What is it about?
The Shepard tone is an psychoacoustic illusion that produces an endless rising or falling. Although this was theorized by Roger Shepard since 1964 and used in the context of electronic music by Jean-Claude Risset, in films it was present in few cases and with no clear participation in the production of meaning. Nolan's Dunkirk and Martel's Zama,both released in 2017, changed this, making the illusion to participate in the soundtrack in a very relevant way. In Dunkirk, it symbollizes the collision of the different time lines into the 'focal' point of the narrative in the last sequence of the film, and in Zama, it is related to the spiritual falling of the character.
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Why is it important?
The article explains what is a Shepard tone, what effect produces, and how it is used in music and especially in fiction films. Also, it introduces the audience to the complex structure of both films, and it provides elements for understanding and interpreting the use of the illusion in Dunkirk and Zama, but also in the past in Risset's compositions.
Perspectives
I guess it is importan to contribute to the evolution of the soundtrack, and see ways to integrate sound and music in films. The use of this type of sonic resources is a step towards a complex and more contemporary and up to date soundtrack.
Eleonora Rapan
Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Shepard Tones and Production of Meaning in Recent Films: Lucrecia Martel's Zama and Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk, The New Soundtrack, September 2018, Edinburgh University Press,
DOI: 10.3366/sound.2018.0126.
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