Hear The People Sing: The Meaning of Voice in Film

Abstract

When the voice and music come together on screen, it opens a world of meaning to be discovered. Although the relationship between image and music has been a thoroughly researched phenomenon in the music-media academic field, the singing voice is often left out of the discourse. Also in the musical film, the voice only exists in terms of melody and lyrics. However, there is always another aspect present in the voice, which is vocal technique. This micro-device is crucial in how those melodies and lyrics are performed. Vocal technique can influence the entire perception of the song, and to understand the depth of what music in general can bring to the screen, it is time to include the singing voice in the music-media debate.

In this thesis, I will focus on how vocal technique interacts with melody, lyrics, and cinematic devices to create a deeper layer in thematic perception. The interplay of these devices creates the ‘cinematic singing voice’, a type of voice that exists between the ‘cinematic speaking voice’ and ‘musical singing voice’. This voice has a prominent role in the film’s soundscape, and where this is particularly the case, is in the 2012 film adaptation of Les Misérables. A musical that first appeared on the West End in 1985 was brought to the screen with a particular vision in mind: to record all the singing live on set instead of pre-recording it in the studio before filming. Here, the ‘cinematic singing voice’ is one of the main characters of the story, thus fruitful for vocal analysis in intermedial relationships. With Michel Chion’s ‘added value’, Emilio Audissino’s ‘neo-formalist film/music analysis method’, and Cathrine Sadolin’s Complete Vocal Technique, I will answer the question of how the ‘cinematic singing voice’ can influence the perception of the theme ‘Rebellion’ in Les Misérables.