T.

C
ANADOLU UNIVERSITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF CINEMA AND TELEVISION

Sound and Music in Documentary Cinema

Mentor

PROF. Dr. Nazmi ULUTAK

Prepared and written by

MAHA EDJARENE
99267350270

ESKİŞEHİR- 2021
Table of Contents
Introduction.............................................................................................. 1
Chapter 1 ................................................................................................. 5
Roles and Functions of Sound in cinema ................................................. 5
1.1 the use of sound aesthetics in cinema ............................................. 5
1.2 Dialogue .......................................................................................... 6
1.3 Voice-over....................................................................................... 7
1.4 Music and sound effects.................................................................. 8
Chapter 2 ............................................................................................... 11
Inner and Outer Orientations of Sound ................................................. 11
2.1 Outer Orientations of sound .......................................................... 11
2.1.1 Space ....................................................................................... 11
2.1.2 Time ........................................................................................ 12
2.1.3 Situation .................................................................................. 12
2.1.4 External Conditions ................................................................ 13
2.2 Inner Functions of Sound .............................................................. 13
2.2.1 Mood ....................................................................................... 13
2.2.2 Internal Condition ................................................................... 14
2.2.3 Energy ..................................................................................... 14
Chapter 3 ............................................................................................... 16
Music and Sound in Documentary films: A case study .......................... 16
Microcosmos and Winged Migration as examples ................................ 16
Conclusion ............................................................................................. 22

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 Introduction

Films are considered as a visual medium, therefore we're always talking about our favorite
scenes, the way the actors play, the camera angles, the art direction. But we are rarely talking about
sound even if it is just as important to the success of a movie.

For a long time sound in films was seen as an additional element to an already highly developed,
independent visual structure. A considerable amount of time elapsed before the “talkies” were
accepted aesthetically as constituting a medium in their own right. Films, broadcast television, or
any other forms of video, on the other hand, were born as audiovisual media (Slowik, 2012).

Sound, as well as the pictures, is essential to the video message. Unfortunately, the various media
terms such as film, motion pictures, cinema, television, and video, do not incorporate the audio
concept. This neglect may have caused some people to believe that sound is a less important or
nonessential adjunct of the visual fields of video and film.

On the contrary Sound is indispensable to video and film communication. Sound differentiate from
light, that is to say: moving in every direction, bouncing off trees, roofs, walls, other people,
anything and everything, getting quieter or louder according to the distance. While the picture stays
the same over distance, doesn’t get affected by reflections off walls, simply aim and what you see
is what you get (At a basic level). While sound is evolving into a powerful standalone medium in
the 21st century, the full potential of audio is yet to be unlocked (Rick, 1992).

One of the major aspects of sound is carrying the narrative. Sound is used to explain and emphasis
the scenes which would never be portrayed by the director with visuals. Generally a viewer will
appreciate, judge and aw at the cinematography, editing and directing of the film, however sound
influences our perception and opinion of the film, because sound affects our emotions and pushes
us to be invested mentally to the film. (Balazs, 1985). While generally you don’t think about
listening to the film, you just kind of do it. In other words, while watching a movie, you concentrate
on whats infront of you and trying to understand what’s going on in the scenes, one of the many
reasons that makes or breaks a film, is sound.

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When the sound design, mixing, or music composing is out of tune with the film, this can disconnect
the viewer from the film, and therefore they can miss key parts of the visuals, or even misinterpret
portions or the whole film. Because of all of this, today, sound is the number one priority for
filmmakers. When we talk about sound, sound recording and mixing or generally talking the audio
post-production, the vast majority of us will automatically think of film and TV; nevertheless,
another third aspect also needs to be factored in and this aspect is documentary movies (Holman &
Tomlison, 2012).

Today’s technology allows both film and TV projects to reach incredible levels of detail sound-
wise, but when it comes to documentary filmmaking and what’s possible through technology, we
need to think about Atmos and, of course, storytelling through sound. In every documentary movie,
we need a visual element and a sound element. These two go hand in hand and need to be
synchronized, while they can be the demise of each other destroying the film, or disengaging the
audience from the film (Kenny, 1999).

Sound is also so much more than just the voices of the interview, it’s also the sound design of the
documentary, the wind, the birds, the atmos, the sound effects are for the on and off screen elements,
perhaps even invisible things, like car exhausts which make noise are invisible but need to be heard.
Sound, overall is incredibly important, if not the most important element. In short, a story can be
told without pictures or a vision, but we cannot never tell a story without sound (Barthes, 1977).
One thing that unites all non-fiction films in spite of their clearly different nuances, even beyond
their indie sensibility and storytelling prowess, is the clever use of sound, sound elements, sound
design, and music which is something traditionally overlooked when judging the quality of this type
of projects (Armes, 1988).

