The survival story might depict a single isolated character struggling to survive in a hostile environment. In these kinds of films there is an notable absence of dialogue. Overt musical score too is often muted, or at the very least understated and effacing, as if intended to erase the presence of any hint of civilisation, the promise of human community. Here sound and music coalesce, producing a subtle soundtrack of tone and texture emerging out of the desolate landscape.

*The Survivalist* [2015] dir. Stephen Fingleton

In an interview with Screendaily, director Stephen Fingleton talks about the sound world of his film The Survivalist [2015]:

“Creating the sound of the film was kind of uncharted territory because we didn’t have any music. We told the story of the film through the sound design. It sat in a world where there’s no traffic, no cars; so the sound was very exposed. It’s very unusual to hear true silence in our modern age.”

Absent dialogue and music serve to enhance the intensity of the character’s physical and psychological encounter with the unfamiliar atmosphere of isolation. Free from dialogue, the spectator, in unison with the central character, is inexorably drawn to the sounds of life itself.

Film Selection:

The Survivalist [2015] dir. Stephen Fingleton
All is Lost [2013] dir. J. C. Chandor
The Quiet Earth [1985] dir. Geoff Murphy
2001 Space Odyssey [1968] dir. Stanley Kubrick