Not only is the shortest of the Film/TV readings so far, it’s also the most confusing; this excerpt from Notes on the Cinematographer uses random quips to explore the relationship between sight and hearing within a filmmaker’s practice.

The biggest point that I took from it was the idea that one should not attempt to give sight and hearing equal footing: it seems to me that this reading emphasises that any one composed shot should try to emphasise either one or the other. In my limited experience in media, I’ve been consistently told to get the best audio and video possible at all times, and I guess in terms of filming this still holds true. Post-production, however, there seems to be a trade-off that occurs between the two, in which one is chosen as the more significant sense in the given situation.

It was also important that the eye and the ear should work together to create the finished product, and I guess that ties into the prior point as well. That’s probably the entire message of the reading: they must be considered in relation to one another, as well as in relation to the film as a whole.