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A Call to Listen: The ‘New’ Documentary in Radio—Encountering ‘Wild Sound’ and The ‘Filme Sonore’

2010; Routledge; Volume: 30; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01439685.2010.505039

1465-3451

Virginia Madsen,

Media, Communication, and Education

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes 1 In Kaye Mortley, Five Sound Objects, radio program/audio recording presented in Zagreb, International Features Conference, 2002; in Robert McLeish, The Technique of Radio Production (London, 1978), 270. 2 In Jean Rouch, in: Chronicle of a Summer—Ten Years After, by Ellen Freyer, in Lewis Jacobs (ed.) The Documentary Tradition (New York, 1969), 71. 3 In Understanding Media: the extensions of man (1964), chapter 2, McLuhan refers to both radio and film as being ‘hot’ mediums: ‘A hot medium is one that extends one single sense in “high definition”,’ he writes, and ‘High definition is the state of being well filled with data.’ Although McLuhan deemed most radio to be ‘hot’ and an extension of the ‘tribal drum,’ there is a place in his analysis for the medium to also be ‘cool.’ Just as McLuhan felt that jazz had its hot and cool phases (corresponding to different eras and styles), the radio medium might also be considered ‘cool’ when it allows more space for the listener: ‘cool media are high in participation or completion by the audience.’ 4 See for example Michele Hilmes and Jason Loviglio (eds), Radio Reader: essays in the cultural history of radio (New York, Routledge, 2002). 5 A term directly adopted from the BBC and its groundbreaking and highly influential ‘Features Department’ (1946–1964). 6 For example, Arte-radio. www.arteradio.com; Sound Portraits: www.soundportraits.com. 7 ‘Wild sound’ is a term most commonly used in film to describe any sound atmosphere captured or recorded on location. It is commonly added in film documentaries and in more recent times has been used rhetorically to refer to the kind of approach taken to long-form auteur radio features. See Tony Barrell, Torque radio: the radio feature, in: Steve Ahern (ed.) Making Radio: a practical guide to working in radio (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2000), and Virginia Madsen, Written in air: experiments in radio, in: Gail Priest (ed.), Experimental Music: audio explorations in Australia (Sydney, UNSW Press, 2009). Barrell writes, op. cit., ‘I try to put the feature beyond the territorial limits of storytelling. A feature should have an idea at its core, and maybe more than one. The value of radio is that it is so multi-dimensional, capable of following and elucidating more than one idea’ (p. 193), and p. 196: ‘Often it is what is going on in the background that imparts meaning, clues, authenticity. Wild sound recording is an art …. ’ 8 Paul Virilio notes; ‘The adjective documentary (having the character of a document) was actually admitted by Littré in 1879, the same year as the term impressionism,’ in: Paul Virilio, The Vision Machine (Perspectives) (British Film Institute; Bloomington, IN, Indiana University Press, 1994), 42. 9 See Paddy Scannell, ‘The stuff of radio’: developments in radio features and documentaries before the war, in: John Corner (ed.), Documentary and the Mass Media (London, 1986), 1–26. 10 Ibid., 2. 11 Ibid., 2. 12 Pages 168–169, in Scannell, op. cit., 2. 13 Scannell, 2. Also see Paul Rotha, Television and the future of documentary, Quarterly of Film, Radio and Television 9 (1954–1955). ‘D.G. Bridson's “The End of Mussolini”, Leonard Cottrell's “The Man from Belsen”, these became as well known to the listening public as … [similar offerings] to the cinema going audience,’ 369. 14 Lewis Jacobs in his account of the origins of the documentary film wrote: ‘By 1930, the documentary film had become an acknowledged category and had achieved a secure, if as yet small, niche in the world of film.’ Lewis Jacobs, The feel of a new genre, in: Lewis Jacobs (ed.), The Documentary Tradition, from Nanook to Woodstock (New York, Hopkinson and Blake, 1971), 14. 