The Birds

Historical Markers of the Modern Soundtrack

Developed for RMIT Media Arts

Perception & comprehension

Our basic perception of film is largely determined by compound effects resulting from various processes occurring simultaneously and modulating each other. Our perception is thus generally involved in focusing on a variety of separate elements, identifying them, and then comprehending meaning from their interaction with one another. This interplay between perception and comprehension of the filmic event can be broken down into the following primary categories :

1. Persistence of vision - the physiological phenomenon regarding the brain's ability to retain an image a split second after the retina has captured it. Through the mechanics of projecting 24 still photographic images in sequence, our brain is able to thus experience visual movement.

2. Montage comprehension - the development of film as a language (ie. capable of conveying meaning in a grammatical sense) is founded on the edit. The editing of film can give information in a variety of ways :
(a) spatial - a series of shots can be linked together to articulate the one space or the relationships between spaces.
(b) temporal - appropriate cuts, fades and/or dissolves can express shifts and/or developments in time.
(c) poetic - different images may be 'arranged' together enabling a scene to function under terms of metaphor or similie.
(d) rhythmic - the pace and metre of an edited sequence can express both the mood and the slant of the narrative 'contents' (ie. character, scene, plot development, subtext, situation, location, event, etc.) at that point.

3. 'Suture effect' - the notion of how one is joined with the film as an observer/voyeur of its fiction. This relates to one's suspnsion of disbelief and how one experiences a relationship with a fictional world (articulated and constructed through cinematic space) utilizing one's imagination.

4. Sound & image fusion - our two essential senses for experiencing film are visual and auditory. It is in the fusion of sound and image that our perception, comprehension and experience of sound film are centered.

Silence

The experimental composer John Gage once sought to experience total silence. Enclosed in a totally airtight and soundproofed chamber he discovered that he still heard the workings of his body (breathing, heart-beating, blood-circulating, even his nervous system). The scientific and philosohical notion then proposed was that if someone capable of hearing exists in a space for a duration of time, then sound will be experienced. A further correlation can be made with film in that sound is virtually always 'happening' in film - even though we may not be conscious of its occurence.

Physics, acoustics & grammar

Film recreates the realistic accoustic positioning of sound in four major ways -

1. Duration. The time of a sound will equate the temporal duration of a spatial depiction in order to construct a temporal/spatial event into an audio/visual experience (eg. the sound of busy city traffic covering a series of shots and angles of that location).

2. Synchronism. The fusion of sound and image is, generally speaking, synchronous (eg. the sound of a glass breaking will occur exactly with the image of the glass braking - niether before nor after).

3. Volume = Distance. Just as the volume of a sound is determined by our proximity to its source, the loudness or softness of a sound in a film will generally correspond to the pertinent narrative voice and position in terms of, respectively, 'nearness' and 'farness'.

4. Reverberation = Space. All sounds occur in space. Space is defined by its size, structure and physical properties (consider your voice talking in a cathedral, on a boat in the bay, in your wardrobe). The amount and type of reverberation that accompanies a sound, giving it its particular accoustic character, are determined by the characteristics of the space in which it is occuring. In films which feature a comparatively sophisticated sound design, the spatial effect of a sound will match the visual space depicted.

These properties of sound and how it occurs within a realistic spatio-temporal acoustic reality form the basis of objective states within the film's fiction. This objectivity, however, can easily be reoriented so as to accent subjective psychological states (ie. characters' moods, mental conditions, feelings. etc.) by altering the formal organization of the soundtrack (volume, density, duration, synchronism, etc.). Shift or alter these properties and you express and communicate a `shift' in objective reality.

Rhythm

The notion of rhythm in film can be divided into different categories :
1. Visual rhythm - how forms and shapes are placed within the picture frame
2. Editing rhythm - what is the pace of the editing (fast, slow, etc.)
3. Aural rhythm - how and when sounds occur in terms of density and sparseness.

'Cinematic rhythm' is thus determined essentially by the relationships between the editing of the images and the editing of the sounds. Further to this, multiple relationships exist between the sound edit and the image edit :
1. synchronous/non-synchronous
2. metronomic/non-metronomic
3. compatible/non-compatible

These relationships are qualified by inter-rated effects produced by :
1. time
2. tempo
3. rhythm
4. beat

Close analysis: THE BIRDS

1. Bird sounds in the title and opening sequences

(a) titles - abstract/stylized/artifical
(b) city outdoors - representational/realistic/natural
(c) pet shop interior - metaphoric interplay between (a) and (c)
The title sounds dissolve from (a) to (b) whereas the sound cuts from (b) into (c). Note also the human 'bird-call whistle' which sexually and ironically connotes Melanie as a 'bird'.

2. Sound score

THE BIRDS contains no scored music on the soundtrack (although a radio and some children's singing appears within the diegesis of the film). The sounds of the birds are at times 'real ' sound effects and at other times electronically created (in the form of Electronic Music) by Remmi Gassman & Oskar Sala. Bernard Herrman operated as sound consultant and veteran director/producer of cartoons Ub Iwerks served as special photographic consultant. It is important to note the close relationship between the abstract sound of the birds and their 'abstract' depiction.

