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Occult Aesthetics: Synchronization in Sound Film
Contributor(s): Donnelly, K. J. (Author)
ISBN: 0199773505     ISBN-13: 9780199773503
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
OUR PRICE:   $41.79  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: January 2014
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Music | Instruction & Study - Theory
- Performing Arts | Film - General
Dewey: 781.542
LCCN: 2013017331
Series: Oxford Music/Media
Physical Information: 0.8" H x 6.1" W x 9.1" (0.85 lbs) 272 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
In this groundbreaking book, acclaimed film music author Kevin Donnelly offers the first sustained theorization of synchronization in sound film. Donnelly addresses the manner in which the lock of the audio and the visual exerts a perceptible synergy, an aesthetic he dubs occult: a secret and
esoteric effect that can dissipate in the face of an awareness of its existence. Drawing upon theories of sound from Sergei Eisenstein to Pierre Schaeffer to Michel Chion, the book investigates points of synchronization as something like repose, providing moments of comfort in a potentially
threatening environment that can be fraught with sound and image stimuli. Correspondingly, lack of synchrony between sound and images is characterized as potentially disturbing for the viewer, a discomfort that signals moments of danger. From this perspective, the interplay between the two becomes
the central dynamic of audio-visual culture more generally, which, as Donnelly argues, provides a starting point for a new understanding of audio/visual interactions. This fresh approach to the topic is discussed in theoretical and historical terms as well as elaborated through analysis of and
reference to a broad selection of films and their soundtracks including, among others, Singin' in the Rain, Saw, Shanghai Express, and Assault on Precinct 13.