Phantacusis: Visually Implied Sound and Hallucinations in Silent Cinema

Phantacusis：无声电影中的视觉暗示声音和幻觉

• 批准号: 2460749
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of St Andrews
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2020 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2460749
• 关键词: Phantacusis; Visually; Implied; Sound; Hallucinations

Looking back on the silent era in cinema, as synchronised sound was becoming industry standard, the French critic Benjamin Fondane asked: "Did sound lack reality, when it was only in the mind?" My research focuses on that elusive subject. Counter-intuitively, sound events were not excluded from depiction in silent films. Through various devices, a filmmaker could use the visual depiction of sound (or its indices) to produce a kind of implied or phantasmal sound, somehow perceived by its audience in the absence of an actual corresponding sound event. While a few critics have touched on the subjects and even proposed terminology for the phenomenon, these often overlap unhelpfully with other uses of the terms or fail to convey their sense clearly. As such, none have gained purchase. Therefore, my own research has suggested the word 'phantacusis,' borrowed from Oliver Sacks, for the phantasmal auditory perception involved in viewing these cinematic moments. Bearing this quasi-subjective quality in mind, my own unique focus will be the depiction of auditory hallucinations in silent film by means of these devices.I propose to begin by exploring the specific silence involved in the phantacoustic phenomenon in silent cinema, articulating first the historical context and development of the effect, before exploring its dynamics, with reference to the philosophy and aesthetics of silence and absence, as well as the psychology of sensory deprivation, intersensory perception and sense-making. After suggesting the different devices through which phantacusis may be provoked, I turn to specific examples from the 1920s, in which the effect is used in the depiction of auditory hallucinations. In exploring four films in depth - The Wind (1928), The Fall of the House of Usher (1928), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) and A Page of Madness (1928) - I explore what exactly is going on when we hear sounds in silence, and what those quasi-sounds might signify.At a time when silent cinema is reclaiming the attention of academics and viewers, with new opportunities to explore films previously too obscure to view emerging constantly, my research aims to contribute to the ongoing re-evaluation of this important phase of film history. By exploring the ways in which silent filmmakers deliberately exploited the phantacoustic effect, it will demonstrate their creative ingenuity and their resourcefulness in adapting their visions to the variable accompaniment practices of the era. Further, it will provide the foundations for the study of uncannily 'silenced' sound events in post-silent cinema. Furthermore, this project interacts with the related fields of sound and audio-visual studies, exploring the interrelated roles of expectation, memory and attention in these quasi-sounds. Moving away from the literal and concrete, it probes the ontology of sound and the intersensory nature of perception. My studies have long focused on what lies at the edge of habitual experience and beyond straightforward communicability, taking an unprejudiced look at experiences that are deemed abnormal, yet are potentially shared by many. In this project, the notionally neutral cinematic viewer is put into dialogue with madness studies and deaf studies. Through exploring this simple cinematic device, I aim not only to start conversations about cinema and experience, about sound and vision, and about hearing and hallucination. As common ground is revealed, in a phantasmal zone beyond the literal, I hope further that new and helpful ways to talk about private, difficult and often almost indescribable experiences will emerge.

回顾无声时代的电影，当同步声音成为行业标准时，法国评论家本杰明·方济各问道：“声音是否缺乏真实性，当它只存在于脑海中时？“我的研究集中在这个难以捉摸的主题上。与直觉相反，声音事件并没有被排除在无声电影的描述之外。通过各种手段，电影制作人可以使用声音的视觉描述（或其索引）来产生一种隐含的或虚幻的声音，在没有实际对应的声音事件的情况下，观众以某种方式感知到。虽然一些评论家触及了这一主题，甚至提出了这一现象的术语，但这些术语往往与其他术语的使用重叠，或者无法清楚地表达其含义。因此，没有人购买。因此，我自己的研究提出了“幻听”这个词，借用了奥利弗萨克斯的话，用来描述观看这些电影时刻所涉及的幻听感知。考虑到这种准主观的性质，我自己独特的重点将是通过这些设备来描绘无声电影中的幻听。我建议开始探索无声电影中的幻声现象所涉及的特定沉默，首先阐明这种效果的历史背景和发展，然后再探索其动态，参考沉默和缺席的哲学和美学，以及感觉剥夺、感觉间知觉和感觉形成的心理学。在提出了引发幻听的不同手段之后，我转向20世纪20年代的具体例子，在这些例子中，幻听效应被用于描述幻听。在深入探讨四部电影--《风声》（1928）、《亚瑟之家的倒塌》（1928）、《卡里加里博士的内阁》（1920）和《疯狂一页》（1928）--的过程中，我探讨了当我们在沉默中听到声音时究竟发生了什么，以及这些准声音可能意味着什么。在无声电影重新吸引学者和观众注意力的时候，随着探索电影的新机会不断涌现，我的研究旨在为电影史上这一重要阶段的持续重新评估做出贡献。通过探索无声电影制作人故意利用phantacoustic效果的方式，它将展示他们的创造性的独创性和他们的足智多谋，在适应他们的愿景，以适应时代的变量伴奏实践。此外，它将为研究后无声电影中不可思议的“无声”声音事件提供基础。此外，该项目与声音和视听研究的相关领域相互作用，探索这些准声音中的期望，记忆和注意力的相互作用。从字面和具体的，它探讨了声音的本体论和感知的感官间性质。我的研究长期以来一直专注于习惯性经验的边缘和直接沟通之外的东西，以不带偏见的眼光看待被认为是异常的经验，但可能被许多人分享。在这个项目中，观念中立的电影观众与疯狂研究和聋人研究对话。通过探索这个简单的电影设备，我的目标不仅是开始关于电影和经验，关于声音和视觉，关于听觉和幻觉的对话。随着共同点的揭示，在一个超越文字的幻影地带，我进一步希望，新的和有益的方式来谈论私人的，困难的，往往几乎无法形容的经验将出现。