Film Sound Modernism
(0 vote)Average rating:
| 0 | rating |  = We can do without |
| 0 | rating |  = Good book |
| 0 | rating |  = Excellent book |
| 0 | rating |  = Unique / a reference |
Your rating: -
Book Presentation:
Despite the key contribution of sound to the development of cinema as a modern (and modernist) art form, analyses of the relationship between film and modernism often overlook the key role played by sound in film.
Film Sound Modernism addresses this critical neglect by exploring how speech, music and sound effects have been used by filmmakers to articulate the conditions and experiences of modernity. Through a wide-ranging analysis of international films, including those from Taiwan, Mexico, Poland and Hong Kong, Andy Birtwistle approaches modernism as both a trans-historical and trans-national phenomenon.
He provides close readings of key examples of experimental and art cinema, including The Forgotten Village (1941), L'avventura (1960), Riddles of the Sphinx (1977), The Terrorizers (1986) and Perestroika (2009). He then goes on to tackle topics including the use of environmental sounds in the films of Michelangelo Antonioni, Tsai Ming-liang, and Edward Yang, the voices of non-actors and artist filmmakers, and the ways in which forms of creative noise challenge the traditional division of the soundtrack into dialogue, music and effects. In doing so, he investigates the forms of sonic and audio-visual experimentation that developed within the medium and re-examines cinema's place within the broader history of modernism.
About the Author:
Andy Birtwistle is Reader in Film and Sound at Christ Church University, UK. He is author of Cinesonica: Sounding Film and Video (2010). His research interests include film sound, avant-garde film and art cinema, and sonic arts. His writing has been published in The Journal of Sound and Culture of British Cinema and Television, Journal of British Cinema and Television, The New Soundtrack and Visual Culture in Britain.
Press Reviews:
"Andy Birtwistle's book effervesces with ideas, as he encounters experimental and art films and their sound and dialogues with makers and scholars. Reading it feels like a bracing hike through woods with new discoveries at every turn." ―Claudia Gorbman, Professor Emerita, University of Washington. Author of 'Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music' (1987), USA
"Film Sound Modernism reorients our understanding of modernist cinema by tuning into its sonic dimension. Challenging visual-centric narratives, Birtwistle reveals how disrupted relations between music, sound effects and dialogue can operate as potent sites of artistic and political innovation. From essay films to experimental works, this study listens critically to underexplored cinematic traditions beyond Hollywood to offer an intervention into audiovisual studies essential for anyone interested in cinema's sonic imagination and its modernist legacy." ―Holly Rogers, Professor of Music, Goldsmiths University of London, UK
"Through historical and contemporary case studies, Andy Birtwistle proposes new ways to consider the poetics and stakes of modernist cinema. He achieves this by clarifying what modernist film sound is and also by brilliantly investigating what it does. Film Sound Modernism is an essential read." ―Liz Greene, Senior Visiting Research Fellow, University of Reading, UK
See the publisher website: BFI Publishing
> From the same author:
> On a related topic:
Sounding Modernism (2017)
Rhythm and Sonic Mediation in Modern Literature and Film
Dir. Julian Murphet, Helen Groth and Penelope Hone
Making Stereo Fit (2024)
The History of a Disquieting Film Technology
Listening With a Feminist Ear (2023)
Soundwork in Bombay Cinema
The Auditory Setting (2023)
Environmental Sounds in Film and Media Arts
Back
