This dissertation examines the evolving articulation of sound and image in contemporary culture, with particular reference to film. It argues that sound and image have undergone a historical machined separation, followed by a machined fusion or recombination. The machined fusion of sound and image has enabled the creation of soundful images, which are more than simply the sum of their parts. Through the infusion of sound, images are now routinely reinforced with a performed sense of presence, where they are made to sound more real, more powerful, more authentic. Through association with the image, sounds are reinforced to the extent of becoming ‘realer than real’. By tracing the history of sound and image from their initial machined separation to their subsequent machined fusion, it will be argued that a new relationship has been created that has shaped an influential new mode of communication and perception.

My interest in sound-centric filmmaking and the literary genre of magical realism fostered the development of my thesis film, The Oxide Incident. The film is the story of Simon, a recent divorcee and sound archivist, who discovers a mysterious reel-to-reel-audio tape that he believes may help him heal his damaged relationship with Hannah, his teenage daughter. This paper examines the influence of magical realism on the film, some of its thematic, theoretical, and conceptual ideas such as its exploration of interpersonal communication and its implications in regard to gender, as well as some of its formal strategies. It concludes with a reflection on the process, a historical note, and a glimpse at my future trajectory as a filmmaker.

This dissertation examines music's role in cinema in the early years of synchronized sound film in the United States and France. Working against the historical and technological determinism that often plagues narratives of the transition to sound, I investigate the myriad ways in which directors, producers, and composers approached the new technology. Films acted as artistic manifestoes on the new technology and its aesthetic potential as filmmakers experimented with the musical soundtrack. Through multi-site archival research and close analyses of films and their music, I point to the heterogeneity of film music practices during synchronized sound's nascent years, considering early sound films as sites of aesthetic contestation and negotiation. / Music

La volonté de produire des vues sonores est présente dès les débuts du cinéma, comme en témoignent les expérimentations d'Edison, Lioret, Messter et tant d'autres. Ce mémoire s'inscrira en continuité des études débutées il y a une vingtaine d'années déjà, tendant à montrer que l'utilisation du son in ne débute pas en 1927 avec The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland). Il s'orientera sur les travaux de Léon Gaumont relatifs à la synchronisation du son et de l'image par l'entremise de son chronophone, et examinera en quoi cette tentative de synchronisation pourrait participer aux processus attractionnels du cinéma des premiers temps, période d'inventions et d'expérimentations multiples de la fin du XIXème siècle jusqu'aux alentours de 1914. De facto, comme ce cinéma a principalement une dimension exhibitionniste, l'ajout du son postsynchronisé semble renforcer son côté attractionnel prédominant : non seulement on « fait vivre des images », mais en plus on adjoint la possibilité de « donner à entendre », en rendant plus intrinsèquement sensitive l'expérience cinématographique. Il sera principalement question de l'apport de cette nouvelle attraction relativement à plusieurs instances : le fabricant de vues animées, le « metteur en scène », l'exhibiteur et, bien entendu, le spectateur. Ces recherches seront basées sur différents types de « vues phoniques » produites par la compagnie de Léon Gaumont qui soulèveront des questions parallèles tantôt relatives aux appareillages, tantôt relatives aux paradigmes de monstration dans lesquelles ces vues s'inscrivent. Ces divers éléments permettront alors de distinguer à quel(s) niveau(x) se situe la frontière entre « l'attraction d'attraction » et l'attraction en soi, que constitue l'adjonction d'un son synchronisé à l'image. / The desire to add sound to moving pictures can be traced back to the very beginnings of cinema, notably in the experiments conducted by Edison, Lioret, and Messter. This thesis follows the path opened twenty years ago by researchers trying to demonstrate that the use of “in” sound predates the 1927 film The Jazz Singer (Alan Crosland). It will focus on Léon Gaumont’s work on the synchronisation of image and sound through his device, the Chronophone, examining how this attempt at sound synchronisation can be understood as a part of early cinema’s attraction process, during the era of multiple inventions and experimentations, from the end of the 19th century to 1914 approximately. In fact, since early cinema is essentially an “exhibitionist” practice, the addition of post-synchronized sound appears to reinforce its predominantly attractive nature: pictures not only “come to life”, but also “make themselves heard”, making the cinematographic experience all the more intrinsically sensorial. This new attractive dimension is manifest in several instances: from the animated views manufacturer to the director, the exhibitor, and obviously, the spectator. Different types of “phonic views” produced by the Gaumont company are studied, raising parallel questions regarding, on the one hand, the apparatus involved and, on the other hand, the monstrative paradigm to which these views belong. These elements make it possible to distinguish the different levels at which the frontier between the “attraction of attractions” and the attraction of synchronized sound itself is drawn.

This thesis deals with issues of multilingualism, i. e. appearance of two or more different languages, in a film. The first part of the thesis provides an introduction to the theory of communication, then follows a brief look at the character of film communication, i. e. its primary and secondary stucture. The second part concerns with multilingualism on both levels of communication in film discourse. The author discusses filmmaker's intentions related to comprehension or incomprehension of a foreign-language text and establishes the functions of multilingualism. The following parts research three separate film categories whose classification is based on types of languages that appear in film. The first category embraces films in that several different real spoken languages figure, the second one includes films where real spoken language and fictional language appear, films of the third category present spoken language and means of communication used by deaf people. Keywords sound film, communication, multilingualism, natural language, sign language, fictional language

This dissertation examines the coming of sound film in Sweden during the years 1928–1932, and the reception of mechanically recorded sounds both in the trade press and among audiences. The novelty of sound film opened up for a negotiation of the perception of sound and image, as it made visible the film medium’s technological construction, before this visibility was once more absorbed by the cinematic discourse. The conversion to sound film is considered from three perspectives -- technology, reception and practice -- as well as through the concept of intermediality, focussing how the audio-visual expression changed during this period. Chapter 1 “Image, Sound, Audience I: ‘Constructed’ sounds - the visibility of technology” deals with these issues prior to the conversion to sound, and the following intermediate years, until sound film had reached a certain equilibrium. Chapter 2 “Production – The Companies” deals with the production and the major Swedish sound companies. Particular attention is given to how formative music in their films transforms itself into a consistent use of non-diegetic music two years before this happened in Hollywood. Chapter 3 “Reception – The Cinemas” addresses the topic of the reception of the first sound films in Sweden during 1929. The argument is that the audience’s re-awakened awareness of the technology described in Chapter 1 was an active part in this process, and that their reactions led back into the advertising campaigns, making them participants in the cinematic event. Chapter 4 “Practice – The Musicians” continues this debate from a musician’s point of view. This chapter turns the focus upside down and looks at the arrival of sound film from a grass-roots perspective. While chapter 4 diverts somewhat in dwelling on issues that do not strictly deal with the conversion to sound, it serves to contextualise a technological invention that changed not only film production and reception, but also had very concrete social repercussions for those that created the sounds of music. Chapter 5 “Image, Sound, Audience II: ‘Authentic’ sounds - the disappearance of technology” dovetails with Chapter 1, addressing similar phenomena at a time when these had become fully integrated and the technology once more became invisible.