FILM STUDIES

Silence as dimension of time in film music

In the work Film Art: An Introduction David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson distinguish four dimensions of film sound: rhythm, fidelity, time and space. However, these four dimensions can be reduced to two: time and space. Interestingly, both dimensions are part of both film and music art. However, Ante Peterlić notices that music is nevertheless primarily a time category, whereas film, apart from time, also comprises a spatial category. But this does not separate these two art forms. On the contrary, it brings them closer together: film music, thanks to the fact that it comprises time, conceals the precipitative quality of film. Time is part of music in different ways: through indications of the tempo, organization of the work and its form but also through duration. Pointing out that duration is more important than all other components (colour, height and volume), John Cage composed a piece 4'33“, which comprises only duration. Instructing the performer (or performers) not to produce any intentional sound, Cage came to a conclusion that silence is fictional because it is impossible to avoid unintentional sounds. In the same way the filmmakers came to a conclusion that it is impossible to achieve total silence – if you insist on it, if the sound path is completely void of all sounds, it seems that there is a technical error. Film silence can be achieved in several ways but always by means of a sound. Claudia Gorbman distinguishes three types of silence in film: diegetic sound (there is only nondiegetic sound present), nondiegetic sound (soundtrack is completely without sound) and structural silence (sounds previously present in the film are later absent at structurally corresponding points).

Irena Paulus