ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to explore the affective qualities of surface as expressively produced by the various components of soundtrack in order to highlight the important connection between sound and feeling that Splet notes. In the course of listening to, and looking at, the aural surfaces of film and television, the chapter aims to counter the typical designation of surface as shallow or lacking meaning. It explores the affective materiality of different facets of the soundtrack through a discussion of surface. Surfaces themselves are not generally attended to when watching film and television; they are only drawn attention to in close-ups, which tend to be the preserve of the face. The feel of a surface in film and television is part of an aesthetic transformation. The process of hearing is tactile in part because of its interactions between surfaces that reflect and reverberate sound waves. The sonic surfaces encountered have shown that the materiality of surfaces matters and is meaningful.
