Sound

One Plus One/Sympathy for the Devil (1968)
Jean-Luc Godard
Gimme Shelter (1970)
David Maysles, Albert Maysleys, Charlottle Zwerin

Traditionally in film sound compliments the vision. In One Plus One however Godard reverses the process using various sounds complimented by visions to construct his film. The film records the rehearsal process of the Rolling Stones song 'Sympathy for the Devil'. The sound is built up layer by layer, comparable to the development of a complex plot of characters. What is created is a space defined by sound instead of vision. The camera circles the room and at times focuses on minor visual details such as the unidentified man who looks like he has happened upon the rehearsal accidentally and has stopped to listen. For an audience used to vision guiding other senses the inclusion of the man is strange. Only when this imagined back story is applied, the music came first, the man followed, does it make sense.

Gimme Shelter was not intended to be a film about sound. The film makers were lucky enough to be following the Rolling Stones on their 1969 American tour which climaxed in the ill fated concert at Altamont, CA. A sight to be seen, the sound quality in the early concert footage is far superior to the visuals. The plot is carried on by other sounds as the brash American lawyer (apparently acting on his own hence he never speaks to Jagger) negotiates the concerts location with the sheriff who appears only via a speaker phone. At the Altamont concert the visuals blur. Away from the stage the desert and the crowds of people are matched with eager voices. Close to the stage the crowd is a moving blur and the music is mixed with the pleas of the musicians and organisers for calm. The British accents of the Stones and their manager Sam Culter are particularly cutting as their voices reveal a range of emotions. The concluding sound of the film is not the song which plays over the credits but the sound of the helicopter overloaded with the Stones entourage as it escapes the chaos of the festival.