Audiovisual Silence: A Lever for Narrative Change and Transition
2023; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 75; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.5406/19346018.75.3.04
ISSN1934-6018
Autores Tópico(s)Communication in Education and Healthcare
Resumosilence is meaningful matter that is universally used as a method of communicating in all human cultures, although each society and epoch has established its own specific uses and meanings for it (Fierro 48; Marco 7). Nevertheless, according to Àngel Rodríguez, silence has traditionally been undervalued in academic film analysis and theories. Silence is usually dealt with in a few lines and is often ignored (148). Yet silence and audiovisual silence especially are rich fields to explore.For this reason, the research in this article aims to increase academic debate about silence in the audiovisual context. Specifically, the discussion highlights that audiovisual silence, or the sensation of silence embedded in the audiovisual, is aesthetically useful and currently often used in film transitions. These audiovisual moments of change create variations between scenes and in some cases take place within a single scene as well. Due to silence's different ontological characteristics, which it preserves when it turns into audiovisual silence, and its connotations, which are commonly understood by all humankind, silence is an ideal lever to instigate a film change and transition.The article aims to answer the following questions: Why does audiovisual silence work as an inductor of change and transition? What does audiovisual silence mean and imply in a narrative context? Why does the audience accept audiovisual silence as a transition method? What categories can be differentiated in how audiovisual silence is used in transitions? Although there do not appear to be any clear answers, the discussion establishes a theoretical framework for considering these questions.Silence is a dual phenomenon; like sound, it is physical and cognitive. There is a specific sonorous form for silence, with a particular acoustic disposition and parameters. This would correspond to the physical part. However, this sonorous form can be perceived only if it is within the threshold of human acoustic perception, which is the cognitive part. Moreover, the outcome of this sonorous form is a sensation, a cognitive interpretation of auditory relaxation.Both sound and silence need to be displayed in time, and both require contrast for listeners to distinguish and perceive them. As physical phenomena, sound waves move temporally, in cycles. As cognitive phenomena, sound and silence need variations to be perceived. For silence, in particular, contrast is its raw material (Torras, “Existència per Contrast” 77–81). Essentially, waves in cycles and variations, comparing one part with another, exist only when there is time to observe their unfolding, and they need differences, or contrast, to be distinguished.On the other hand, although silence is frequently related to the absence of sound, it is impossible to perceive a situation with no sound at all (Rodríguez 148–49; Cage 42, 93). Thanks to the restless nature of the human brain (Chafe 53, 67), hearing is an involuntary sense, and there is always a sonorous continuum (Chion 45, 213). The human brain is always gathering new sounds and is always processing some kind of acoustic signal. Moreover, according to Michel Chion, with no sound (in other words, without variations) humans would not perceive silence. People would not be able to perceive a completely uniform and invariable silence or sound (Chion 17).Therefore, because absolute external and internal silence is impossible, silence cannot be related to the absence of sound. Thus, Rodríguez proposes that silence can be referred to as a sensation of the absence of sound, which would be the effect produced by a particular sonorous form (150). The sonorous form that produces the sensation of silence is a combination of acoustic parameters: at least three seconds each of the loudest and the quietest parts and a decrease of at least thirty decibels, what Rodríguez calls silence-effect1 and what creates the sensation of auditory relaxation (Rodríguez 151–52). This sensation of auditory relaxation is what people feel and relate to the idea of silence.In addition, as a communicative device, silence is always meaningful and contributes nuances to the other codes it interacts with (Torras, “El Silencio: El Elemento Olvidado” 646–47). Nevertheless, silence has two prominent features: ambiguity and context dependency. Moreover, context dependency is the consequence of the ambiguity (Marco 9). This means that silence can be correctly interpreted only by attending to its immediate context.Because silence is a device that can be interpreted only in combination with other elements, and because it is a communicative action with psychological and linguistic dimensions (Fierro 61–66), it can be decoded only through its context. All kinds of codes are influenced by and interact with their context (which is why the context is a component of the generic communication process), but silence has a special and unavoidable link to context. As such, silence is context-dependent.2All these characteristics pertain to any kind of silence, wherever it is produced. Nevertheless, if silence is used as a device within an audiovisual work, it becomes audiovisual silence, which has the added attribute of being planned, modeled, and combined intentionally and creatively. Audiovisual silence can express meanings and emotions, especially inner thoughts linked to the self, more effectively than other devices (Bruneau and Achaz 11; Ephratt 1916; Román 59). Silence is a linchpin between the external world and the internal, between the personal and even spiritual spheres (Marco 26, 76–78). For this reason, silence works well with inexpressible or ineffable ideas and emotions.In essence, audiovisual silence is the silence embedded in audiovisual narration that creates or prolongs