3. Car travel from San Francisco up to Bodega Bay

(a) orchestration of volume changes synchronously matching changes in shot distances (low = far / high = near) and perspective views (low = inside car / high = outside car).
(b) extreme long shots with very low volume prefigure what becomes a consistently ominous and strangely 'voyeuristic' effect which provides an 'effect thematic' (ie. an effect logicall developed throughout the narrative) associated with the terror of the birds. It is almost as if we have the point of view of the hunter surveiling its prey. The inexplicable nature of these extreme long shots equates the mysterious nature of the birds themselves.

4. Melanie's travel in the hired boat from the port to the back entrance of Mitch's house, and then back to the port

(a) intercutting of perspective shots
(b) volume changes correlate the 'cinematic space' point-of-view of the meta-narrative
(c) 'effect thematic' of extreme long shots as in 3(b)
(d) multiple voyeurisms work to incorporate an interchange of point-of-views :
(i) Melanie
(ii) Mitch
(iii) meta-narrative (us watching them both)

In this scene a 'symmetrical event' is played out, based on the functioning of points (a) to (d). The symmetry of the event is marked by the space traversed. The soundtrack provides a symmetrical narrative to further enhance the event :

(i) motor noise (loud volume)
(ii) rowing/lapping water (soft volume)
(iii) silence in house (absent volume)
(iv) rowing/lapping water (soft volume)
(v) motor noise (loud volume)

The gull's attack on Melanie marks the end of the symmetrical event; her imminent meeting with Mitch (as determined by that event); and their fused experience of the birds' presence. All of this is marked by the piercing sound of the gull which punctuates the end of the sound narrative of the symmetrical event. This scene gives a good breakdown of how plot progression, camera blocking and sound mixing all work together to contribute to the textuality of a film (the embodiment and construction of meaning in the film). The function of the sound of the gull prefigures how the sound of the birds is the primary signifying mode of their presences throughout the narrative.

5. Melanie having dinner with Mitch, Mrs. Brenner and Cathy

The piano being played by Melanie for Cathy in the loungeroom is first registered as diegetic. Mitch then moves into the kitchen and talks with his mother. The volume of the piano should - for acoustic realism - drop in volume, but instead it maintains its full volume. The music is now registered as extra-diegetic and functions more as meta-narrative mood music.

6. The children's birthday party

An orchestration of sound - screaming children mixed with screaming gulls, punctuated by occasional balloon bursts. Prior to the attack, the children are screaming with delight as they play blind man's buff. Those same squeals mixed with the gulls' screeching become screams of terror.

7. First atttack of sparrows in the Brenner loungeroom

Suddenly - a whoosh! as the sparrows pour out of the fireplace, followed by a continuous sheet of noise (manic chirping mixed with fluttering wings). The sound of the sparrows matches their presence in the loungeroom - filling every possible space and covering every possible sound.

8. Children singing in class

Volume changes and variations of reverb spatially locate the kids' room in relation to Melanie outside. The kids are singing a type of cannon where a repetitive melodic cycle develops one step more each time it is sung. The effect of the singing is an irritating one of being deliberately strung out, confirmed by Melanie's growing impatience as she waits outside. The trivial mood of the singing undercuts the menacing mood as the crows gather around Melanie, almost as if more crows are being summoned each time another verse is sung by the kids. This scene illustrates a clash of moods (undercutting one another) and a perverse relationship between the structure of the song and the development of the narrative.

9. The crows' attack on the children

The children attempt to sneak past the crows. As they make a run for it, the crows attack. The sound narrative here can be broken down thus :
(a) whoosh of the children's feet as they start their run
(b) whoosh of the crows as they move into attack, signalled by the sound of the children's feet
(c) slight drop in volume as Melanie, Cathy and another girl barricade themselves in a car
(d) the mass sound of birds slowly fades in volume as they disperse (as opposed to the mass sound 'thinning out' into individual birds)

10. Petrol station attack

(a) Multiple perspectives and volume changes from inside phone booth, inside diner, and outside next to petrol pumps.
(b) Dramatic orchestration of : (i) sound of running petrol
(ii) shouts of people in diner
(iii) sound of burning petrol
(iv) scream of Melanie
(v) explosion
The intensity of the event (in terms of the construction of its sound narrative) is marked by Melanie's mouth open in a silent scream. The violently stylized editing (the fracturing of space) accents her total inability to halt the flow of petrol across the ground (the traversing of space).
(c) The arial shot of the burning petrol station is matched with a deep rumbling mixed with wind noise. This replaces the cacophony of the situation depicted below on the ground. As the birds slowly appear within the frame, their calm calls are mixed in. This shot, in a way, explains or locates the 'effect thematic' of all the previously unexplained extreme long shots. (See 3b & 4c)

11. Bird attack while everyone is inside the loungeroom

An unnerving silence precedes the attack. Everyone (us included) appears to be waiting for something to happen. The soft sound of a few birds merrily chirping cues the sonic assault which follows. The sound now is at its most abstract and most deafening. The electonic sheets of noise totally replace all lip-synch dialogue (visibly inaudible as Mitch gathers everyone into place). No one knows where to go - this is intensified by all the weird camera angles which make the loungeroom space as alien to us as it is to the characters trying to take refuge there. Sound orchestration develops when the gulls smash the window and Mitch bangs away trying to fix the outside cover. The first lip-synch dialogue heard as the birds leave (signalled by a decrease in the roar) is "they've gone". This scene demonstrates the extent to which the birds are represented by sound.