Meet me in St, Louis and the Aspect of Sound :: essays research papers fc

The Aspect of Sound in Meet Me In St. LouisIn 1904 Eugene Lauste successfully recorded sound onto a magical spell of photographic buck. This figure was known as a Sound Grate the results where still far to crude to be used to public display. The cameras used to shoot down The Talkies as they where known, had to be kept in enormous soundproof casing. This immediately hindered directors creativity and made movies such as Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) much more than rigid. Because of the fascination with the lip-syncing that this new technology achieved less attention was played to other attributes that silent films used such as the comedic elements in Charlie Chaplins City Lights (1931.)The invention of talking pictures also had severe repercussions on the censorship process. Initially the entire process was nearly impossible, as any cuts made would have an effect on the synchronisation of the sound and the film. Minnellis 1944 musical Meet Me In St. LouisServes to implicate the co ntemporary 1944 audience (Mundy, J 1999.)This because in many ways the film aims to personify a period of loss and change as was the case in America during the Second World War period. This can be witnessed through ruddiness Smiths (Lucille Bremer) loss of a possible fianc in New York as well as the heartache the entire family feels of the possibility of moving outdoor(a) from St. Louis to New York. John Mundy (1999) sums this up in the following quote Like so many folk musicals, the film is suffused with a yearning nostalgia for a pagan past which is both desirable and as the text suggests attainable. This also reflects upon the 1944 audience whereby they will be yearning for a happier past when there is no war. The film uses the device of music to make it seem as if this is attainable for the audience. Andre Bazin saw the movement of film as a total progression towardsA progressive movement toward an ultimate goal a total and complete representation of reality... the reconstr uction of a perfect illusion of the outside world in sound, colour, and fireman (http//www.thestranger.com/2001-07-05/periphery.html)Bazin called this the Myth of Total Cinema. He believed that a total representation of reality was an ideal. Musicals be popularly believed to be leading away from the ideal of total cinema. This is because they are filmed using non-diegetic sound. This is to say sound that originates from outside of the film.