Auditory compartmentalization
Auditory compartmentalization (CHION 2009, 470) describes instances in which sounds are filtered in such a way that we, audience, cannot hear what diegetic characters can hear, or vice versa.
- Often, the auditory compartmentalization is rendered by the use of specific objects: windowpanes, headphones, and other objects that can be used as obstacles to the propagation of sound. This can enhance a sense of geographical mapping, by delineating different spaces within one single frame, or sequence. For instance, in René Clair's Sous les toits de Paris (France, 1930), the door glass of a café prevents those who are located outside the café to hear the heated discussion that is taking place inside. it is only when the door opens that a point of synchronization is reached, as we hear briefly the noisy atmosphere coming from inside the café. That we cannot hear the sound of the discussion but that we can infer their existence can be also viewed as an example of phantom sound.
- In early sound film, auditory compartmentalization can often occur when nondiegetic music is being heard, while all other aural elements are being silenced, for instance dialogue between characters. An example of nondiegetic music and its corollary, auditory compartmentalization, is illustrated by a sequence from Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (USA, 1936).
- An unsettling example of auditory compartmentalization takes place in Herk Harvey's Carnival of Souls (USA, 1962). Its main character, Mary, is shopping for a dress in a clothing department. At the beginning of this excerpt, the usual diegetic ambient sounds, noise, and voices are being heard, including the acousmatic sound of a bell, repeatedly heard, and signaling clerks to attend customers. Once in the dressing room, the sound of the bell is abruptly silenced; at this point, all ambient sounds, noises and voices are as well silenced, except those produced by Mary herself (her steps, her own voice). Experiencing the silencing of all sounds at the diegetic level (except for the diegetic sounds produced by Mary) corresponds to the sudden presence of a new diegetic space, one in which only Mary seems to exist, yet while being still physically immersed in the former diegetic space, now silenced (see phantom sound). The disappearance of diegetic sound enhances Mary's alienation from the diegetic space, locating her, although incompletely, in a parallel diegetic level that one else except her can apprehend. This is a typical example of sound evoking, and even generating its own phantasmagorical space—as it happens frequently in sung and danced numbers from movie musicals.
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