Open AccessSound in documentaries as a tool of expression instead of representation
Author(s) -
Diana Carolina Martinez Muñoz
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
actio journal of technology in design, film arts and visual communication
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2665-1890
DOI - 10.15446/actio.v5n1.95152
Subject(s) - filmmaking , expression (computer science) , sound (geography) , perspective (graphical) , context (archaeology) , process (computing) , sound design , representation (politics) , perception , element (criminal law) , feeling , aesthetics , computer science , acoustics , human–computer interaction , visual arts , psychology , art , history , politics , artificial intelligence , movie theater , social psychology , political science , physics , archaeology , neuroscience , law , programming language , operating system
The concept of reality in the context of documentaries has always been a focus of controversy, with manipulation of captured material during the filmmaking process being disallowed or labelled inauthentic. Nonetheless, some documentaries have approached the filmmaking process in an experimental way and are using a different approach to represent reality. At the same time, sound in documentaries is still usually misunderstood as a medium in which manipulation, processing – or even more radically – the creation from scratch, is not encouraged or not properly understood. This article proposes to portray the production of sound in films as a collaborative process that enables the director to think of sound as an element of expression – a tool with which to describe reality from another perspective, capable of creating possibilities for the sound director to translate emotions and feelings into sonorities due to the versatility of human sound perception. The usage of sound should take risks; experimentation with it empowers sound to become more creative and more radical.