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After looking over this week’s readings (Leeuwen, and Roberts-Breslin), and discussing them with others, it became wildly apparent that sound is something that is not only highly unnoticed, but something which the majority of people are disinterested in.

In spite of this, sound is crucial to understanding most films; not only does it convey narrative, but further, a film’s audio goes a long way to set the tone, mood, pace, and context of a film, whilst it also drives characterisation, controls and manipulates emotion and reaction in the audience, and allows for clear offscreen action.

Part of the reason that people are so unenthused by audio is because it takes a back seat to visuals. As stated by Roberts-Breslin in the reading, ‘there are volumes of critical writing on the aesthetics and cultural impact of movies and television, but in comparison, little has been written on radio.’

Is this because humans are inherently visual beings?

Is it because we have been trained to view film first and foremost as a visual medium?

I don’t know the answers to these questions, but I understand the importance of sound, because of what happens when you take it away.

Below I have embedded a video from David Terry Fine, entitled Can You Read My Lips?, which demonstrates our reliance upon the medium of sound to comprehend meaning, as well as the intensely complex relationship between the auditory and the visual worlds.