Many films involve situations in which different characters communicate with one another through telephones and recorded media. Telecommunication technology establishes multiple sound spaces inhabited by different characters. Each voice is inscribed with its own particular acoustic qualities. These pertain to the sonic characteristics of the environment the character inhabits at the moment of recording or transmission (the audible background activity, the acoustics of the space), as well as the way in which they interact with the audio technology in use (microphone type, proximity, transmission interference).
The Conversation [1974] dir. Francis Ford Coppola
A recorded or transmitted voice is never heard in complete isolation. A background ambience, an acoustic space, even the audible presence and interference of the audio technology itself always forms part of the message. As listeners these auxiliary elements inform how both onscreen characters and the audience respond to what they listen to.
The Vast of Night [2019] dir. Andrew Patterson
One of the most interesting film scenarios that illustrates this kind of telecommunication listening is the surveillance setup. Such stories might involve eavesdropping, clandestine recordings, the deciphering of cryptic communication, as characters secretly discover messages and remote audible activity not intended for their ears. This semantic and causal onscreen listening has the effect of framing the spectator’s own listening; we listen to what they’re listening to.
In the 2007 horror film Paranormal Activity, Katie Featherston and Micah Sloat are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. The couple decide to rig up a camera and microphone in their bedroom to try and record any evidence of unusal nocturnal activity. This act of self-surveillance not only successfully records the strange offscreen sounds and evanescent visitations, it also acts as an accurate audiovisual document of the character’s own reactions to these strange disturbances. This kind of atmospheric, acutality horror relies on the audience registering the plausibility of the setup through a strong emotional investment in the story and characters.
Shot on a budget of $15,000, Paranormal Activity became the most profitable film of all time. Much of its success is attributed to the sense of believability created by the film’s home movie / found footage style, used in tandem with cheap, but highly effective post-production sound design.
Paranormal Activity [2007] dir. Oren Peli
Dial M for Murder [1954] dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Some 40-years ago Philip K Dick said:
“There will come a time when it isn’t - they’re spying on me through my phone - anymore. Eventually, it will be my phone is spying on me.”
Today in the age of Surveillance Capitalism and Big Data, these tales of widespread information monitoring, eavesdropping and surveillance are not fictional episodes limited to the novels of John le Carré or Geroge Orwell. Surveillance is very much an articulation of how we live and operate today in the digital information landscape.
Film Selection:
The Vast of Night [2019] dir. Andrew Patterson
Paranormal Activity [2007] dir. Oren Peli
The Lives of Others [2006] dir. Florian Henckel
Bennys Video [1992] dir. Michael Haneke
Pump Up the Volume [1990] dir. Allan Moyle
Blow Out [1981] dir. Brian de Parma
The Conversation [1974] dir. Francis Ford Coppola
Ucho [1970] dir. Karel Kachyňa
Dial M for Murder [1954] dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Rear Window [1954] dir. Alfred Hitchcock