ABSTRACT

This collection of fourteen essays provides a rich and detailed history of the relationship between and music and image in documentary films, exploring the often overlooked role of music in the genre and its subsequent impact on an audience’s perception of reality and fiction. Exploring examples of documentary films which make use of soundtrack music, from an interdisciplinary perspective, Music and Sound in Documentary Film is the first in-depth treatment on the use of music in the nonfiction film and will appeal to scholars and students working in the intersection of music and film and media studies.

chapter |19 pages

Introduction

Music, Sound and the Nonfiction Aesthetic

chapter |21 pages

Resounding City Films

Vertov, Ruttmann and Early Experiments with Documentary Sound Aesthetics

chapter |15 pages

Sounding the World

The Role of Music and Sound in Early ‘Talking' Newsreels

chapter |18 pages

Reinventing the Documentary

The Early Essay Film Soundtracks of Chris Marker

chapter |19 pages

Water Music

Scoring the Silent World

chapter |14 pages

Music and the Aesthetics of the Recorded World

Time, Event and Meaning in Feature Documentary

chapter |14 pages

Irish Sea Power

A New Version of Man of Aran (2009/1934)

chapter |15 pages

Excavating Authenticity

Surveying the Indie-Rock Doc

chapter |14 pages

More Than Background

Ambience and Sound-Design in Contemporary Art Documentary Film

chapter |13 pages

Sonic Ethnographies

Leviathan and New Materialisms in Documentary

chapter |8 pages

Afterword