ABSTRACT

Reconceiving relations with the more-than-human is a central concern of scholarship in the Anthropocene. In documentary film, entanglements with the more-than-human are expressed through cinematic relationships with subjects such as bees, freeways, Antarctic science, abandoned military bunkers, and emergency firefighting operations. Several recent documentary films use their soundtracks to anchor these engagements. This paper examines the construction of these soundtracks through a comparison between documentary film and phonography. Phonography – broadly defined as creative practices of recording, editing, and listening to sonic environments – foregrounds the material/cultural processes of all sound recording by attending to specific uses of microphones and studio editing techniques. I situate these sonic practices in relation to the foundational poles of soundscape and objet sonore established by R. Murray Schafer and Pierre Schaeffer, work by contemporary practitioners, and recent theorizations in sound studies. Interweaving an account of recent documentary soundtracks with theories and practices of phonography highlights the conceptual implications of specific sound recording techniques and attends to the ethics of sound recording practices. These sonic practices pose new questions about the work performed through documentary film soundtracks’ engagements with the more-than-human.

摘要

重新思考与超人类的关系是人类世学术研究的核心问题。在纪录片中，通过与蜜蜂、高速公路、南极科学、废弃的军事掩体和紧急消防行动等主题的电影关系来表达与超人类的纠葛。最近的几部纪录片使用他们的配乐来锚定这些参与。本文通过纪录片和唱片之间的比较来检验这些配乐的构建。留声学——广泛定义为录制、编辑和聆听声音环境的创造性实践——通过关注麦克风的特定用途和录音室编辑技术，突出了所有录音的材料/文化过程。OBJET sonore被R.舍费尔穆雷和皮埃尔·谢弗成立，由当代从业人员的工作，并在合理的研究最近的理论问题。将最近的纪录片原声带与留声学的理论和实践交织在一起，突出了特定录音技术的概念含义，并关注录音实践的伦理。这些声音实践对通过纪录片原声带与超人类的互动所进行的工作提出了新的问题。