meaning, nuances, emotions, and significant narrative appearances in an audiovisual work. This definition is taken from the point of view of a filmmaker, who combines different strategies to generate audiovisual expression. That said, if silence is basically contrast that produces a sensation of auditory relaxation, then from a cognitive perspective, audiovisual silence involves acoustic contrast that creates a sensation of auditory relaxation in the audience (Torras, “El Silenci, Matèria Expressiva” 37–38).In terms of its analysis, the device of silence should be analyzed by observing three parts or moments, antecedent, entity, and consequent, which relate to context dependency (Torras, “El Silencio: El Elemento” 646; Fierro 68). The sensation of the absence of sound (the sensation of auditory relaxation or the sensation of silence) is placed and developed in the entity, which must last at least three seconds to produce a cognitive effect of relaxation. All audiovisual codes, but especially acoustic codes from the soundtrack that appear before the entity (the previous audiovisual devices), are called the antecedent. The intensity and texture of the antecedent and the type of transition to entity determine the kind of sensation produced and, hence, the type of audiovisual silence generated.3 The audiovisual element embedded after the first soundtrack device that breaks the entity sensation of silence is the consequent (the subsequent audiovisual devices in the narration).From an analytic perspective, audiovisual silence has specific features, such as adscription to the present, transparency, and multiple interactions. Starting with this last feature, silence simultaneously interacts with all audiovisual codes, both acoustic and visual, throughout the three moments (antecedent, entity, and consequent). Silence has multiple and simultaneous interactions with all other codes and creates meaning by molding an overall sense together with them. Since silence and visual codes use different sensory channels—the acoustic and the visual, respectively—they are complementary; moreover, they are perceived together, and together they generate a unique combined global sense.Audiovisual silence also has a special transparency with soundtrack codes or acoustic resources. This is because silence's signifier is produced by contrast and not by displaying a constant sound or total absence of it. This feature of audiovisual silence makes partial silence possible. As explained, silence is based in contrast and not in the absence of sound. This contrast is produced by a fall of at least thirty decibels. Therefore, if the intensity after this fall (the segment called entity) is within the threshold of human acoustic perception, a sensation of auditory relaxation can be processed, due to the reduction in decibels, and some low soundtrack elements will be heard simultaneously. In other words, the fall of thirty decibels does not necessarily cross the threshold of human hearing, so some acoustic elements may still be heard. This also would be a kind of capacity for simultaneity (appearing with other acoustic elements, which could be called transparency with a synesthesia approach) because silence and soundtrack elements can be heard at the same time.Audiovisual silence generates meaning relating only to the present scene or narrative instant. It has a mandatory adscription to the present. As Fierro highlights, silence is an action, a sort of conduct, and this implies that silence does not exist as a material element (signifier) or as a specific meaning before the concrete context of action (48). For example, in a concrete audiovisual moment, if a specific silence does not exist prior to the current narrative instant that generates it, and at the same time audiences can accept that the same silence will not exist after the contrast of the present scene or action, then there is no meaning of this specific silence spread out beyond here and now codes. Audiovisual silence always adds nuance to the present audiovisual codes, which are those shown right at the moment the audiovisual is processed in a sequential perception. Audiovisual silence is effective only in real time.Since the dawn of the sound film era, as highlighted by David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson's quoting of V. F. Perkins, audiovisual silence has been an efficient device to show, create, and induce narrative change and transition in films and audiovisual works belonging to all historical periods (293). In filmic terms, as described by Francesco Casetti and Federico Di Chio, transition and change imply modifications or transformations in film content (situations, events, and characters), or in the way that content is narrated (172).Therefore, it is necessary to understand that in this article, change and transition are terms that attend to the way audiovisual silence is displayed and functions. It is important to note that although these terms traditionally refer to narrative continuity or the connections between scenes and shots, in this work they are linked not to editing techniques but to audiovisual silence's role in relation to the other simultaneous devices.Thus, to clearly define the terms in this research, transition is understood as a softer narrative variation, with continuity and gradual progression accompanied by the extension of audiovisual silence. At the same time, change is a more abrupt modification that suddenly ends or adds new codes or devices into the narration, rashly altering the scene or shot with the contrast of audiovisual silence. In other words, an audiovisual silence transition emphasizes continuity, and an audiovisual silence change emphasizes contrast.An example can be found in the initial sequence of Shooter (Antoine Fuqua, 2007). In this scene, Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is a sniper shooting at the enemy helicopter, which falls from the sky in a ball of flames and black smoke. This action is strengthened by loud dynamic music and battle sounds in the