Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence（2001） is a science fiction film. It was directed by Steven Spielberg. The sound of this film was made by John Williams. John was born in 1932, he is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, and 22 Grammy Awards. So he is very successful in his sound life.
This movie talk about that global warming has flooded the coastlines, wiping out coastal cities and drastically reducing the human population. There is a new class of robots called Mecha, advanced humanoids capable of emulating thoughts and emotions. David is a prototype model created by Cybertronics of New Jersey, is designed to resemble a human child and to display love for its human owners.
As regards as sound source, a clip from David Stamped the floor [00:10:55-00:11:08]. This clip is diegetic sound, because we can see the action on the screen. This sound shows us that David was stamp the floor, he likes the floor. David go to see family photos with a curious sound [00:12:38-00:13:06]. This clip is a non diegetic. When we listen this sound, we can feel that David is curiosity for the unknown and surprise. It contributes to the narrative and make us more dedicated. Comparing about this two opposite sound, we can see, they have different functions in the film. Many professors discuss to build children robots that they can understand “Love” [00:03:00-00:06:50]. This clip of conversations are direct sounds that record at the time of filming. It is very clear sound without other music background. we can direct at the content of the conversations. After 2000 years, aliens help David out of a boat [01:57:30-01:57:40]. The aliens are not real, so they make sounds are post synchronous sound. For example, the aliens clear snow on the window, it is added by people.
As far as sound edition, the beginning of the film that third person narration to tell us, people should do robots in the future [00:01:13-00:02:01]. This is a voice over. Editor uses the third person narration to talk about that story contents or conclusions. Audience can image the story and addict to the movie.
Talking about the music of the film, people are watching the process of destroying robots in the Robot slaughterhouse [01:13:25-01:13:50]. They use the pop music to be the background. It likes a party for people to watch the process of destroying robots. And it is a strong contract，when the robot (David) pleaded with everyone. We can see that robots have emotions and love. It shows us that Artificial Intelligence are very strong and can help people do a lot of things in the future.
We can see that sound is an important part of a film. Sound enhances the imaginary world, it can provide depth, establish character and environment, introduce a new scene or cue the viewer to important information. When we watch movies, we want have a good sound environment that can Give us the feeling of being in the movies.
Crystal QIU 