Michel Chion's landmark Audio-Vision has exerted significant influence
on our understanding of sound-image relations since its original
publication in 1994. Chion argues that sound film qualitatively produces
a new form of perception. Sound in audiovisual media does not merely
complement images. Instead, the two channels together engage
audio-vision, a special mode of perception that transforms both seeing
and hearing. We don't see images and hear sounds separately--we
audio-view a trans-sensory whole.
In this updated and expanded edition, Chion considers many additional
examples from recent world cinema and formulates new questions for the
contemporary media environment. He takes into account the evolving role
of audio-vision in different theatrical environments, considering its
significance for music videos, video art, commercial television, and the
internet, as well as conventional cinema. Chion explores how multitrack
digital sound enables astonishing detail, extending the space of the
action and changing practices of scene construction. He demonstrates
that speech is central to film and television and shows why
"audio-logo-visual" is a more accurate term than "audiovisual."
Audio-Vision shows us that sound is driving the creation of a sensory
cinema.
This edition includes a glossary of terms, a chronology of several
hundred significant films, and the original foreword by sound designer,
editor, and Oscar honoree Walter Murch.
