Blood Simple

Contemporary Traces of the Modern Soundtrack

Developed for RMIT Media Arts

INTRODUCTION

Film is 50% sound and 50% image. The film's sound (its recording, mixing and editing) are just as important as its image (its cinematography and editing) in terms of the construction of its narrative. How we make sense of the plot, how we experience its action, how we move with its flow are all determined, engineered and manipulated by our comprehension of the fusion of sound and :image.

BLOOD SIMPLE is a good example for showing how important a role the soundtrack plays in the construction and mobilization of the film's narrative. All films generally involve a similar amount of recording, mixing and editing, however BLOOD SIMPLE deliberately highlights the soundtrack's effects and manoeuvring as part of its chosen cinematic style. (Particular influences here are Hitchcock and Welles and their manipulation of the soundtrack - see THE WRONG MAN, PSYCHO, THE BIRDS, CITIZEN KANE and THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS.)

CLOSE ANALYSIS

What follows is a series of notes and brief descriptions of scenes. They are intended to point out where and how the soundtrack is contributing to the cinematic narrative.

A: Credit sequence Orchestration of sounds : traffic sounds (real); traffic sounds (unreal, abstracted, simulated); rain; plus the rhythm of the windscreen wipers. Note how this abstracted orchestration of sounds creating an unrealistic effect matches the abstraction of the visuals (disorienting angle, stylized lighting, etc.).

B: Ray waiting for Abby to pack her things Note: the combination of the background mood music and the Alsatian beating his tail against the door ; the aural gag of the intercom and the boar's head.

C: Marty confronts Ray about the affair A tense mood is created from .the acute manipulation of real diegetic sounds: bar sounds in the distance, deep rumbling of incinerator, and piercing sound of mozzie-zapper. Note the timing of the zapper and how it relates to the dialogue.

D: Marty's fan The fan is introduced as an aural symbol of Marty, both as a realistic representation of his place of work and as representation of his inner, brooding turmoil. Key scene - Marty rings Abby; cut from deep sound of fan in Marty's office to Abby hearing it as soft treble through the phone; she knows it's him because she knows his office, and in the way that his silence - highlighted by the ominous fan - communicates his estrangement from her. This play with the fan crops up continually throughout the film.

E: Marty's office Note how the arrangement of the office's acoustic rhythms and textures convey the mood of the place: the beat of the fan, the background mood music, and the occasional beep from the computer (which is in harmony with the music).

F: Abby's first night away from Marty, over at Ray's place The main musical theme of the film plays over three scenes of everyone unable to sleep at night, and each scene has a corresponding visual rhythm : (a) Marty in his office - the office fan; (b) Ray in bed - the shadows of the outdoor tree on the ceiling; (c) Abby on the couch - the loungeroom fan. The musical theme links them all together in terms of time (all three scenes are read as occurring concurrently) and emotional relationships (they are each wondering about themselves and the other two). This musical theme crops up throughout the movie and represents - in terms of action, theme and emotion - the uneasy, uncomfortable relationship between the three characters and how they each affect each other by their actions.

G: Marty tries to see Abby at Ray's house Just prior to him grabbing Abby, the sound of the Alsatian panting can be heard ; as he grabs Abby, she wakes up and music cuts in which is an intensified and abstracted mix of chanting and panting (an Indonesian opera); it reaches its climax when he gets kicked in the balls. Note: (a) just as his sexual desire motivates his act of transgression and possession, the soundtrack accordingly ceases as his desire is immobilized; and (b) the effect of a dog panting and its symbolic relation to Marty's sexual frustration (the dog is owned by Marty).

H: Marty and the detective discussing the murder in the car The background diegetic sounds/music goes through three distinct phases, the change from each phase signalling a shift in the plot in a synchronous relation to the dialogue: (a) introductory small-talk - Toots & The Maytells' "Louie Louie" played on a car radio by some kids nearby (note: sunset); (b) inside the car, Marty proposes the deal to the detective; the music continues for a short while, at a soft muffled level, but when Marty gets serious, the sound of the kids' car is heard screeching away, leaving silence to match the intensity of their discussion (note: dusk); (c) once the detective has decided to accept the deal, he becomes philosophical about the whole thing, and the sound of crickets fades up (note: darkness) .

