Alien Soundscapes: Extraterrestial Phonospheres in Science-Fiction Films
Jan Topolski
jptopolski@gmail.comNicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0750-8195
Abstract
In cinema, the landscape is reflected not only in the image, but in the sound as well. The article discusses the creation of the latter based on ten science-fiction films, dating from a period of nearly 70 years, that show extraterrestrial planets. Their soundscapes are described in terms of R. Murray Schafer’s theory and Michel Chion’s audio-visual analysis. In pioneering titles from the late 1950s and early 1960s, the use of experimental electro-acoustic effects blurs the distinction between sound and music, creating an impression of the uncanny. In the middle part of the article, adaptations of two canonical texts of the genre are compared – Stanisław Lem’s Solaris and Frank Herbert’s Dune – which introduce contrasting planets. Thanks to the juxtaposition, it turns out how their elements translate into sounds and what function these sounds can take. The last section describes two series that are the latest spin-offs of the fantastic sagas: Star Trek and Star Wars. In the first, the motif of a living planet returns, and in the second, the material-based keynote sound.
Keywords:
soundscape, keynote, film music, electronic music, renderingReferences
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Authors
Jan Topolskijptopolski@gmail.com
Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0750-8195
Co-founder and editor-in-chief of the magazine about new music Glissando, author of monographs on the composers Gérard Grisey (2013) and Tomasz Sikorski (2023). Film and music curator, for many years he worked as a programmer at the New Horizons festival and a specialist at the National Film Archive – Audiovisual Institute, he was also a consultant to the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. As a critic, the author of numerous publications in Polish and foreign magazines, e.g. cycles “Cinema/music. Close-ups” and “Parallel Worlds” in Ruch Muzyczny, reviews in Kino, essays in Ekrany, columns in Odra. Editor of several books on music and film, including collections of texts by Andrzej Chłopecki and the anthologies of the Sacrum Profanum Festival. Currently, he is preparing a doctorate on the embodiment of sound in science-fiction cinema 1956-1991 at the Nicolaus Copernicus University.
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