On the other hand, Imaginative sound design that extends to musical texture can crash the fragile
fine line between fictional film fantasies and documentary's tense engagement with real-world
pictures (King, 1984) . In narrative fiction film, the creative blurring of sound and music can suggest
fictional worlds and challenge our reading of a picture; it can form complicated and contradictory
forms of engagement that can plunge us into the heart of a story (Rogers, 2015).

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But when audio elements hit in a feature-length documentary, the fantastical rendering of the world
portrayed can undermine many of the genre's already problematic pillars: truth, objectivity,
authenticity, and clarity. Because of this, sound and image have kept a mutable and sometimes
innovative relationship throughout the history of documentary filmmaking and that the
investigation of when the audio track was treated more creatively than the image captured can reveal
new ways of thinking about documentary aesthetics (Lipscomb & Tolchinsky, 2005).

These moments can occur when sound and image disconnect to create audiovisual shock, or when
the sound and pictures are closely connected that one can press on the fundamental structures of the
other. Sometimes the line between these two types can become blurred, resulting in a dissonance
paradoxically forged from close synchronicity. This is especially evident when the real world
sounds captured from the shot are manipulated into a composition material (Lang & West, 1999) .

Although often enhanced and rendered in post-production, the sound of the venue undergoing such
a radical transformation that the connection with its associated image is disturbed encourages a
creative hearing process, whereby an audience is encouraged to use interpretation and imagination
to build new audiovisual relationships.Rather than representing a larger trend that animates a
particular genre or documentary style, radical audiovisual expanses provide moments of meaningful
and deep emphasis in otherwise synchronous textures. However, because these moments conceal
the potential for audiovisual disruption, they can threaten - or aspire - to destabilize conventional
modes of cinematographic consumption (Rick, 1992).

As a result, creative hearing most often manifests itself in films that lie on the more experimental
and poetic borders of the documentary genre. Most people simply don’t think of documentary films
and documentary filmmaking in general as having enough room to explore with sound and audio
elements; however, the filmmakers behind documentary projects demonstrated that this isn’t the
case.

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 In this article, the use of sound with its every type (dialogue, music and sound effects) in
documentary movies will be discussed. And to make it clear for the readers, scenes from three
documentary movies will be analysed in order to see the value added by sound to the project.
The documentary movies chosen are of great importance to this study since they include sounds
captured from the real-world which is the location shoot that has been treated more creatively than
the captured image; in particular, moments when real-world noises pass freely between sound and
musical composition.

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 Chapter 1
Roles and Functions of Sound in cinema

1.1 the use of sound aesthetics in cinema

Since the beginning of its exploitation to tell stories, the cinematographic medium has been
confronted with the representation of sound space. Already, at the time of the silent cinema, the
question of a sound environment preoccupied the directors.

Moreover, it is better to remember that, despite its designation, silent cinema has never made the
economy of sound; The use of intertitles was not only intended to allow viewers to navigate the
meanders of the stories, but also to compensate, even slightly, the absence of audible words by
giving to read what should have otherwise been heard. An equivalent device was developed to
allow spectators to experience the sound in which the action took place. Ironically, the visual
component of the film was given the challenge of making sounds heard, hence the many shots
showing the transmitting sources (shouting interlocutor, barking dog, cars, whistling train, howling
factory siren, etc.), which in no way belong to the logical continuation of the story although they
are inserted there (Chion, 1990).

Sound plays a grammatical role in the process of filmmaking. Moreover, it provides a form of
continuity or connective tissue for films. The basic two characteristics of sound in film, are:

- hyper-reality, sound recordings for film and television are often an exaggeration of reality. Heard
in isolation, the soundtracks seem overhyped, but heard in context, they assume a more natural
balance. All these because of the fact that the single sounds in film often "melt" in auditory streams,
and to be distinguished better, they should be additionally emphasized.

- correlation with a picture, sound often has an influence on picture. Scenes are different depending
on how sound plays out in them. The sound also has a profound impact on storytelling, and on a
film rhythm. The same scenes played without sound often seem much longer, than played with a
background music.

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As mentioned before, there are two basic roles of sound in film, and these are storytelling and story
supporting.

Story telling is the most important characteristic of the films in the "sound era", and is possible in
film using dialogues, monologues or off-narration. Story supporting relates on the sound effects
that enhance the tension in film and suggest the audience how to feel. Special sound effects and
music are the basic tools which enable it (Metz, 1997).

The sources for the sound used in film could be recordings made during principal photography on
sets, sound effects libraries and customized recordings, and music, both that composed from the
film and from pre-existing sources.

