English 195
Film as Art Summer 2012 Michael Dembrow, Instr.
Apocalypse Now - Sound Analysis Notes
Segment
1a In the Hotel Room
Complex, expressionistic sound mix
music - Jim Morrison, “The End” (itself a complex mix)
sound - helicopters
words - words to Morrison’s song
music fades to give way to fade-in realistic helicopter sound
1b Temporary realistic mix
sound -
narrative - VO Willard’s narrative
music - electronic fading into end of “The End”
1c music - “The End” at its climax, most frantic
words - Words in the song replaced by noise
2 Call
to
Realistic mix
soldiers’ accents
3 The Briefing
Realistic mix
narrative - includes flash forward (Willard lets us know what will come later)
music - diegetic; hear local radio, Asian, barely audible, returns loud at the end to set up the sound bridge
words - silence, accents; info provided, intro to Kurtz--like newsreel in Citizen Kane
sounds - silence, realistic but selective; from Willard’s tense pov
oddity: the tape recording; realistic, but surreal in its content
The tape “put the hook in me”--will work like Rosebud, an enigma
4 On the PBR
Realistic mix, with VO narrative
music - some electronic musictrack; some diegetic (radio), kept low until we’re meant to notice it
narrative - exposition (info provided on Kurtz, a narrative short-cut)
sound - boat noises are muted
words - characters introduced
sound cues will anticipate edits
5 The
First
Complex realistic mix becomes increasingly expressionistic
quiet focus of narration gives way to cacophany of noise
words - characters yelling at each other - louder than the mix would demand, becomes ever louder; overlapping dialogue
sounds - loudspeakers, translaters, women, children, sirens, bombs, priest giving mass, lamb bleating
Sound bridge: sound of choir provides bridge to cookout singing
6 The Cookout
Realistic sound mix - laughing, singing, talking, etc.
Accents, Kilgore’s blustery voice
Sound bridge: sound of helicopter foreshadows transition to next morning, when we see the helicopters and their sound is magnified
7 The
Second
Complex realistic mix
the sound volume proportion between helicopter noise and Wagner music is carefully controlled
music - Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyrie” both diegetic and non-diegetic, realistic and expressionistic (amplitude and resonance non-realistic);
the soprano becomes nightmarish as battle commences
sound - sounds of garbled radio, gunfire, yells, screams, explosions, mixed with music
sudden shift from cacophany to the quiet (peaceful sounds) courtyard in the Vietcong village just before the attack--emphasizes the sense of
order, peace, community, which will be shattered with the battle
music - ceases during the very realistic scene in the courtyard where the wounded are being cared for, remainder of scene will have no music; more realistic
Scene ends with a fade, both visual and aural
8 The Tiger
Combination of styles, starts expressionist, then realist
music - drumming, eerie electronic
narrative - Willard’s “Someday this war’s gonna end”
sounds - jungle sounds, silence as they confront tiger, then explosion of noise, with Chef screaming, gunfire, yelling
words - dialogue: longest interpersonal scene, between Chef & Willard
9 Monologue on PBR
Expressionistic, with VO and eerie mood music
narration - Willard vo monologue, speaking about Kurtz reveals something about himself; “Never Get Out of the Goddamn Boat--unless
you were going all the way”; Operation Archangel
music - eerie throughout; some diegetic towards end: Clean singing to himself, then beginning sounds of party music in distance
words - Chef reading aloud letter he’s writing to Eva
10 With the Playboy Bunnies
Realist mix becoming expressionistic at the end
musicˆ - the show, very loud, rhythmic, sexual strains of “Suzy Q” eventually give way to electronic noises that pick up “Suzy Q” melody, but very distorted
sounds - realistic cacophany leading up to concert
Sound Bridge - final electronic music leads to music track in next scene
11 Another Monologue on the PBR
Moody Expressionistic mix
narration - Kurtz’s letter to son, “Charlie don’t get no USO.”
music - expressionistic music becomes higher volume, more dramatic
words - crew is getting on one another’s nerves, yelling at each other
12 Encounter with the Sampan
Realistic mix
words - accents, lack of English, increased yelling
sounds - crescendo of noise, with climactic explosion of shooting, screams; then silence, with faint jungle sounds
contrast between frantic voices of PBR men and Willard’s dead calm
13 Da Long Bridge
Extremely complex expressionistic mix
narration - Willard’s “Those boys won’t look at me the same way again, but I felt I’d learned one or two things about Kurtz that weren’t in the dossier.” Serves as bridge linking previous scene to this scene
music - nightmarish, strains of psychedelic songs
sounds - shooting, screaming, explosions, sounds of unknown origin
words - accents, frantic soldiers vs. drugged-out soldiers, “soul brothers”
Da Long Bridge is the gateway to the nightmare, to death, to Kurtz
From this point on, nearly every scene will use a soundtrack that is dense, expressionistic, and frequently nightmarish, until the return of Jim Morrison’s “The End” in the last scene. This return to the opening song underscores the parallel between Willard in the hotel room (longing for a mission) and Willard killing Kurtz (his mission completed). The final electronic strains of the song also serve to end the film.