I: Detective breaks into Ray's house & takes photo Note rise in pitch of synthesizer to create a sense of tension, but note also how the texture is repeated, making you unsure as to whether there is any suspense with that point or not. Note how real sounds (footsteps, door handles, etc.) break the drama of the music. Note the intensity of noise and sound as the detective takes the photo. The detective then phones Marty to tell him that the job has been done - leading straight on from the previous scene, the build-up of white noise cuts into the deafening traffic sounds. Note the pressure conveyed in this scene by the manipulation of piercing tones (over the phone) and deep rumbles (booming traffic).

J & K: Marty shoots the detective The sound of the office fan increases in volume just prior to the shooting.

L: Ray cleaning up the mess after discovering the dead Marty The Four Tops' "Same Old Song" is played in the bar, loud, on the juke box by the bartender. The sound of the music from inside Marty's office is deep and muffled. Ray is desperately trying to clean up the bloody mess, and the music functions on two levels : (a) irony - the murder is given an air of ordinariness (not unlike Norman cleaning up the shower in PSYCHO) which is undercut by the realistic fact that someone happens to be playing a song whose mood totally goes against the horror and suspense of the murder; (b) realism - because the music is being played loud in the bar, Marty can thus make quite a lot of noise cleaning up, and thereby do it quickly (this scene is not unlike the one in MARNIE where Marnie can sneak out from the office because the cleaning lady is deaf ).

M: Ray driving into the desert with Marty's body in the back This scene is a rearrangement in effect of the opening sequence: note the orchestration of the nasally voice from the evangelist on the radio and the deep rumbles both inside the car, from other cars outside, and from the synthesized soundtrack.

N: Ray about to bash in Marty' s head As the background music and noises reach a climax, note the grating effect of the shovel being dragged across the asphalt. Note the placement of the crickets.

O: Truck approaches Ray as he tries to shove Marty's body into the car Note how many layers of truck noise are built up, almost as if the intensity of the drama is going to always go that bit further than you would think possible.

P: Marty attempting to shoot Ray from the grave An extension of N. Note the crispness of the sounds as Marty clicks each of the empty barrels of the gun, and then as his metal finger-cast clinks along the side of the cocked gun as Ray gently pries it from his hand. The sounds here (and in N) are in extreme close-up focus, thereby intensifying the drama of the actions depicted. Note also the use of the angelic choir prior to the shooting.

Q: Ray leaves the grave Note the transformation of the real sounds into musical effects as he pounds the top of the earth. This kind of transformation occurs frequently throughout the film. Then Ray drives away from the burial site - just prior to Ray starting up his car, the musical theme starts up, softly; Ray's car stalls; the musical theme 'stalls'; Ray starts the engine again, and this time it goes; the musical theme resumes and continues on as he drives away.

R: Ray driving back to Abby The musical theme continues, carried over from Q. Note how when an oncoming truck signals Ray that his head lights are still on, a soft musical sound goes in sync with each time the driver flashes his lights. This musical sound is in harmony with the musical theme.

S: Detective rings up Abby from Marty's office Because Abby hears the sound of Marty's office computer, she presumes it to be Marty, and consequently assumes that Marty is alive. This assumption - registered by her comprehension of a sound - is important in delineating the confusion between her and Ray about the killing.

T: The bartender gets Marty's message on the answering machine Similar to [S], further confusion between the characters' understanding of each other's actions is caused, in this case, by the fact that the sound of the recorded voice does not temporally correspond to the event of hearing. The bartender, like Abby, presumes that Marty is OK and still alive, even though Abby is suspecting that Ray killed him.

U: Abby's dream sequence Note the surrealistic handling of the sound effects.

V: The final shoot-out between Abby and the detective Note a similarly surreal handling of some of the sounds, even though both we and Abby realise this isn't the dream any more.

W: The detective dies Note how everything is timed in this ending: (a) the final plot event - Abby realizes it's not Marty whom she shot; the detective realizes that she didn't even know who in hell he is; the plot thus resolves itself by tying together its loose threads so no further actions can result from their entanglement; and (b) the final cut - the water drop hits the detective's forehead; he dies; the film finishes; the screen cuts to black; the Four Tops' vocals sound with the start of the credits.

Text © Philip Brophy.