Image and sound form a movie, which appeals to audiences’ two senses and let them immerse into the world of movie. And after reading the chapter Sight and Hearing from the book Notes on the Cinematographer by Robert Bresson, I have a new understanding of the relationship between image and sound. In this book, Robert Bresson shares his unique insight at film production.
Robert Bresson mentions in this chapter that “What is for the eye must not duplicate what is for the ear”, which indicates that visual and aural redundancy should be avoided. This point reminds me of a video that I saw online last night, which is called 9 Film Editing Tips to Shape an Actor’s Performance. In this video the editor needs to cut a scene: A mom takes her son who just return from prison to the room upstair and gets him the tour of the apartment. Firstly the editor shows the original footage: the mom takes her son into the room and says “As you can see this is my room…”, and after that, she sits on her bed and works on a laptop. He suggests that the information that the room is her room will be told by her performance, because she will sit on the bed and work with the laptop later. The audience can get this information by watching this scene, so there is no need to provide the same information with image and sound at the same time. Therefore in the cut version, the editor cut out the line “As you see can this is my room”.
Another point that Robert Bresson mentions in his book is “If the eye is entirely won, give nothing or almost nothing to the ear, and vice versa. One cannot be at the same time all eye and all ear.” I think that most of the directors would not shoot their films in that way, they may prefer to shock the audience at the most extent by both rich sound and fanciful image. I think most of the people are visual creatures when watching films. If there are too many details on the screen that need the audience to watch, it would be impossible for them to pay attention to the sound at the same time. If the director wants to emphasize what is for the ear, he must present nothing or few thing to the eye, so that the audience would focus on the sound.
Robert Bresson’s notes on sight and hearing show his minimalism. For the people who are new to the film industry, these notes can be some good advice. But rather than copying them directly, developing a new style of making films and a unique view to film would contribute to a great film.
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