Silence of the Silents – Altman

We always think about soundtracks to current films that add to the ambiance and sound design of the telling of the narrative, but we do not often think about the sound design of silent films. Each silent film was presented with different sound as no two live shows can be the same. There weren’t tens of people working on the sound design or mixing and adding non-diagetic sound. ALL of the sound was non-diagetic. Though we do not normally think about it, the movie LISTENING experience of early viewers is an extremely interesting topic worth mentioning.

One thing that struck me most in Altman’s article about sound and music in silent films and the role it played, is that early audiences were equally annoyed by babies crying in the audience and sound disrupting the movie watching experience. When one is fully entranced in a narrative, it is jarring to hear sounds coming from reality that interrupt the full immersion that one hopes for in the movies. Whether in 2010 or 1920, audiences are alike in their annoyance at non-diagetic sounds getting in the way of their movies. The music that is played during films is an important part of the experience, but can sometimes not work with the plot or story that is being told, especially if the music is not composed specifically for the film. We may be watching a silent film and have romantic music playing during a shooting scene or chase scene and feel completely detached from the film. This shows how important sound is, and why it is bizarre to have blind pianists playing during a showing of a film.