Density and Clarity in "The Wizard of Oz"

I found Walter Murch's article to be really fascinating. I had never really thought that much about the sound design in films, it was usually just something that I took for granted. I guess that means that the sound was well designed! In another one of my courses, I read a brief article about different aspects of film (plot, story, etc) and as well as some of the vocabulary that accompanied it. The words that concepts from that class that stuck out for me while I was reading this article were the idea of 'diegetic' and 'non-diegetic' sounds. That is, sounds that are happeneing in the "world" of the movie and sounds that add to the mood or enhance the theme of the scene or movie. These terms turned out to be very helpful to me while I was analyzing "The Wizard of Oz" using Walter Murch's theory of Density and Clarity.

Thes scene I decided to use takes place near the beginning of the film, when the twister is just starting to flare up and Dorothy get hit on the head. Animals and people are running around the farm: it's pure chaos. Using Murch's spectrum of sound, the viewer/listener is able to pick out the several layers taking place during the scene. The sounds can be broken down generally like this:

1) One layer of "violet" dialogue: Dorothy, Auntie Em, Miss Scott
2) One layer of "red" music: "Dream sequence" music
3) One layer of "cool" (linguistic) effects: Trees breaking, glass breaking, Toto barking
4) One layer of "warm" (musical) effects: The Wicked Witch's theme song
5) One layer of "yellow" (equally balanced ‘centaur') effects: The Twister

Although it was made before his time, I believe that this scene applies Murch's theory of Density and Clarity. Like the analogy he uses for "Apocalypse Now", the sound is this scene is built much like a sandwich. The layers are added on one at a time and build slowly and almost imperceptably. Yet, no sound is ever noticably sacrificed at the expense of the "experience" of the scene. Dorothy and Auntie Em's shouts compete with the howling wind until Dorothy goes inside the house. Her voice remains dominant even after the window breaks. The Twister sounds, which have been building gradually suddenly come to a point as Dorothy watches the workd go by her window. The Twister sounds also blend with the "dream sequence" music and the theme song of the wicked witch of the west so that even if you close your eyes, you are still able to follow what Dorothy is seeing.

The volume of the sounds vary according to the environment and the introduction of new information. The Twister is the constant background sound, while the "dream sequence" music, Dorothy's voice and the Wicked Witch's theme song harmonize and contrast with this base, while still following the narrative. Therefore, like the anaolgy of the symphony, all the layers of sound are coordinated to enhance the mood and the plot of the scene, while also giving the viewer auditory clues as to the focal point of the scene.

As I said earlier, this article helped me to discover the complexity of sound design in cinema and also the importance of the different 'soundtracks' that are simultaneously happening in sync with the sound. I hope that this knowledge will help me to get a deeper appreciation of the choreographing of film-making and to make watching movies a more multi-sensory experience.