The Voice in Cinema by Michel Chion

The Voice in Cinema by Michel Chion

How can a voice whose source is never seen-such as Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey or the mother of Norman Bates in Psycho-have such a powerful hold on an audience? When does "synchronized sound" fail to link bodies to their voices, and how do such great stylists of sound film as Jacques Tati, Kenji Mizoguchi, and Marguerite Duras deploy the power of the voice? In this brilliant essay, Michel Chion, internationally cited authority on the history and poetics of film sound, examines the human voice in cinema. The Voice in Cinema begins with the phenomenon of film's hidden, faceless voices and their magical powers, particularly in the context of Lang's Testament of Dr. Mabuse. Chion then explores subjective voices, bonding and entrapment by telephone, voice-thieves, screams (male and female), siren calls, and the silence of mute characters-all uniquely cinematic deployments. In conclusion, Chion considers "the monstrous marriage of the filmed voice and body" as embodied in Norman Bates. Claudia Gorbman's fluent translation retains Chion's sophisticated and accessible style, introducing readers to a distinct and paradigm-changing voice on film.

[A] creative look at sound in the cinema-- R. Blackwood Choice

Michel Chion is a composer of musique concr te, a filmmaker, an associate professor at the Universit de Paris, and a prolific writer on film, sound, and music. His other books with Columbia University Press are Film, A Sound Art and Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen.Claudia Gorbman is a film studies professor at the University of Washington, Tacoma. She is the author of Unheard Melodies: Narrative Film Music (1987), the editor of several books, and the author of many articles on film sound and film music. She is also the translator of Michel Chion's Film, A Sound Art, Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen, and 2001: Kubrick's Cinema Odyssey.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780231108232
ISBN 10	0231108230
Title	The Voice in Cinema
Author	Michel Chion
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Columbia University Press
Year published	1999-02-10
Number of pages	208
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable