Researchlabs 2023 Leiden University Samson Sonata for Smoke

LEI – Seeing sound

Researchlabs 2023: RUL – Seeing sound

Artists and filmmakers like Jonna Kina, Samson Young, Sorayos Prapapan, Joanne van der Weg, Clara van Gool, and Arianne Olthaar will guide you on an aural adventure through foley art, sound recordings, and sound design. Alyssa Dole takes you into her world of silence through sign language to perceive the sound world of people with hearing impairments.

We hear the sounds of a clacking piano, rustling leaves, and a shower full of singing. Through listening to these noises, we can tell if individuals are in a rush, if the wind is blowing hard, and if people are in a good mood. Sound is crucial. However, compared to music, we give minimal attention to sound. Too easily we neglect that sound plays an important role in shaping our perceptions.

Filmmakers use sound design to create tense and thrilling scenes for audiences. When sound reverberates in a room or is amplified by speakers, it can distort or even completely alter the original signal, leading to confusion or false conclusions. In cinema, high-frequency sound has a significant role in how quickly and impressively the images on the screen are perceived. Cinema started out as a visual medium; hence its focus was on pictures and the visual environment, and sound is often overlooked. Our purpose is to bring attention to the importance of sound in processing and interpreting the world around us.

Programme

Arr. of scene (Jonna Kina, FI/FR 2017, 5')
On a large table a colourful collection of a number of seemingly random household items that are carefully prepared. A documentary about two foley artist who provide the sound effects for one of the most famous scenes in film history: the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho from 1960.
Sonata for Smoke (Samson Young, HK 2021, 15')
In Kyoto, the Hong Kong artist Samson Young sets the stage for a series of theatrical events to trigger the emission of smoke. A man holds a boom mic - often so close it singes- to record the aftermath.
Death of the Sound Man (Sorayos Prapapan, TH 2017, 15')
Two sound recordists let their imaginations loose to find satisfying sounds for a film project. But will their voices ever be acknowledged?
Blindelings (Joanne van der Weg, NL 2014, 2')
What do you hear when you can’t see and do something mundane like taking a train journey to Rotterdam Central? The animation is about a little trip a blind person makes to get somewhere.
Reservaat (Clara van Gool, NL 1988, 9')
Short dance film focusing on the Argentine Tango. The location is a winters, deserted and neglected park. As they dance, two women dressed in close-fitting fur take possession of the park. All sound in Reservaat has been done after the edit of the image, with elementary foley work.
Hotel Nachtclub (Arianne Olthaar, NL 2011, 3')
The larger, luxury hotels built during the 1970s not only had a restaurant, a hair salon, a souvenir shop and a bar, but usually also a night club in the cellar, generally indicated by an arrow at the stairs pointing down. Almost all these have since been closed or renovated.
Deaf Perception (Alyssa Dole & Chase Bailey, US 2010, 5')
Signing is believing. Deaf twin sisters sign their way through ignorance and prejudice, discovering compassion in an unlikely corner of a local coffee house.

This is part of

Researchlabs 2023

Production year

2023

Length

60 min.

Event language

English

Country

Part of

Researchlabs 2023

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