Next time you have a snow day or an afternoon to kill try this easy to play game:
Play a DVD with the audio coming through your sound system and TV turned off. Now, try to follow the narrative while only listening to the movie. It's easier to play this game if you're also doing homework. cooking, organizing your CD collection, reading blogs, cleaning your bike—anything that keeps you from looking at the screen—at the same time as you listen to the film.
The easier it is to follow the movie's story without seeing the screen the more the film suffers from lazy filmmaking. Better crafted films will require you to see at least some of the images in order to follow the narrative. The most artistic movies have audio that is so beguiling you will succumb to an urge to turn the TV back on in order to see what is taking place.
Bonus points are earned if you've already figured out why this game will not really work with any of the films I've written about so far at Film of the Year.
Wait though wait. When the plinking piano music escalates, you know the big bad mustachioed top hat is tying the maiden to the tracks!
Posted by: Squish | 17 January 2007 at 06:38 AM
Or if it's an Alloy Orchestra score, when the oboe comes in you know there's comic relief on the screen.
There's a company called the Soundtrack Factory that puts out soundtracks of movies on CD, including most of the dialogue. I have their releases of The Third Man and Bride of Frankenstein, which I bought because I thought I was just getting the scores. They are interesting, though, and I've thought about putting some of my favorite movie dialogue on CD for car trips.
Posted by: goatdog | 17 January 2007 at 07:57 AM
lol. You guys crack me up. :D
Posted by: Thom | 17 January 2007 at 11:01 AM