The basic roles of sound in film are accomplished utilizing different types of sound in film, such
as speech (dialogue, monologue, over voice), music (recorded music, rerecorded music, live
music, background music, etc.) and sound effects.

1.2 Dialogue

Dialogue as a kind of speech is a conversation between two or more people. the term dialogue can
be also used if one person is speaking while the other is listening or even when one person speaks
to himself. Because thinking out loud is actually conversing with oneself, it is still a form of
dialogue, but we refer to it as internal dialogue (Paggi, 2011).

Dialogue in most videos is the chief means of conveying what the event is all about (theme),
developing the story progression (plot), saying something specific about the people in the story
(characterization), and describing where, when, and under what circumstances the event takes
place (environment and context). You may have noticed that the opening dialogue in serial dramas
usually recounts what happened previously, tells where the story is now, and suggests where it
might be going. This same sequence also introduces new characters. All this information is
contained in a few lines of carefully crafted dialogue (Barthes, 1977).

Good dialogue seems to flow naturally. It often sounds like an audio recording of a randomly
observed conversation. As most writers will confirm, however, good dialogue is meticulously
constructed to sound and feel natural yet communicate a maximum of information.

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It should make you wish you had said it that way. The most important variables of good dialogue
are listed in the dialogue context and variables table.

1.3 Voice-over

On the hand, and since we are talking about documentary cinema, it is important to mention the
voice over since it plays a very important role in documentaries. Documentary films are usually
based on narration that can be on- or off-camera. It is another efficient method of supplying
additional information. The narrator usually describes a screen event or bridges various gaps in the
continuity of an event. Most video documentaries rely heavily on off-screen, voice-over narration
to fill in much-needed information. Again, the spoken word is frequently more efficient in
advancing a story than pictures are. Instead of showing the hands of a clock madly spinning or the
clock time keyed into the picture to indicate elapsed time, the narrator can simply say that 20 hours
later the situation has not changed (Paggi, 2011).

With all the passion and thought that goes into the creation of documentaries, the voice over is a
vital component. Voice over documentary can be considered as an art, and the role of the voice
over is critical to the success of the documentary (Paggi, 2011). A voice over in a documentary
film conveys the mood, sets the tone, and engages the audience. All the visuals can be perfect and
the right voice can complement it to make it even more so. However, the wrong voice can set the
wrong tone and hurt the film.

One of the main roles of voice over in a documentary is to of the set the tone and beckon the
viewers into the film. The voice creates an intimate and close connection with the viewers, bringing
them directly into the world of the film. A voice over documentary can share things viewers may
never otherwise know about or ever see. Therefore, a voice over in a documentary is seen as a tour
guide, the spirit of the film and its leader.

One of the most important factors in a voice over documentary is that the narration must match
the documentary’s tone. It also has to match the audience. For instance, a nature film could be
narrated by a soothing, slower, wise voice to match the visuals and be successful, but if the
audience is elementary school students, the voice should probably be a younger, more vibrant one.

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The voice actor should also be versatile. Let’s stick with the nature documentary. There will be
those calm and soothing parts, perhaps animals resting or mothers snuggling their babies.
However, the voice will have to change it up to narrate a more fierce or powerful scene.

Basing on all of this, a voice actor ned to have the ability to change its tone because it will need to
be versatile. If the tone stayed the same throughout the film, it may get boring and hard for the
audience to maintain interest (Kenny, 1999).

The overall effect audience are probably striving for in a voice over documentary is one that will
captivate them while educating them on the topic. Regardless of the subject, the voice over will
have a big part in doing this. Along with the film’s visuals, the voice over will set the mood and
tone and maintain it throughout the documentary while bringing the audience along and conveying
information.

1.4 Music and sound effects

The most significant uses of sound in films and videos generally talking for audiences are usually
the musical score and sound effects. Music and sound effects or even the lack of them can help to
build tension and increase the poignancy of a scene, among other things (Gorbman, 1998).

It is generally considered that music is found in every single culture in the world. Music is an art
form consisting of sound and silence expressed through time. Elements of sound used in music are
pitch that includes melody and harmony, rhythm that includes tempo and meter or gauge, and sonic
qualities of tone, articulation, dynamics, and texture. Music may also involve generative forms in
time through the construction of patterns and combinations of natural stimuli principally sound. It
may be used for artistic or aesthetic, communicative, entertainment, ceremonial or religious
purposes and by many composers purely as an academic instrument for study.

Its inclusion in film is seen as a move towards making film a complete art form. Though from the
beginning of filmmaking around 1890, cinema was silent; the importance of music was already
felt as it was usually included during the live performances in theatres. The role of this music was
already set from the onset.