15 Grierson in John Grierson and Forsyth Hardy, Grierson on Documentary (revised edn) (Faber, 1966), 250. See also Jacobs, The Documentary Tradition, from Nanook to Woodstock. Jacobs writes, ‘the first feature-length film of fact’ was ‘Flaherty's Nanook of the North (1922)’: ‘a landmark in film history’ (p. 7) because: the drama of Nanook was not imposed, but derived from the material itself, arranged into a loose narrative … [which] marked the advent of a type of film new to the world. Its use of environmental details and skilled continuity broke with the purely descriptive; it swept away the notion that what the camera recorded was the total reality. Flaherty proved there was another reality which the eye alone could not perceive, but which the heart and mind could discern—what his wife was to call ‘that high moment of seeing, that flash of penetration into the heart of the matter. (Ibid., 8) 16 John Corner, The Art of Record: a critical introduction to documentary (New York & Manchester, 1996), 2. 17 Lance Sieveking, The Stuff of Radio (London, Cassell, 1934), 71. 18 Ibid., 73. 19 Douglas Cleverdon, Radio Features and Drama at the B.B.C., Times Literary Supplement (1970), 229. 20 Margaret Fisher, Ezra Pound's Radio Operas: The B.B.C. Experiments, 1931–1933 (Cambridge, MA/London: MIT, 2002), 72. Sieveking describes a number of productions in The Stuff of Radio. 21 Ibid., 72. Also see Fisher, 76–77: ‘The technical key to the acoustic experiments emanating from the BBC was not film but the Dramatic Control panel (DCP),’ with its inputs and outputs for microphones, music and sound effects rendering ‘the dimension of space.’ This ‘gave the producer great freedom to montage a work according to editing precepts established by film,’ 76. ‘By 1931 this prototype of our modern audio mixing board was indispensable for music and drama programs.’ Ibid., 77. 22 Sieveking, The Stuff of Radio, 73. 23 Ib Poulsen (Danish media historian specialising in Danish radio history) interviewed in Copenhagen, 7 June 2004 by the author. The disk-cutting machine used a fragile wax lacquer and could record up to three minutes of sound. 24 ‘Actualities,’ Fisher writes, ‘were based on fact, written specifically for radio, and dramatically rendered for a sense of heightened realism.’ Op. cit., 78. 25 See Scannell, The Radio Documentary: from profession to apparatus, in Prix Italia, The Quest for Radio Quality (1996). Also D. G. Bridson, Prospero and Ariel: the rise and fall of radio (London, Gollancz, 1971). 26 Prix Italia et al., The Quest for Radio Quality: the documentary (Naples, Prix Italia, 1996), 34. 27 Fisher, Ezra Pound's Radio Operas: the B.B.C. experiments, 1931–1933, 73. 28 Klaus Schöning, The contours of acoustic art, Theatre Journal 43(3) (1991), 316. 29 Ibid., 316. 30 See Jean Rouch, Preface to Georges Sadoul, Dziga Vertov (Paris, Champ Libre, 1971), 12; also Doron Galili, Introduction to Fevralsky, ‘Currents in Art and the Radio-Eye’ (1925), Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television 28(1) (2008). 31 Schöning, The contours of acoustic art, 316. 32 Cited in ibid., 316. 33 Schöning: ‘This eleven minute sound piece was transmitted on June 13, 1930, by Berlin and Breslavia radio and represented a significant advance for broadcast art.’ Ibid. 34 Ibid., 317. 35 The radio documentary: its language and forms from the past to the future, in: Prix Italia et al., The Quest for Radio Quality: the documentary. 36 The radio documentary: its language and forms from the past to the future: Ortoleva, in: Ibid., 56. 37 Brecht, Börsen-Courier (Berlin, 1927); trans. Stuart hood, Brecht on Radio, Screen 20(3/4) (Winter 1979–1980), 18. 38 The radio documentary: its language and forms from the past to the future, in: Prix Italia et al., The Quest for Radio Quality: the documentary, 56. 39 See Ian Rodger, Radio Drama (London, Macmillan, 1982). 40 See Fisher, op. cit., 78. 41 See Scannell, The Stuff of Radio, op. cit., and Rodger, Radio Drama, 45: ‘The BBC's insistence upon scripted documentary programmes was to stimulate an approach to composition which was closer to drama than to journalism.’ 