PROGRAMA DE VIGILANCIA AMBIENTAL

Reality is defined both as ‘the state or quality of being real’ and as ‘resemblance to what is real.’²⁶ Cinema often has as its purpose the creation of a product that very closely resembles reality. For example, a genre of film called cinéma vérité (the literal meaning of which is cinema-truth) is ‘a style of documentary filmmaking that stresses unbiased realism’.²⁷ Yet films do not have to be entirely realistic to show elements of this style. Many films have cinéma vérité moments juxtaposed against more fanciful elements.

The desire for realism has become so important to film and television that the word reality has been given a dictionary definition specifically for the purposes of television: according to Merriam-Webster this definition of reality is ‘television programming that features videos of natural occurrences.’ Media industries in the United States seem to be particularly concerned with the perceived need for realism. In fact, ‘twenty per cent of the top grossing films of all time have had scientific or technical consultants’ to help make the films as close to reality (actual truth or fact) as humanly

26 These definitions from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/reality.

27 This definition from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cinema+verite.

possible (Frank 2003: 427). Despite all of western efforts at realism, however, films can never be completely real. They are not life; they are representations of life.

Early in film history, films were silent. With the emphasis on image alone, film producers enjoyed learning to shape and mould reality as expressed in a visual medium without the need to consider an aural aspect. They learned how to select what sights to include, whether to show the audience as much as possible, or to be selective and even minimalist (showing as little as possible) in choosing what to show. They learned to use a montage of images, to use close-up shots or far-away shots, all in ways that would enhance the images and illusions they wished to use to tell a story. Their illusions could not be real, because the real world is full of sound, but in their created world, ‘sound was not welcome’ (Altman 1980: 13). Yet some producers craved being able to recreate reality, complete with sound, on film. Thomas Edison, as mentioned earlier, always saw

‘sound and vision as a pair’ (ibid. 5). Rick Altman explores the entire history of the methods that were used to allow this pairing to happen, at least in the western film industry, in his 2004 book Silent Film Sound. For purposes of this dissertation, suffice it to say that, although producers were unable to add sound directly to film, they could at least add music.

This was accomplished in a variety of ways. Some production companies, such as Edison’s Kinetoscope, sometimes made recordings specifically to be played back in the theatre while spectators enjoyed the film. The 1894 Raff & Gammon catalogue gives an example of the advertising copy for these films, which read, ‘We can furnish specially selected Musical Records for use on the Kineto-Phone for nearly all the films in the foregoing list’ (Ramsaye 1986: 839). Other production companies relied on the theatres themselves to furnish the music, though they would provide the scores from which the music would come, or at the very least, cue sheets noting the moods they wished to

convey in various scenes. In this circumstance, musicians would rely on libraries of

“mood music” held by the theatre.

Richard Hughes, a modern day silent film pianist²⁸, explains that there were 52 moods in the musical catalogue of the 1920s. Each piece was given a description such as

‘locomotive music, lament music, humorous music, chase scene music’ (Hughes 2005).

From various pieces carrying the correct description, the musicians would choose which to use to match the moods indicated on the cue sheets. Who the musicians were—whether they were few or many—varied from theatre to theatre. Musicologist Gillian B. Anderson explains that ‘the accompanying forces ranged from piano or organ to piano, violin and drums to twenty-two to seventy piece orchestras’ (1987: 262) depending on what the theatre owner could afford. Musicians also may have included vocalists, especially in those instances in which silent films depicted singers.

From the 1890s to the 1920s, these depictions were most likely to include opera singers, because the grandness and eloquence of the opera spectacle was something to which film producers aspired. For example, when Thomas Edison produced a short silent film based on the Flotow opera Martha, his catalogue advised theatres to ‘obtain a quartette of church singers to remain behind the scenes and sing the parts and produce a remarkably fine entertainment, besides giving a local interest to the same by utilizing local talent’ (Edison 1906: 2).