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In a film therefore, two types of music can be used: a pre-existing music or music specially
composed to accompany a given scene. Composing an original music strip for a documentary film
necessitates keen attention to the topic been treated and thus requires a lot of creativity. If an
onslaught of images is edited and is rapidly changing on screen without sound, the viewer begins
to feel arbitrary and inconsequential. But the reception of this same film changes if a soundtrack
is created and attached to it.

This gives a life force and coherence than just being a visual cascade without any soundtrack.
Composing an original soundtrack or music for a documentary film does not take off any of its
originality since the music composed will be as original as the documentary film itself. Instead, it
adds more aesthetic value to the film and reinforces the message embedded in the visual signs.

A study like (Rogers, 2015) provides a rich and detailed relationship between music and image in
documentary films. It brings out its role in the genre and its subsequent impact on an audience’s
perception of reality and fiction. In this vein, a filmmaker correlates visual signs with music in
order to create the desired impression. Following the same trend, (Paggi, 2011)examines voice
over in documentary films as part of the soundtrack. The treatment of the soundtrack
concomitantly with music is important as both are merged with the images in post-production as a
storytelling mechanism. In light with this, (Glover, 2009) holds that “music and storytelling,
traditional methods of communication and education, historically employ rhythm to structure their
message and capture the attention of their audience in order to convey a message or lesson.” Music
is hereby seen as a means of communication.

In a documentary film with virtually no voice-over, music guides the story, leading the audience
from scene to scene and defining the story segments. Music provides a similar function in any film
but has particular importance in documentary films. Documentary film, being an educational,
informative and propagative genre, demands that music and sound be given great attention because
even silent scenes are not silent but have a lot to give out (Bonizter, 1986).

Coming to sound effects or more precisely the hard or cut effect that can be defined as Almost
every sound we hear at the movies that isn't dialogue or music. It is the expectation of the audience
that everything we see on the screen, that in a real life makes noise, should be heard, and thus

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covere by a hard sound effect. Hard in this context means that the sound was obtained from a
source other than a production sound, Foley, or ambience, and the sound was cut in by a sound-
effects editor to match the picture. The hard effects are never recorded on the set, thus the basic
sources of these effects are sound-effects libraries. It is common that sound designer doesn’t record
the library by himself, but uses all made commercial or private sound-effects libraries. In these
libraries hard effects are organized according to their type into a variety of premixes. They could
be grouped by event, for example, car door closing, start and drive away may be assigned to one
premix, if tthat makes sense as a unit (Bonizter, 1986) . The editing is performed so the premixes
are organized to checkboard of sounds in time, making some of the combined effects at the premix
stage first appear in one premix, and than in another. Combining sounds together to create new
sound effects is a principle often used. Special manipulations may be done on either individual
elements of a complete effect, or on the whole mixed effect. These include speed change, used to
produce a corresponding pitch change, lengthening by mechanicalor electronic looping, and pitch
shifting to make a sound seem to move past a point of observation, by faking Doppler shift.

The use of sound effects in documentary films is acceptable since it is used to create an emotional
experience for the audience. This is where a documentary is different from news gathering.
Definitely in news, music and filmmaking techniques are not typically used or allowed in a purely
journalistic endeavor. Facts and just the facts (Nichols, 2010). But for a documentary, there's a lot
of more wiggle room. all the documentaries that include recreations and special effects such as
Man on Wire and King Corn. As long as the movie director remain ethical to the story and not
trying to trick the audience into believing something that isn't true, it is totally fine coming up with
creative storytelling techniques that help make the experience more interesting or entertaining for
the viewer.

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 Chapter 2
Inner and Outer Orientations of Sound

2.1 Outer Orientations of sound

The outer orientation functions of sound can be considered similar to those of light. They include
orientation in space, in time, to situation, and to external event conditions. As with other elements
in the various aesthetic fields, the outer orientation functions of sound often overlap; one sound
can fulfil several functions, depending on the event context. For example, a foghorn blowing can
tell us that we are near water which is a location function and at the same time that it is foggy
(Armes, 1988).

2.1.1 Space

Specific sounds can help us reveal and define the location of an event, its spatial environment,
and even off-screen space.

Location Certain sounds identify specific locations, provided the audience is familiar with those
environmental sounds. If, for example, you accompany the close-up of a young woman with such
literal outdoor sounds as birds singing, a rustling brook, and barking dogs, she is obviously
somewhere in the country. You have no need for a cumbersome establishing shot; the sounds will
take over this orientation function (Holman & Tomlison, 2012). Now if we think of the same close-
up accompanied with sounds of typical downtown traffic: car horns, automobile engines, people
moving about, a doorman’s taxi whistle, and buses pulling up to the curb and moving away. The
young woman is now in the city. Specific nonliteral sounds, such as electronic hums and beeps,
can even locate her in outer space (Lang & West, 1999).

