Sound & Walter Murch
This is in a way a response to the previous arising question – How important is sound? – but it’s also of vital importance to recognise Walter Murch as a force behind The Conversation‘s acclaim.
Murch has worked with Coppola on a number of occasions, and in fact began his career by working on Coppola’s The Rain People in 1969. He has worked as both a film editor and sound designer – he actually coined the term “Sound Designer” after winning an Academy Award for Apocalypse Now.
Pages taken from Francis Ford Coppola by Robert K. Johnson, published in 1977 by Twayne Publishers
Walter Murch’s interest in sound started when he was young – he would imitate the noises of things if he didn’t know what they were called. His obsession grew exponentionally when the father of a friend bought a tape recorder, and eventually he managed to convince his parents to buy one. By the age of ten he was recording sounds and editing them himself into rhythmic samples. He learned of musique concrète and that what he was doing was simila to this European movement. Unfortunately, by the time he had reached sixteen his interest in sound and recording waned and disappeared altogether, and it wasn’t until his early twenties that he started editing film and realised that editing moving pictures had the same impact for him as sound did when he was younger. [1]
Working on The Conversation posed a challenge for Murch, and is clearly one of the more inventive films he’d been involved in, in terms of method and how things seemed to come together almost coincidentally. It would also seem that the troubles Harry Caul had to deal with in the movie, in terms of corrupted audio, was true for Murch as well:
Pages taken from The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc (page 265)
So, then, sound was crucial to the plot of The Conversation. The whole use of the static accidentally caught on audio while recording using the radio mics and the unintentional emphasis on ‘us‘ gives the film added depth, though it would have been interesting if Murch had left the ‘he’d kill us if he had the chance.’ line throughout the whole film to see if the emphasis would have been noticed, certainly Harry Caul would not have, since he would still think the emphasis would have been on ‘kill‘ instead of ‘us‘ – but would the audience have noticed it for themselves or would they automatically adhere to what Caul thinks?
[1] The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Questions 2, 3 & 5
When I first asked these questions it was not obvious to me that they were all connected, until one theme was pointed out to me: sound.
The mime highlights an important aspect to the film and, although he does not add anything to the story, is the embodiment of almost a complete antithesis to the theme that Coppola centers the story around.
Sound is incredibly important not only to the characters whose job it is to record it, but to the film itself. The usage and editing of sound is monumental and without it the film would not work as well as it does, if at all. The mime works his way through the crowd, silently mimicking passers-by, until he comes to Harry Caul, who immediately tries to avoid him. Later we find that Harry was following a couple, and perhaps he escaped the mime because the entertainer served as a distraction. Or is the presence of this silent clown disturbing to him?
Harry lives in a world where he must see or know about everything coming before it reaches him. His office is literally a cage from which he can see and hear everyone enter through the elevator; his front door, which has several locks, has an alarm which goes off whenever the door is opened; he hides in wait in his girlfriend’s corridor before approaching the door to enter in case there should be a man leaving. Surveillance is his job – his life even – and he is extremely good at it. So in this world of sound in which Harry lives, where the only useful information is recorded information, it is possible that this mime appears to be a threat to him. A man, sinister in his makeup and costume, that cannot be recorded could very well fuel Harry’s paranoia of himself being recorded or spied on without having any form of defence, since CCTV cameras were not so prevalent in U.S public areas during the 60’s and 70’s and are still to this day rarely used.
The interference at the beginning is, as we learn through watching, just that. It is sound being scrambled due to people moving between the microphone and its subject. This is of course a lie manufactured for the sake of the film, sound would never do that unless there was a problem with the equipment which would render the audio irretrievable. But the playing with and manipulation of sound is interesting, technically marvellous, and it is only because of this manipulation of both audience and audio that the film is what it is. Without this lie it would fall apart.
Arising question: How important is sound to the audience? How can it drive a story?
The Meaning of the Mime
As we zoom in closer to Union Square in San Francisco, we see a mime performing in the middle of the pedestrian area. He follows random people and mimics their actions, at one point even mimicking a dog. The camera watches him as he goes through his routine, and follows him as he spots Harry Caul standing at the sidelines trying to be unnoticed. He stands next to Caul, mimicking his actions as he drinks from a coffee cup – as Walter Murch points out in an interview, Caul is so anonymous that not even the mime can read him.
Caul seems unnerved by the mime’s presence, maybe because he dislikes strangers being so close – possibly something to do with his profession; as an eavesdropper he must keep people at a distance, not only for obvious reasons of recording, but emotionally as well. He makes a point oof telling Stan, his technician, that they can’t get involved in what the people are talking about, that becoming too close to them is dangerous. Of course he goes against this later on when he tries stopping the murder he thinks is about to happen.
It could also be that the mime is silent. How disturbing to a man who protects himself by isolation and recording is a person who is completely silent, a man who cannot be recorded through audio? The opening sequence takes places during the recording of the couple’s conversation, so it could quite simply be that the mime draws attention to Caul and so he decides to move away in case the couple take notice of him.
Pages taken from The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Out of general interest I looked into the man who plays the mime. His name is Robert Shields and he is one of the top clown artists in the world. He was born in California and did not speak until he was four, and until he was seventeen he spoke with a stutter – this could very well have been what compelled him to communicate through facial expression and body movement. He joined the circus after graduating from highschool. The first shot of the film, where the mime performs, is of Union Square and it is interesting to note that Union Square was where Shields actually performed and polished his traditional clown act until he was given his own television show as half of the due Shields and Yarnell. He now runs a design company, designing jewellery and painting.
“There are perhaps thirty five great clowns in the world. Robert Shields may be the best one there is”. – Red Skelton
http://www.steveakash.com/robertshields/robert.html
http://www.robertshields.com/robert.html – both accessed on 12/10/2010
Rocky Start
At first I was apprehensive about how to go about my research, or how and where to begin, despite help and advice from my lecturers. But now I feel confident enough in that I have a better grasp of what I need to achieve. I have started some research on Francis Ford Coppola’s background, but I do not fully trust the internet and as such I am waiting for two books to become available in the library, but unfortunately they are not due to be returned until later this month though I have reserved them for when they are returned, along with a DVD of The Conversation which is due to be returned on the 11th. It is not required of me to watch the entire film, but I feel it is necessary in order for me to understand and analyse its themes and issues for myself.
Reasons
From the very start I knew I wanted to choose a film clip, since film is the media I am most interested in becoming involved with.
Weekend intrigued me because each and every subject of the tracking shot had a meaning and a purpose, and to find out just what those meaning are was interesting to me as well as the reason behind the horrific car crash at the end, but The Conversation‘s simplicity intrigued me more than Weekend‘s complexity. The fact that seemingly nothing happens, except for a mime comically acting out his routine in a bustling San Francisco park, made me want to learn more about it, and what it all meant – and it does mean something. Coppola puts meaning into almost everything, and almost everything he does deals with a personal issue in some way.
Francis Ford Coppola
Before delving too deeply into answering the questions I put forward, I feel it is relevant to mention Coppola’s background and history.
The son of composer and musician Carmine Coppola, Francis was born in Detroit, Michigan but grew up in Queens, New York, where his family settled shortly after his birth. Coppola entered Hofstra University in 1955 to major in theater arts and tackled those arts vigorously both in and out of the classroom. He was elected president of The Green Wig, the university’s drama group, the Kaleidoscopians, its musical comedy club, and then merged the two into The Spectrum Players. Under his leadership, they staged a new production each week. Coppola won three D. H. Lawrence Awards for theatrical production and direction, and received a Beckerman Award for his outstanding contributions to the school’s theater arts division.
After earning his B.A. in theater arts in 1959, he enrolled in UCLA for graduate work in film. While still at UCLA, Coppola worked as an all-purpose assistant to Roger Corman on a variety of modestly-budgeted films. Coppola then wrote an English-language version of a Russian science-fiction movie, transforming it into a monster feature that American International released in 1963 as Battle Beyond the Sun. Impressed by the 24 year-old’s adaptability and perseverance, Corman made Coppola the dialogue director on The Tower of London, sound man for The Young Racers and associate producer of The Terror.
Excerpted from: http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/cop0pro-1 The full bio can be read by selecting ‘Biography’, and interviews can be read or watched by selecting ‘Interview’.[Accessed October 10th 2010]
I also found a website which lists the film and television projects he has been involved in, and in what capacity, along with a list of Oscars and Palme d’or awards he has won and been nominated for. There are also some short video interviews which are interesting but are irrelevant to my research.
http://www.interviewinghollywood.com/videos/video-416.php [Accessed October 10th 2010]
I also intend to read the following books, as and when they become available to me:
Francis Ford Coppola by Robert K Johnson, published in 1978 by Twayne Publishers.
Francis Ford Coppola: Interviews by Gene D. Phillips and Rodney Hill in 2004 by University Press of Mississippi.
During the audio commentary for DVD of The Conversation Coppola mentions that “talent” was an important thing in his family, with his father, Carmine Coppola, being a composer, and that for some time during his childhood he was afraid that he did not have “the talent” that was expected of him. It wasn’t until later on in life that he realised that his talent lay in directing.
Excerpt taken from Francis Ford Coppola: Interviews by Gene D. Phillips and Rodney Hill in 2004 by University Press of Mississippi
There are some key points about his earlycareer that are worth noting:
- He used to be an assistant to Roger Corman, and while he was working for him Coppola adapted the script for an English version of a Russian sci-fi film and released it under the title: Battle Beyond the Sun.
- The success of this film got him noticed by Corman, who gave him more responsibilities with higher roles – sound man on The Young Racers, assosciate producer on The Terror. This allowed Coppola to write and direct his first feature, Dementia 13, in 1962 where he met Eleanor Neil, who he would eventually marry. She wrote Notes and direct the Apocalypse Now documentary footage which was used for Hearts of Darkness.
- In 1969 Coppola started American Zoetrope with George Lucas.
- By the time he was 36 he had won 6 Academy Awards.
Arising questions:
- Roger Corman was a hugely influential figure in Coppola’s life. Would his career have been drastically different had he not worked for Corman?
Q1: The angle.
In a film that concerns itself with surveillance, and the paranoia behind the possibility of having every move you make and every word you speak recorded by an unseen eye, it seems only fitting that our introduction into this world of espionage is through what could very well be a security camera or a telescopic lens. Whatever your opinion on what it is we are looking through, it is undeniable that the viewer feels as though he/she is peering into this park setting, spying even, on those watching the mime, instantly becoming a voyeur.
Through watching the whole movie, it is made clear that it is quite possible we are looking through a scope attached to a shotgun microphone used to record dialogue with pinpoint accuracy from great distances.
During the DVD commentary Coppola states that one of the things he wanted to do was use the camera as some sort of spying device, like a security camera. This is evident in several scenes where the camera is static and character(s) walk in and out of frame. The camera doesn’t move unless the character(s) being filmed stay out of shot for too long, which is when the camera will slowly and mechanically pan to find them again. Again this technique of using the camera as a piece of surveillance equipment is evident in the opening scene.
Pages taken from The Conversations: Walter Murch and the Art of Editing Film by Michael Ondaatje, published in 2002 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
DVD of The Conversation – Paramount, copyright 1974.
Perceptions and questions
I chose this clip against all the others because there seemed, at first glance, to be less meaning in the events in this video and I felt it would pose more of a challenge to me. There is in fact just as much meaning in this as in the others, and it’s this subtlety that convinced me to pick The Conversation as my subject.
The sequence, a little over three minutes long, is shot at an extremely long range, slowly moving in onto a San Francisco park, where dozens of people gather around a street-performing mime. The mime follows and mimics people walking through, including dogs. Gene Hackman’s character is introduced roughly two minutes and twenty seconds into the scene, where the mime mimics and follows Hackman as he tries to move away from the mime. Upbeat band music can be heard throughout a large part of the video, intermittently interrupted by what seems to be electronic interference.
- What is the purpose behind the chosen angle?
- What is the meaning of the mime? Is there a meaning at all?
- Why does Gene Hackman’s character try to avoid the mime? Is it deeper than mere annoyance?
- Why a San Francisco park?
- What is the interference and does it have a meaning?
These are the questions I will open my research with.
Title scene of Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Conversation’.
The Conversation.
Directed by Francis Ford Coppola and released in 1974 by American Zoetrope and Paramount.
Video source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlwdpNw1FW8&feature=player_embedded [accessed on 29th September 2010]
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