foreground. The screen fades to black with the falling helicopter, and an audiovisual silence is displayed. Afterward follows a few seconds of a black screen and silence. This audiovisual silence represents death (the helicopter crash) and something stopping (the machine no longer working), but it also performs a transition, moving the film from one scene to another. The next scene also begins in silence, with Swagger in the US mountains and with onscreen text noting it is “thirty-six months later.” Audiovisual silence, by creating a rhythm, has promoted the change of time and place and has advanced the film's narrative. Initially, audiovisual silence shows a change by contrasting the noises of the helicopter crash with a sensation of absence of sound (and black frames), and later, audiovisual silence conducts a transition from a black screen to a new scene set in the mountains.In film, change and transition can take place in either a diegetic dimension or an extradiegetic dimension. The diegetic dimension is the story world (its agents, circumstances, and surroundings) or, in Bordwell's terms, where characters feel and experience the change or transition (90). The extradiegetic dimension, however, is related to film content being arranged in series (in Casetti and Di Chio's terms) and also refers to succession order (Casetti and Di Chio 126, 151). In the extradiegetic dimension, characters themselves do not notice changes or transitions, but the audience does (Bordwell and Thompson 67). These kinds of changes and transitions are some of the resources used for how a story is narrated—the “account” according to Aumont et al. (109)4—and are not part of the story itself. Therefore, in the extradiegetic dimension, time can jump backward or forward and exhibit alterations by being extended or compressed to create filmic time, which is a very different kind of time from the continuity and directionality of humans’ real lives. This can be referred to as artificial time.Because transition is gradual or soft evolution, it is necessary to employ at least one expressive resource that links both parts and also softens the change. Silence, for instance, represents a mood, an environment, or a message that can be easily continued in the next linked situation. Any device that begins in a prior situation in the audiovisual narration and continues or ends in the following situation establishes a moderate connection. This moderate connection between two scenes or situations clearly shows a change in continuity, because at least one resource extends throughout both parts. Thus, while there are obviously variations, at the same time there is also narrative continuity with a shared resource. Audiovisual silence is an ideal device for this linking due to how easily it molds with any other code and how it promotes continuity.To explain audiovisual silence as an inductor of change, it is necessary to remember its essence—what it is made of. As explained, contrast is the raw material of silence. Without acoustic contrast, silence—and of course, audiovisual silence—would not exist. Contrast, as a concept, involves at least two parts with at least one differentiated aspect or component. Moreover, it could be said that this differentiated part needs to be sufficiently visible or perceptible (remarkable enough, that is, to stand out). Audiovisual silence, which is contrast, has an antecedent with greater intensity than its entity; thus, audiovisual silence is the ideal way to express an abrupt change with a sudden alteration in the soundtrack.5 Silence is change and transition itself.First, because audiovisual silence has multiple interactions with all other codes, this contrast impregnates the whole scene with meaning. Jerónimo Labrada explains that human hearing is still configured to respond to a primitive survival instinct. According to Labrada, human hearing was adapted to be efficient in a wild and aggressive environment, so it reacts more quickly and with greater precision to a contrasted sound than to one that is stable and continuous (23–25). In the past, timely detection of a new noise, which could signal a predator, had the potential to save human lives and indirectly preserve the human race. For this reason, contrast in general, and specifically contrast produced by audiovisual silence, holds people's attention and easily disseminates its interpretation of novelty or change to the other film devices and the overall meaning.On the other hand, transition using audiovisual silence requires this device to begin some frames before the transformation. To establish audiovisual silence as the expressive resource that links the previous and final parts throughout the period of shift, audiovisual silence must be already present in the previous part of the transformation, or the first narrative situation. Thus, in the case of transition, the soundtrack variation introduced by silence ideally occurs some seconds before the narrative transition from one position to another, from one state to another, or from one stage to another takes place. It is important to remember that audiovisual silence accompanies a transition but does not carry it out.Second, audiovisual silence conveys rhythm. Because audiovisual silence is itself change (contrast), it is perfectly suited to represent change narratively. This essence of contrast is also the first aspect of audiovisual silence's suitability for change and transition, mentioned previously, but observed from a rhythmical approach. According to Rodríguez, the perception of a sensation of silence is in great measure based on the ancient Greek conceptual dichotomy of “tesis-arsis,” or take-lift. Rodríguez quotes Willens when he states that this relationship of a strong and a weak beat, the take-lift, or the background/signal represented in silence (part low intensity, or lift, and part high intensity, or take), is a sort of “principle of all musical structure” translated into “take or sound (tesis) and lift or stop sounding (arsis)” (Willens 223–25, qtd. in