To indicate the specific spatial characteristics of an environment many sounds can be used. For
example, indicating whether a person is in the small confined space of a telephone booth or the
large space of an empty warehouse is simple by manipulating the sound reverberations. More
reverb occurs in a large room than in a small one. Outer space is another matter and is usually
suggested through novel sustaining, often computer-generated, complex sounds.

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Simply by switching sounds from expansive to restricted space, you can support or suggest the
perceptual switch of what the astronauts see through the porthole to what they feel about their tight
living quarters.

the quality of the environment can also be commented with the use of sound. For example, the
excessive clanging of dishes, silverware being dropped, the squeaking of the swinging door to the
kitchen, and the yelling of orders by the waiters suggest a different type of restaurant from one in
which we hear soft semi-classical piano music, the uncorking of a champagne bottle, and the quiet
murmur and occasional laughter of the patrons.

2.1.2 Time

Like lighting, sound can be a fairly good indicator of clock time and the seasons. People often
associate typical sounds with morning, noon, evening, night, summer, or winter. Try to listen to
these sounds. Typical morning sounds are the alarm clock, the shower, or the coffee maker.
Outside, the morning sounds may include birds chirping, the newspaper being delivered, a garbage
truck pulling up, somebody having trouble getting his car started in the cold morning air, or the
first bus rattling by (King, 1984). For a more historical production, you can use a factory whistle
to indicate high noon. An evening or night in the country inevitably has cricket sounds, the rustling
of trees in the breeze, the distant barking of a dog, subdued sounds of a television program, and
voices and laughter coming from the neighbors. At night, the sound hooting of an owl can be added
for good measure. Snow acts as an acoustic dampener; everything is quieter when it snows than in
summertime. Even if there is no snow, winter sounds are generally more subdued than summer
sounds.

2.1.3 Situation

Sounds can describe a specific situation. For example, dogs barking madly outside will indicate
that someone is coming. Literal sounds are especially helpful to extend the visual field of the
small video screen. If, for example a close-up of a woman telephoning and hear the literal
(source-disconnected) sound of a baby crying indicates that the is close by and in need of
attention without seeing that.

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A creative sound track contains many universal sounds with which we are all familiar, but it also
has sounds that are unique and unexpected (Chion, 1990). For example, the coffee maker may be
so old that it makes a unique hissing sound, the garbage collector may whistle operatic arias while
emptying the cans, the office door may squeak in a certain way, and the car radio at the accident
scene may still play a romantic love song until overpowered by the siren of the arriving ambulance.

2.1.4 External Conditions

Sound can indicate whether something is big or small, smooth or rough, high or low, old or new,
fast or slow. Which particular sounds to use depends on the structure of the other aesthetic fields,
especially the relative complexity and magnitude of their vector fields.

An example of using nonliteral sounds for describing a certain external event condition is the
sudden flooding of a ship’s engine room. To convey this dangerous condition in literal sounds,
engine sounds, the sailors’ excited voices, the rushing and gurgling of the water’s entering the
ship, the shouted commands, and the clanging of tools against the metal hull are the sounds oftenly
used. Moreover, nonliteral sounds as a thumping that gets more and more “squeezed” the higher
the water rises, or music that rhythmically and harmonically reflects the rushing and rising water,
the desperate pounding of the engines, and the confused panic of the crew are also sounds that can
be used (Balazs, 1985).

Creative sound people are ingenious in combining natural and synthesized sounds to get just the
right combination to create the appropriate condition. The sound tracks of extraterrestrial stories
especially display the virtuosity of such sound designers.

2.2 Inner Functions of Sound

The inner orientation functions of sound include those related to mood, internal condition, and
energy.

2.2.1 Mood

Music is one of the most direct ways of establishing a certain mood. Music can make us laugh or
cry, feel happy or sad. It seems to affect our emotions directly without first being filtered through
our rational faculties.

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This is one of the reasons why we so readily accept music as part of a scene regardless of whether
its inclusion makes any story sense. In relation to the visual screen event, music certainly appoints
a persuasive context that engenders an audio/video Kuleshov effect.
Happy music can underscore the overall happy context of the screen event; sad or ominous music
will do the opposite. Even if the visual part of a scene expresses a neutral or positive atmosphere,
accompanying ominous music will override the visual cues and forewarn the viewer-listener of an
impending disaster (Balazs, 1985). As a matter of fact, if you show a relatively neutral scene, such
as a mother kissing her children good-bye and then driving off to work, different types of music
can shape our perception of this event. With upbeat music we tend to interpret the scene as a happy
one; the mother and the children will have a good day. If accompanied by haunting music, we will
perceive the identical scene with foreboding and fear that something will happen to either the
mother or the children (Lang & West, 1999).

