Did you hear that film? Apocalypse Now

Natalie Abraham

MDIA 1400

            The film that I chose to watch was Apocalypse Now. From the very beginning the use of sound told the story of Captain Willard and his mission (IMDB.com). Most of the sounds were of war and wild life. There was a non-stop buzzing of helicopters, and when asked in an interview (salon.com) Walter Murch said “It was something that came up long before the film ever got made. There was a lot of discussion because what made Vietnam different and unique, was that is a helicopter war.” The sounds were ever present and used in a way that made me feel captured within the mission because it was such a dynamic sound experience. As battle scenes took place sound effects were implemented in order to emphasize the events taking place. The music for this film was mostly within the rock genre and gave the film a very masculine and rebellious tone, which is understandable due to the fact that it is about war. As the mission becomes a part of the story and Captain Willard heads into the jungle, sounds of the wild life are more frequent and used to scare the audience in certain scenes. When any character speaks their voice is clear and strong. The sound of their voices made me feel weak and terrified of what will happen to Captain Willard on his mission. As I listened all I could think of was terror. I was only watching the movie, so how could I ever expect to understand what veterans went through as they lived the horror. In the playboy bunny scene it is clear that the helicopter is coming towards the post and slowly opens up to the surrounds of the headphones so we can feel the full impact. An example of a diegetic sound would be the soft party music playing when Willard goes to learn of his mission at the hut. The music presents the characters just as relaxed as the sound being played. A big difference between watching and listening was amount of fear I had. I had more fear as I watched because I could see what the sounds were trying to make me understand, and as for listening I was less scared because it was just mainly helicopter sounds and some deep and meaningful rock music. The story lies in both aspects of sound and picture, these two texts are a team that can make the audience feel a certain way. The sound works with our emotions by the pitch and tone (Media and the Creative Process). And as the sound is toying with our emotions the pictures are dragging our attention left and right with special techniques. Walter Murch describes Apocalypse Now as “ a grand opera with blood flying all over the place and decapitated heads rolling down the aisle” (moviescope.com). With the help of hearing all of these voices, sounds effects, and music the theme of this movie would be the horror of war and its damaging psychological consequence.