The Value of Sound Maisy Jessie Jacobs College

The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland), the first feature length film with synchronous sound, was released in 1927 spurring many debates and arguments as to whether the addition of sound would have a positive or negative impact on film as an art form. Some contemporary critics felt, as stated by Elsaesser and Hagener, that sound “betrays and corrupts an art form that was on the verge of maturity” (2015, p150). Whilst others, such as André Bazin, were proponents for sound, along with other technological advancements, bringing film closer to realism (1971). Throughout these discussions sound was commonly presumed inferior to the image. However, during the 1970s, blockbusters such as Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979) placed a large emphasis on sound with Walter Murch’s title of ‘sound engineer’ being placed by ‘sound designer’ (Elsaesser and Hagener, 2015). Since then, Murch himself, along with theorists such as Michel Chion, have argued for a role reversal in the perception of which is considered more important, image or sound (1990). Chion’s theory of ‘added value’ attempts to give sound the recognition it deserves. He explains that when sound and image are married together it wrongfully gives the impression that sound “...