Obviously, we can also create or underscore mood with a variety of nonmu- sical sounds (usually
synthesized or otherwise electronically distorted sounds) or a combination of music and
nonmusical sounds.

2.2.2 Internal Condition

Sounds can express a variety of internal conditions, such as an unstable environ- ment (often in
conjunction with the contextual visual clue: the tilting of the horizon line) or a person who feels
calm, excited, or agitated. For example, to reveal the fear and the panic of sailors in the flooded
engine room, you could put yet another layer of “internal fear” sounds on top of the sounds that
depict the squeezing of space. Recall the pounding rhythms that accompanied the scene in the
psychiatric ward. This nonliteral use of music intensified the internal condition of the patient.

2.2.3 Energy

Music and other nonliteral sounds, such as electronic hisses, whistles, and whines, can provide or
increase the aesthetic energy of a scene. Again, the immediate way in which sound affects our
emotions is a perfect tool for establishing or supplementing the energy of the screen event.
Cartoons, for example, rely heavily on music and sound effects as an energy source (Nichols,
2010).

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Internal energy is just as easily expressed or supplemented by music. Even if a static scene of two
people staring at each other is shown, appropriate music will reveal their inner state and the general
energy level of the scene.

People have used music and sound effects as energizing elements of the performing arts for quite
some time. The high energy of an African dance is primarily dictated and communicated by
pounding drums (Glover, 2009). When the long Greek plays threatened to lose energy and the
audience’s attention despite the tragic battles of gods and mortals, flute players were called on-
stage to keep things moving.

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 Chapter 3
Music and Sound in Documentary films: A case study
Microcosmos and Winged Migration as examples

Documentary films use music with varying degrees of success. In watching some of the most
popular and successful documentaries, the music usually plays a subtle but crucial role.
Documentaries aim to educate people and in order to do this they need to grab the audience's
attention and engage with the subject of the film. In this chapter, an analysis of the use of sound
and music in two popularly successful wildlife documentaries can explain one of the main reasons
behind their success. The films are Microcosmos (1996) and Winged Migration (2001) which
provide insight into the importance of sound and music to create a lasting message among
mainstream audiences, and highlight the universal importance of sound, rhythm and music in
documentary films.
In Microcosmos (1996), macrophotography allows the viewer
to observe the life of tiny insects, from ladybugs to ants to beetles,
up close and at a level often inaccessible to the naked eye
(Nuridsany, 1996). This allows the audience to essentially view
the subjects at eye level and observe their behavior more fully.
Microcosmos uses music primarily to accentuate sounds inherent
in nature, create tension between scenes, and emphasize
interactions between species. At the very beginning of the film,
the little used narrator says: "to observe this world, one must be
silent", at this moment we hear sounds of nature accompanied by
piano notes. But we don't hear real silence, just the absence of a
human voice. The additional but fundamental role of music
becomes explicit. The music does not dominate, it simply emphasizes the natural sounds
represented by the insects and their actions that we observe. It emphasizes the important scenes,
such as the ladybug mating scene, the coming storm and the aftermath of the storm, and the beetle
fights.
But music never dominates the image, allowing the images to tell the story, while serving to
emphasize the story they tell. The ladybug mating scene begins with a single ladybug and no music,

16
allowing the audience to appreciate her beauty while hearing only the natural sound of the buzzing
insects. After the ladybug nibbles and meets an ant, she walks up to another ladybug, and here the
music begins, slowly at first as the first ladybug moves up the second and falls into place. As the
act of procreation continues, the music picks up speed, but never dominates the act itself, only
serving to punctuate it. Music plays a bigger role in the approaching storm, as the stumps of flutes
and violins herald the advent of thunder. However, when the wind and rain start, the music fades,
returning briefly when the sun tries to break through. Once the storm begins in earnest, the music
returns to accentuate the ominous storm clouds and powerful raindrops falling on the microscopic
insects.

The natural sounds of wind, rain and thunder dominate the scene, but the music reinforced the
effect of the afternoon thunderstorm on a microscopic community, as raindrops toss a ladybug
from its perch on a blade of grass and separate an entourage of ants. When the storm is over, the
music mellows and takes over from the natural sounds of the post-storm environment. As the
prehistoric-looking beetles clash, the bass drum and horns herald the ongoing duel. The ropes
gradually gain momentum as the beetles grow larger, increasing the tension to engage in combat.
They block the horns and fall off the branch as the strings disappear and the drums resume their
formidable rhythm. The beetles move up the branch and, heavily beetle seems to grab and throw
the other off the branch again, the ropes pick up again, increasing momentum again as the beetles
continue to engage.

