Sound design

Written in German (together with Frieder Butzmann), this chapter explores the concept of sound design in the history of film and in the wider context of 20th Century avant-garde music, electronic and electroacoustic music as well as artistic movements in moving image and sound arts. The aesthetic approaches of important practitioners are described and their films analysed. The rich canon of English and American academic film sound scholarship is discussed. Some of the topics explored are: Historic beginnings; the re-invention of sound and noise; Animation: images interpret sounds; Silly Symphonies; The liberation of sound; Electroacoustic and avant-garde art music in film; Science-Fiction and Horror; Music as alien element in the fim text; Silence as narrative tool; Sound design as spectacle; The film mix as soundscape composition; Contemporary sound design.