42 Scannell, Prix Italia, op. cit., 36. See also Olive Shapley and Christina Hart, Broadcasting a Life: the autobiography of Olive Shapley (London, Scarlet, 1996). 43 Felix Felton, The Radio-Play: its technique and possibilities (London, Sylvan Press, 1949), 99–100. 44 Ibid., 100. 45 Rodger, Radio Drama, 70. 46 See Roger Clausse, La Radio, Huitième Art (Bruxelles, Office de publicité, 1945), where these terms are used to describe features. Also I have interviewed several key players in German feature making (including Peter Leonard Braun and Klaus Lindemann) since the 1950s who also make the point that the term horbilder for the most part was discarded for being ‘too tainted’ with the Nazis propaganda. See also A feature anthology, in: Flor Stein (ed.), A Feature Anthology (Brussels, 1992), and Christa Hülsebus-Wagner, Feature Und Radio-Essay: Hörfunkformen Von Autoren Der Gruppe 47 Und, Cobra Medien; 1 (Aachen, Cobra, 1983). 47 Orteleva in Prix Italia et al., The Quest for Radio Quality: the documentary, 58–59. 48 Orteleva in ibid., 58–59. 49 In Hollywood Quarterly: Radio broadcasting in Sweden, Volume III (Fall 1947), No 1 Uni of California press Berk & LA all quotes, 13. 50 Rodger writes: ‘Gilliam resisted change too’ of another kind: The obvious technical advantages of the portable tape-recorder were at first deliberately ignored. This machine argued for a complete change in the manner of composing features. It at last allowed the voices of the people, whose shouts and murmurs [Archie] Harding had championed in Manchester in the 30s, to be heard perfectly and exactly. It could be used to copy musical excerpts, dispensing with the need for the presence of orchestras in the studios. It argued to the greater use of ingenious cutting and editing and gave the producer, rather than the writer, much more editorial control. It ought to have been welcomed but for some time it was carefully ignored. Michael Barsley recalls using such a machine in 1950 but the programme he made was never broadcast.’ The portable tape recorder was regarded with suspicion and hostility. (pp. 92–93) 51 The radiomontager was defined in these words by Viggo Clausen: ‘To get to know through experience, to enlighten through experience’ (trans. Lone Bertelson). From Anne Mette Johansen, Danske Radiomontager: Forsvarstale for En Til Tider Overhort Genre (Specialopgave, Institut for Nordisk Filologi, Kobenhavn, 1986), 3. 52 Reunert was a highly influential radio maker who nevertheless talked with children, hairdressers, workers, ordinary people of Denmark previously ignored by the radio. In ‘Politiken’ (1949), he wrote; ‘The people I talk to do not know they have something to tell. I consciously seek out the ordinary. My own life has not followed a regular course, which is the reason why I am interested in reaching the unique characteristics of the accidental through the ordinary encounter.’ From Anne Mette Johansen, Udsyn, Indsigt Og Samvittinghed, Emil (July 1994), 11 (trans. Lone Bertelson). 53 Reunert (Social demoktaten, 30 December 1956), cited in Johansen, Danske Radiomontager: Forsvarstale for En Til Tider Overhort Genre, 77. Trans. Lone Bertelson for author. 54 Willy Reunert, Hamborgs Haven (Trans ‘Hamburg's Harbour,’ 1953) Danmarks Radio. Translation of narrator and fellow feature maker Viggo Claussen (Lone Bertelson, Sydney). Reunert arrived in Denmark as a refugee in 1935 but then had to flee to Sweden. He later began to use portable tape recorders after fitting out his own car with a portable gramophone recorder immediately after the war. See Virginia Madsen, Radio and the documentary imagination: thirty years of experiment, innovation, and revelation, The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media 3(3) (2005). The first tape recorder Reunert used was the Maihak, which needed to be wound up after each recording via a spring. It allowed a much longer duration for a recording compared to the earlier more bulky disk recorder, up to 7.5 minutes. 55 Cited in Johansen, Danske Radiomontager: Forsvarstale for En Til Tider Overhort Genre, 62. 