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 Similarly to Microcosmos, Winged Migration(2001)
relies primarily on the visual picture to tell the story of
migrating birds (Perrin, 2001). It does utilize a variety of
methods to communicate with the audience, including
music, narration and sub-titles, but the images, as
underscored by music and natural sounds, are the primary
storytelling device. The film only minimally uses narration
and sub-titles and primarily uses the music to complement
the picture. It is not surprising that Jacques Perrin, the
director of Winged Migration, also contributed
significantly to Microcosmos. In both, the music serves as
the guide to what the audience sees. Winged Migration’s
composer Bruno Goulais said in an interview in regards to his idea of an ideal soundtrack, that
“much like light, it would just reverberate. It wouldn’t be manipulated. It would just be there.”
(Winged Migration featurette) In other words, he sees the role of music as enhancing the story
without interfering in it.

In Winged Migration and Microcosmos, the music serves to enhance the content, without
dictating its message. In doing so, both films use music to accentuate and expand visual content,
making it more enjoyable and memorable for audiences. But unlike Microcosmos, Winged
Migration uses human voices in some music. Even without words, the inclusion of human voices
reflects a difference in the message of the Microcosmos film. Humans are part of history, not just
observers. The human audience is only one part of the larger community, be it the community of
the earth or the community of musical composition. The success of these two films with
mainstream audiences indicates the power of a thoughtful and intentional soundtrack that
accentuates the subject without dictating it and provides examples of the successful use of music
to make an emotional connection between audience and audience. subject of the film.
Microcosmos and Winged Migration use natural sounds, often quite dramatically, and use music
to complement and enhance these natural sounds. In Microcosmos, much of the action takes place

18
in music, and the music serves to underline the action. While music is often used in conjunction
with natural sound, the emphasis is usually on one or the other.
Either the music dominates or the natural sound dominates. This is especially true in wildlife
documentaries, which often have a rich natural sound that the director can work with. The
emphasis on natural sound in nature and wildlife documentaries also allows filmmakers to
naturally convey the behavior of their non-human subjects. However, music plays a particularly
important role in nature and wildlife documentaries for this very reason.

The lack of naturally occurring human voices and emotions necessitates an alternate way for the
audience to connect with the subject matter. Natural sound and music provide a means for this, in
addition to emphasizing the action and helping to maintain a rhythmic balance in the film. In a
documentary with virtually no voice-over, the music guides the story, leading the audience from
scene to scene and defining the story segments. Music provides a similar function in any film, but
has particular importance in nature and wildlife documentaries, especially spectacle documentaries
like Winged Migration and Microcosmos.

In scenes without music that rely solely on natural sound, the editor employs harder cuts. For
example, the transition from the bugs walking on water to the bullfrog indicates an abrupt scene
change without the smoothing effect music might have provided. These two scenes have little
music, which makes them feel less connected to each other than scenes in which music carries the
audience from one to the next, such as the storm and its aftermath. The music, or lack thereof, does
not create tension so much as underscore what is already there while guiding the audience to
emotionally connect with the scene.

While the presence of music can connect disparate scenes, the lack of it can succinctly take an
audience from one scene to another and allow it to easily recognize the transition. Both
Microcosmos and Winged Migration use music in tight collaboration with the pictures to build
tension and emotion, but also use it to carefully guide the audience through the scene changes.
In Winged Migration, the music plays a more prominent than in Microcosmos, although both
employ music similarly. Winged Migration tells the story of community, not just among migrating
birds, but also of humans and the world. Winged Migration uses human voices, although rarely

19
with lyrics, to accentuate the story told by the birds. The human voices, particularly the children’s
voices, create poignant tension and guide the emotions of the viewer. While not the only musical
device employed, the choir is the most dramatic, and is often used during sweeping, majestic
scenes of migrating birds. Rarely used at the same time as the voice-over, the music orchestrates
emotion rather than convey facts. Once audiences emotionally connect to the story, they are more
susceptible to the narrator’s presentation of facts. The facts, in conjunction with the moving images
and music, impart a particular message to audiences, that of the beauty and community that exists
on earth, not just between birds, but also between humans.

The use of music during various emotional scenes such as the 'dance' between the Red-crowned
Crane or Clarke's Grebe, versus the tension in the tractor scene, all indicate emotional signals
provided by the music. . The Red-crowned Crane scene begins silently as the birds fly over the
trees as they migrate, as indicated by captions. The silence continues as two of them land on the
snow. As they enter into a synchronized dance, an elegant waltz begins to play. If you don't already
think that the two birds distinctly resemble ballet dancers, then the music guides you to that
perception. As their dance continues, their bird cries join the tensions of the waltz, accompanied
by the chorus of other cranes. As the cacophony of the birds grows stronger, the music fades and
the cranes look less like ballet dancers and more like long-legged birds jumping together. Similar
to the Red-crowned Crane scene, Clark's Grebe scene begins with two grebes sitting in the water,
looking at each other as we hear the natural sounds of crickets and chirping birds. This continues
until two of them push halfway out of the water and swim quickly, accompanied by a percussion
beat.