In India during the silent film era, film producers also wished to include music in their films. India is a place where, as Bollywood music director Kalyanii explains, ‘life begins and ends with music. For instance, a newborn baby is greeted into the world by

28 Richard Hughes researches so-called “Mood music” that was used to accompany silent films during that era. He also composes music to accompany silent films for which the music that was originally used with it has been lost. He also gives presentations using silent film and live piano performance. See

http://www.silentmovieshows.com/aboutus.htm

songs… there is a song and dance when he weds and dies’ (Marre 1985: 138). Indians expect music to play a part in their daily lives; they expect music to play a part in their entertainment.

Theatre traditions in India have lived up to this expectation, integrating acting with music and dancing, so it would be a very natural extension to include music in film.

Therefore, when silent films were being shown to Indian audiences, there was usually an orchestra pit in front. Besides providing music for emotional emphasis, ‘the

musicians would para-dub the film, speak the dialogue impromptu for characters, narrate the storyline, explain the visual at times, and also give the background music from the foreground’ (Gulzar 2003: 279). The “orchestra” was not what a westerner would recognize as such, being very small, and ‘generally consisted of a harmonium and a tabla and, in more sophisticated picture halls … a piano and a violin’ (ibid.). Vocal music had an important role to play in accompanying silent film as well, which is also to be expected because Indian culture values vocal music above instrumental music²⁹. Lyrical songs of Hindustani tradition called bandishein and popular folk songs became part of the “impromptu” improvised sound of the film. It was not necessary that the same song or the same composition would be sung at the same situation every time a film was screened. However, since the audience participated in the music in every show by singing along, some compositions achieved popularity and came to be associated with a particular film and situation. This marked the emergence of the “film song” (ibid.

280). When film distributors and exhibitors began to notice the gusto with which their

29 Lewis Rowell, in his contribution to volume 5 of the Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, “Theoretical Treatises,” writes: “The Sanskrit word sangita, an exact cognate of the Latin concentus ‘sung together’, conveys the core of the ancient Indian conception of music. It is formed from the prefix sam ‘together’ and the noun gita ‘song’. Gita underscores the message that the essence of Indian music is vocal sound (19)”.

audiences would sing along to particular songs, they responded by ‘getting verses written specifically for a situation. This brought the songwriter into film-making’ (ibid.).

Thus we see that in both film production centres—which would eventually come to be known as Hollywood and Bollywood respectively—there was recognition of the importance of music to create a credible illusion. Music’s ability to enhance the

emotional experience for the film viewer made the visuals much more “real” and alive to the audience. Therefore, both vocal and instrumental music were incorporated into the motion picture experience. Image and sound were paired together even though

synchronization of the two was not yet possible, but ‘as long as each reinforces the other’s lie then [audiences] will not hesitate to believe them both’ (Altman 1980: 70).

Just as film producers make decisions about what to include and what not to include in the visuals, so too they make those decisions about sounds and songs. Upon these decisions ‘Hollywood’s habit of constructing reality (as opposed to observing it) is based’ (Altman 1980: 7). This constructed reality includes the sounds, music, and songs that the producers believe will make the observed images appear more life-like and believable; they are that which ‘resonates and closes the gap between the reality and fantasy’ (Basu 2008: 170) in the movies of both Hollywood and Bollywood. I maintain as per my research question that a crucial difference between the two feature film

industries is that while Hollywood seeks to have the audience wholeheartedly believing in the reality of what is seen and heard in a film, Indian audiences ‘know it’s not real’

(Gehlawat 2008).

Reality is not what the audience hopes to see in Bollywood films; therefore, films that try to mask illusions and present them as reality ‘have historically failed at the box office’ (ibid.). Indian audiences especially prefer that the picturization of film songs

bears ‘no relation to any reality whatsoever’ (Gehlawat 2006: 339). It follows that film-goers in India seem not to mind that it is all an illusion.