Making Stereo Fit : The History of a Disquieting Film Technology

Surround sound is often mistaken as a relatively new phenomenon in cinemas, one that emerged in the 1970s with the arrival of Dolby. Making Stereo Fit shows how Hollywood studios have instead been implementing surround-sound techniques for the past century and argues that their endurance owes primarily to the long-standing economic tension between stereophonic and monophonic sound. Throughout the book, Eric Dienstfrey analyzes newly discovered archival materials, as well as a myriad of stereo releases from Hell's Angels (1930) to Get Out (2017), to examine how Hollywood's dependence on single-channel sound left filmmakers unable to fully realize the aesthetic potential of surround sound. Though studios initially experimented with stereo's unique affordances, Dienstfrey details how film sound designers eventually codified a conservative set of surround-sound conventions that prevail today, despite the arrival of more immersive technologies--

Author: Eric Dienstfrey

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Publication Date: Jan 16, 2024

Number of Pages: 310 pages

Language: English

Binding: Hardcover

ISBN-10: 0520379543

ISBN-13: 9780520379541