This hard-hitting beat continues as the grebes appear to dance, zigzagging through the water
with chests swelling proudly. As their dance abruptly ends and they return to sit peacefully in the
water, the music also stops, and we return to natural sounds. The music also serves to imbue non-
avian characters with personalities, such as when the three tractors appear on the horizon of the
field, accompanied by dramatically disastrous and potentially morbid music.
As the tractor blades cut the grass, a sense of dread prevails, setting the stage for the inevitable
dislodgement of a flock of birds or one that has presumably set up camp in the relative safety of
the tall grass. Sure enough, we suddenly see a helpless little chick as the camera pans to reveal the

20
big, nasty tractor hanging over it. The scene ends here, leaving audiences in suspense as to whether
the chick escaped or met gruesome death at the hands of the tractor blades. What could have been
a peaceful morning mow presumably turned into tragedy, as musical cues from the scene indicate.
The music similarly underscores the tension of the Idaho Greater Sage-Grouse, developing its
complex territorial combat ritual by providing dramatic drums and strings under the distinct
chuckle of the grouse. The music emphasizes the tension between the two tetras, without
interfering with their unique behaviour. The sound is part of the ritual, and the music emphasizes
it without distracting it. Migration, along with music, helps in the transition between bird species
as well as between geographic locations. Music doesn't always accompany migrating birds, nor
does it always accompany dramatic scenes, but its thoughtful use emphasizes the ethereal
phenomena of migration and community, which the filmmakers sought to convey.

Using the music to create an emotional connection between the audience and the story serves to
capture their imaginations, consenting them with a well-established interest in the subject. Even
for people who, before viewing the films, had little or no expectation of insects or birds, feel a
strong reaction to their gaze, inspired by the incredible cinematography and accompanying score.
Inspiration is the most effective way to educate the public. Without the music, the images, while
still beautiful, would have fallen flat. When the sand crabs stalk and then eat the blessed bird, the
focus is on the natural sound. The sound of the claws of the crabs dancing around the bird and later
devouring it doesn't need music to instill tension; the tension is evident in the natural picture and
sounds and made more dramatic by the lack of music. By emphasizing natural clicks, the director
did not need the artificial construction of the music to guide the audience. Winged Migration uses
music to enhance natural sounds, without distracting or replacing them. What often begins with
the flapping of the wings transforms into musical and elaborate accompaniment as the tension on
the stage increases. Human voices, although present, do not dominate the musical landscape but
blend with other musical elements.

21
Conclusion
With the advent of sound in the cinema comes many changes which, in a way, have also affected
the use of music. This rule has evolved over time. It is reported that in classic Hollywood cinema,
music was used as a signifier of emotions, a narrative cueing mechanism, and a means of
interpreting on-screen events (Gorbman 1998). Apart from these functions, music in the cinema
can also serve as formal and rhythmic continuity between shots and in transitions between scenes.
It is a storytelling technique that many filmmakers use to tell their stories. Cameroonian
filmmakers are no different and they have drawn on Cameroon's rich musical repertoire to make
music an integral part of their films.

While music is often used in conjunction with natural sound, the emphasis is usually on one or
the other. Either the music dominates, or the natural sound dominates. This is especially true in
wildlife documentaries, which often have a rich natural sound that the director can work with. Both
films in this review have virtually no voiceover, and the music is meant to guide the story, lead
audiences from scene to scene, and define segments of the story. This is however absent, but it
should be noted that in scenes without music, natural sound, which is also part of the soundtrack,
is used. During the enhancement of the story through other acoustic signs, filmmakers use other
narrative techniques to communicate.

Testimonials, narrative commentary and filmic silence are combined to guide the audience
towards an emotional connection with the scenes. These techniques are also used to connect
disparate scenes and facilitate the transition from one scene to another. The acoustic signs in these
films orchestrate emotion and convey facts. Once the audience connects emotionally to the story,
they are more responsive to the narrator's presentation of the facts. Facts, in conjunction with
moving images and music, convey a special message to the audience. So, it can be said that the
use of acoustic signs to create an emotional connection between the audience and the story serves
to capture their imagination, leaving them with a well-established interest in the subject. They
effectively serve as communication mechanisms in conjunction with visual cues.

22
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