Abstract

This article appears in the Oxford Handbook of New Audiovisual Aesthetics edited by John Richardson, Claudia Gorbman, and Carol Vernallis. Film remains at the apex of audiovisual culture, providing inspiration and aspiration for other media. Film music and other sounds from the soundtrack have extended film aesthetics beyond the bounds of film into other media and culture. Sound design now can use musical software to enhance sound effects in films and music composers to incorporate sound effect recordings. Soundtrack elements now appear to have an “aesthetic” character. Technology has engendered a spatial sonic arena wherein sonic elements have mixed into a sensual and psychological field. Modern film soundtracks often evince a conceptual or aesthetic unity strikingly similar to musical unity, evident in disc releases unconnected to the cinema. In films sounds on their own work in a different way, implying visuals that we then expect to see or imagine. That sound implies visuals is crucial also to extended soundtracks outside film.