56 Peter Leonhard Braun, Peter Leonhard Braun Presents the Classics (Sydney, Audio Arts Department, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 2001). Unpublished recording, copy held in ABC Archives and by the author. 57 See Jean Tardieu, Le Club D’essai Et Son Apport a L’effort Culturel De La Radiodiffusion-Television Francaise, Cahiers du Centre de Documentation, La Commission Nationale Canadienne pour L’Unesco (Paris, Unesco), 23 (1956), and Pierre Schaeffer, 10 Ans D’essais Radiophoniques: Du Studio Au Club D’essai, 1942–1952, in: Collections: Les Grandes Heures de la Radio, 1942/1952 … (Arles, Editions Phonurgia Nova/INA, 1989; reprint, 1961). 58 Klaus Schöning, The contours of acoustic art, in: Klaus Schöning, Neues Horspiel O-Ton: Der Konsument Als Produzent: Versuche Arbeitsberichte, Edition Suhrkamp; 705 (Frankfurt am Main, Suhrkamp, 1974). 59 See Radio Nacional de Espana and European Broadcasting Union., in Victoriano Fernandez Assis (ed.), Rencontres De Tenerife (Madrid: Radio Nacional de Espagna (RTVE) (1977). 60 Madsen interview with Braun/Lindemann (2002), Audio interview recording (16 December 2002, Wustroff, Germany). See also EBU-UER, in Edwin Brys (ed.), The I.F.C. (International Feature Conference) Collection (Geneva, EBU-UER, 2004). Peter Leonhard Braun, Hühner, Catch as Catch Can, 8.15 Uhr Op Iii Hüftplastik, [Und] Hyänen: 4 Feature-Texte, Sender Freies Berlin. Buchreihe; 12 (Berlin, Haude & Spener, 1972). 61 Text introducing transcript: Peter Leonhard Braun, Prix Italia 1966: Londoner Abend/London Evening, in: ARD Prix Italia Transcripts (Radio documentary) (Germany, 1966). 62 Ibid. 63 Ibid. 64 Also released on CD: Peter Leonhard Braun, Glocken in Europa (Berlin: Der Audio Verlag GmbH, SFB, 2000). 65 Peter Leonhard. Braun, Glocken in Europa/Bells in Europe: A Stereophonic Documentary, in: ARD Prix Italia Transcripts (Radio documentary) (Germany, 1973). 66 Ibid. (Excerpts of transcript only). English Translation: Michael Stone. 67 Madsen Braun Interview (2) (Berlin, 2004), Audio Interview Recording. 68 See EBU-UER, The I.F.C. (International Feature Conference) Collection. 69 See V. Madsen, Collection: Rene Farabet Interviewed (Paris) (Sydney, Private collection, 2001–2004), Allen S. Weiss, Experimental Sound and Radio, T.D.R. Books (Cambridge, MA, MIT Press, 2001), and Virginia Madsen, The Atelier De Creation Radiophonique: propositions for an expanded radio imaginary, in: Bruce Berryman, David Goodman, and Sianan Healey (eds), Radio in the World: Radio Conference 2005 (Melbourne, Vic., RMIT Publishing, 2005). 70 In V. Madsen, Interview with Alain Trutat (Paris, Unpublished, 2002). See also V. Madsen, A Radio D’auteur: the documentaire de creation of Kaye Mortley, SCAN 6, no. 3 (2009). 71 (In original French): Qu’est-ce qu’un ‘documentaire de création’? Un nom que l’on donne (un peu ‘faute de mieux’) à un type de radio où le réel glisse vers autre chose (‘la fiction’ ou ‘l’art,’ peut-être) … Un type de radio dont le but est moins d’instruire et d’informer (bien que ni l’information, ni l’enseignement n’en soient exclus) que de créer un univers (au sens large) tissé de sons réels. Le sujet importe peu, n’étant souvent qu’un prétexte permettant à l’auteur de parler de quelque chose de plus universel — ou de plus intime que ledit sujet. Ce qui importe c’est l’auteur et sa façon de s’engager avec le sujet. Car derrière tout documentaire de création, il doit y avoir un auteur. Kaye Mortley, citation from one of her workshops (Stages Documentaire de creation), held annually in Arles, as part of the Phonurgia Nova Festival of Radio. 72 All quotations here from Tony Barrell, Torque radio: the radio feature, in: Steve Ahern (ed.), Making Radio: a practical guide to working in radio (Sydney 2000), 191–192. 73 References notes to Yann Paranthoën et al., On Nagra … Il Enregistrera (Paris, Institut national de l’audiovisuel France, distrib. Radio-France, 1994), 1 disque compact 59 min 11 s (Selection Radio France Prix Italia 1987), English, On Nagra: He will record. Also see Yann Paranthoën et al., Propos D’un Tailleur De Sons (Arles, Phonurgia nova, 1990).