Sound Dramaturgy

Sound dramaturgy as part of the aesthetic design of either a film or a Virtual Reality (VR) experience is invisible, but most relevant, although often overlooked. As a sound person and academic, I have long been interested in the dramaturgical relevance of sound design (Stutterheim 2022) and music used in film (Stutterheim 2018), and more also in the importance of sound design in VR experiences (Stutterheim 2018). My chapter is structured in four parts. I begin with a short introduction to dramaturgy (Freilich 1964; Lessing 1768/69; Romanska 2016; Stutterheim 2015, 2019; Szatkowski 2019; Turkin 2007) and specifically the importance of sound dramaturgy. The second part focuses on sound dramaturgy in fiction films, how sound and a dramaturgically sophisticated approach to using music contributes to the emotional impact of a movie –referring to examples such as THE SHINING (Kubrick US/UK 1980), SHUTTER ISLAND (Scorsese US 2010). The third part discusses sound dramaturgy for documentary films, with examples such as SYMPHONY OF THE URSUS FACTORY (Wójcik and Stokfiszewski, PL 2018), UM DIA NA RAMPA (dos Santos, BR 1960) and THE WHALE AND THE RAVEN (Leuze 2019). In part four, I outline similarities and differences referring to the VR production KOBOLD (2017) by Another World VR.