.
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