In my opinion sound is one of the most unappreciated aspects of cinema but probably the most integral, as it s intricately linked to film form. Every sound the audience hears in a film is manufactured to sound realistic or to be as effective as it possible can be. It’s  because of my love of sound that I really enjoyed this weeks chapter, its interesting that I love sound and can understand it’s importance, but whenever I’m working in a production, sound is always the job I hate most, because it’s so incredibly technical and the slightest mistake can destroy the realism of the film and disrupt the audience’s immersion. There are many aspects of sound that contribute to this, such as the loudness, pitch and timbre; and whether it was recorded on set or in a studio environment, or if it was reworked or mixed to improve the quality and effectiveness.

I think this weeks screening of Vivre Sa Vie (My Life To Live) was my favourite film shown thus far, this is probably because France’s nouvelle vague (new wave) movement is my favourite time in cinematic history. The films produced in this period were so deceivingly simple in their complexity, presenting realistic and often controversial stories about everyday people. Sound is a huge part of what makes these 1960’s French films what they are, because you can really feel how European films are adjusting to the new “talkie” format of filmmaking, with revolutionary use of integrated music but retaining those moments of long silences and having to convey meaning through facial expressions and movement. Vivre Sa Vie is no exception to this, with recurring thematic music acting as a musical motif that occurred during profound moments within the film and there were moments where the sound completely stopped and the audience are left to piece together what was said. Text is also used effectively as a sound/dialogue substitute which really harks back to the silent era of filmmaking.

P.S Anna Karina is so beautiful and mesmerising on screen! If you haven’t seen this film and want to see amazing acting, writing, camera work/cinematography and sound design, you should check this out!