Rodríguez 151). From a neuroscientific approach, David Cameron and Jessica Grahn explain that rhythm works by contrasting beats or moments of different intensity, and silence efficiently helps to identify accented onsets and to determine beat structure and rhythm (357). Therefore, silence as a constituent of rhythm depends on the existence of a previous or subsequent contrasted sound (or soundtrack combination in the context of this study).Audiovisual silence plays with and maintains this ancient take-lift structure narratively, not beat by beat, but segment to segment, which can be frames, scenes, or even sequences. Because audiovisual silence appears after a loud acoustic part (as contrast), it represents the weak part: the lift movement. Thus, after audiovisual silence, a louder part is expected, creating continuity and narrative fluency. Silence transmits its identity as the weak part to all the frames or scenes in which it is displayed.6 Therefore, audiovisual silence facilitates succession, change, and transition from a rhythmic approach as well.7Third, audiovisual silence is a communicative component to alternation. The former rhythmic alternation between sound and no sound (or rather, loud sound and low sound) also can be explained from a linguistic point of view. First, it is necessary to conceive of silence as interdependent with words. One does not exist without the other. As Marco states, silence and words are two elements that are interpenetrated by each other (61). This idea leads to affirming that “silence is a consubstantial element to the language structure” (Marco 82; Ephratt 1911), which would mean that silence also structures language and allows it to develop.In interpersonal communication, silence has mostly been studied as pause, although there recently has been more research into eloquent silence (Ephratt 1910–11), which is consciously chosen silence.8 Linguistically, pauses are understood as “a mechanism of union or coupling”; they distribute the conversational turns and, moreover, “describe and constitute the rhythmic development that keeps the pulse of the conversational interaction” (Marco 175). Thus, pauses or silence order a discourse and mark turns and alternation. Moving and adapting this idea to audiovisual narration, audiovisual silence is considered as an active element, consubstantial to the other devices and to the global discourse, which generates narrative rhythm. Audiovisual silence distributes audiovisual narration (clearly in film dialogues, for instance) and proposes moments of narrative change (tantamount to a conversational turn). This perceptible change can be displayed and shown in any one of the components of audiovisual narration, such as characters, situation, location, or time (or position, state, or stage).In linguistic terms, this filmic language pulse and distribution is already complete in the case of eloquent silence. The main difference between pauses and eloquent silence is that the latter is consciously produced to express something; a speaker (or filmmaker, in this case) deliberately uses eloquent silence to transmit a preconceived and planned idea. This is not only discourse structure or syntax, but the speaker or filmmaker's intention and voluntary action. In film narration, eloquent silence, which could be performed by either of the audiovisual silence silence-effect or flow casual typologies, would be tantamount to the dramatic function of silence theorized by Rodríguez. Rodríguez considers a dramatic use of silence as a conscious usage “by the narrator in order to express some kind of symbolic information” (154). Nevertheless, this does not affect the argument that audiovisual silence of any type acts as an interdependent linguistic component.Moreover, following the linguistic argument, silence is the ideal messenger for people's inner thoughts and emotions. Silence is “the space of reflection, of creation, the space where the psyche conducts all its functions” (Marco 79). Because this knowledge and these private sensations are only located in and known to an individual's particular ego, no external code or language can accurately transmit them to others. Translating inner information into perceptible utterances will always be an incomplete and imperfect action, as only silence can express them. Silence is the medium for ineffable expressions. This is the reason Bruneau and Achaz affirm that “silence is the language of all strong passions: love, anger, surprise, fear” (11). In audiovisual narration, audiovisual silence is useful and works efficiently to show mental transformations or emotional modulations due to silence's suitability as a link to human consciousness. Representing a change or a transition within people's deepest unexplored inner dimension is a task for audiovisual silence.Fourth, silence as a change or transition is relatively simple to perform. Technical simplicity is another argument to support audiovisual silence as the preferred narrative mechanism for expressing change and transition. Using silence is easy because its sonorous form, described by Rodríguez as “silence-effect,” is accurately measured and is established as a reproducible cliché (148–52). The main requirement of this model is at least a thirty-decibel reduction in soundtrack intensity. Although a partial silence is possible,9 this technical action is most used to affect all acoustic resources at the same time. This global intensity reduction is clearly easier than balancing and adjusting each device to different parameters one by one.Audiovisual silence also can be used in other sound transition techniques such as overlapping. Overlapping sounds can “create soft transitions by establishing expectations that are quickly confirmed,” as explained by Bordwell and Thompson (315). Audiovisual silence, as a consubstantial element to sound, also displays these soft transitions. With silence, the expectations are more ambiguous, but linked to calm, solitude, the inner dimension, the spiritual or magical dimension, or simply