The Third Work Symposium

Last Friday, I attended the What’s the Score: Contemporary Sound Design in Documentary Cinema presentation of the Third Work Symposium event hosted by filmmakers Pacho Velez and David Barker. The goal of the presentation, as stated in the event description is to “develop distinctions within the category of ‘sound design’ in order to articulate in more precise terms some of the ways that sound affects image and how this relationship has altered over time”. The main thesis put forward by Velez and Barker in the presentation is precisely the following:

There are 3 elements to sound design in film; Foley, Ambiance, and Score. Through Velez and Barker’s observations, they’ve propose that these elements function in the following manner;

Foley: sounds that pull your attention to the center of the frame.

Ambiance: sounds that pull your attention to the edge of the frame.

Score: sound that relates to an abstract or the “invisible”

Velez and Barker screened footage from many films in an attempt to display these functions at work, and I have to admit that I didn’t notice the questionable use of terminology here that others in attendance would bring attention to as I was focusing on listening to what Velez and Barker had to say. It turns out that what Velez and Barker were trying to say was somewhat half-baked as some people in attendance took issue with their definition of the term Foley when it already has an established definition (that being sounds that are produced after production). Compounding the issue is that in most of the footage screened, a lot of the sounds that Velez and Barker were labeling as Foley under their definition can also be construed as ambiance; the sound of a campfire in the woods, a waterfall, etc. Velez and Barker didn't have much of a defense or stance after this point was brought up, which gave me the impression that whatever concepts and definitions they were trying to propose was under developed and needs more work, starting with coining a new term that be used with the definition that they are forcing on the term Foley.