ABSTRACT
Illustrative synchronization renders cultural beliefs as an audio-visual "fact", created by an immediate and direct connection of sound::image in an imitation of the phenomenal appeal of 'lip-sync'. Illustrative synchronization never moves beyond the framework of correlating visuals to established expectations. The music was created following the timing and orchestration of the visuals. This convergence of kinetic abstraction and music lead to screenings of 'absolute films' at the International Music Festival at Baden-Baden in 1927. Individual title cards in The Bold Ones produce an illustrational linkage of an actor's name to their image, each presentation encapsulated by its own set of musical cues that define them as separate title cards. Saul Bass makes the synchronization of animated motion and music immediately apparent in his title design for The Seven Year Itch. The naturalism offered by synchronization hides the cultural and ideological dimensions of the artifice.