change. Moreover, audiovisual silence adds rhythmic inflection and technical ease.Finally, silence and audiovisual silence are a metaphor for the journey of life and the human experience. As Marco explains, silence is rooted in all cultures as a mysterious, mythical, and mystical matter that relates to the origins of humanity. Silence is directly or indirectly linked to cosmogony myths,10 which structure and validate cultural behavior and belief systems (34–39). This silence is understood as a primordial omnipresent silence that came before and was essential to the Creation. With this implicit meaning, which is so rooted in human herd mentality, each act or action, ritual, or creative work adopts silence as an existential reference at the beginning and at the end, either consciously or unconsciously (Marco 36). The presence of silence endows any act or conduct with a spiritual, sacred, and primordial halo (Román 59, 62).For this reason, silence is a good inductor of change and transition. Its mere appearance creates a mysterious and almost magical aura that prepares the audience for transformation (when the audiovisual silence is notable). Silence is culturally interpreted as linked to beginnings or endings, and thus its presence announces the beginning and/or the end of an audiovisual unit (an act, sequence, or scene, for instance). In the context of meditation and spirituality, Román states that “silence has an illuminating, cathartic and clarifying role” (60). Silence is culturally understood as a door to unknown dimensions or a passage to the great beyond. Some of this clarifying effect is transmitted to audiovisual silence in the role of ordering and dividing the narrative structure and parts. Therefore, understanding an audiovisual silence as a linchpin (an end and a beginning) between two narrative situations is natural and almost instinctive.Death is either the definitive end or the beginning in silence. As explained, silence is the naturally understood starting point for all kinds of language expressions, artistic creations, and human acts. Words, works, and actions arise out of a previous silence. However, at the same time, silence is the metaphor for the end or, in terms of life, death (Marco 81). Moreover, Marco insinuates that human beings are positioned between two big silences: one being the origins of humankind/individuals (the Creation or birth) and the other the disappearance or end. This final silence, the great human silence, is death (Marco 82). Audiovisual silence is therefore an ideal way of introducing and representing any situation involving death. Silence is the device best suited to evoking an audiovisual death thanks to thousands of years of cultural predisposition.Different types of changes and transitions using audiovisual silence can be classified depending on the meaning the audiovisual silence transmits. Nevertheless, because silence is an action or a context-dependent device that can be interpreted only in the immediate surroundings in which the action or exhibition occurs, this classification cannot explain specific universal meanings (Marco 198). These particular meanings appear and can be assigned only in each specific narrative situation. However, it is possible to order different changes and transitions by attending to the narrative spheres the audiovisual silence connects—for instance, inner or mental spaces, physical or geographical plots, ages or narration times, and so on. Thus, it is possible to distinguish narrative uses of silence.Within film narration, the use of silence as change and transition can be placed in the diegetic dimension, or the story world, with a kind of change that characters can experience themselves; and it can be placed in the extradiegetic dimension, or the way the story is told, with filmic codes and devices that can be perceived by the audience but not by the characters. Simultaneously, the categories of physical, temporal, cognitive, and vital types of changes and transitions with audiovisual silence are classified transversally to the diegetic/extradiegetic axis. The following lines will explain each typology in detail.Physical change or transition moves the characters (diegetic) or the audience11 (extradiegetic) to another place in the story or to another perspective or point of view. Using silence to introduce a geographical displacement is a common film technique. This procedure is usually combined with a change of scene (mise-en-scène and, optionally, shot and characters). Because this type involves a change of space, it is normally produced in the extradiegetic dimension to save time, by not showing every step in the displacement. This change is usually performed with a sensation of silence in the second scene as a contrast with the first one.The Bourne Identity (Doug Liman, 2002) includes a typical change of space with audiovisual silence. After Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) flees from the US embassy in Zurich with Marie Kreutz (Franka Potente), the CIA mobilizes all its agents in the area to find him. The CIA order is emphasized with intense music while audiences see European CIA agents all over the continent preparing for action. A heavy musical beat expresses tension and dynamism as the function of a very coordinated organization. Suddenly, a wide shot shows a distant car traveling along a winding road in audiovisual silence. The contrast separates the two sides of the plot (Jason Bourne versus the CIA agents) and simultaneously underscores Jason's solitude and disorientation (due to his memory loss), although Marie's voice can be faintly heard in the background, fading in. The audiovisual silence is produced by acoustic contrast and conveys a change of place.Change of place can be a diegetic movement if the action of the story includes a change of place in continuous time, or in other words, physical change or movement experienced by the characters. A geographical displacement within the story, if long and worthy of co
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