Sound Design Is the New Score

The practice of blurring the line between score and sound design has transformed contemporary film soundscape by challenging not only the long-established hierarchical relationships between dialogue, music, and sound effects, but also the modes of perception shaped by classical soundtrack
practices. The methods of this new trend rely on the language of contemporary popular and art music, producing soundtracks in which it is difficult to tell the difference between score and ambient sound, where pieces of electroacoustic music are merged with diegetic sound, sound effects are absorbed
into the score or treated as music, and diegetic sound is treated as musique concr�te.

In Sound Design is the New Score, Kulezic-Wilson explores theoretical, aesthetic, and sensuous dimensions of this new trend, providing a multifaceted portrait of a practice which recognizes the interconnectedness of all soundtrack elements and emphasizes their inherent musicality. The aesthetic
concerns of this practice are illuminated through the concept of the aesthetics of reticence which rejects classical narrative and scoring conventions and uses integrated soundtrack strategies to create the space for mystery in art and for individuality in the cinematic experience. The book's
emphasis on sensuous and musical aspects of this practice, informed by the feminist discourse on the erotics of art, challenges popular notions about sensory cinema, demonstrating that the sensuousness of film form and its soundscapes is more sophisticated than simply being the result of excessive
sensory stimulation facilitated by the use of digital technology or the "intensified" aesthetics it inspires. The discussion is supported by a wide range of case studies from American Independent, Asian, Australian, and European cinemas, including films by Shane Carruth, Claire Denis, Hou
Hsiao-Hsien, Harmony Korine, David Mich�d, Gus Van Sant, and Peter Strickland.


"Sound Design is the New Score not only encourages us to appreciate the work of the creatives behind the films rep-resented but also our own rich experiences as we navigate what these, and films and art more broadly, can sound and feel like." -- Twentieth-Century Music

"Surprisingly little has been written about film soundtracks that integrate music with other sound elements. Kulezic-Wilson has produced the first sustained and authoritative study. This has been a greatly anticipated book and it certainly doesn't disappoint. Her argument about approaching the
soundtracks as a not only holistic field but also as essentially musical is thoroughly persuasive and will supply a firm foundation for future soundtrack scholarship for many years to come." -- Kevin Donnelly, author of Magical Musical Tour: Rock and Pop in Film Soundtracks (2015) and Occult
Aesthetics: Sound and Image Synchronization (2013)

"Kulezic-Wilson dissolves the boundaries between sound design and music that dominate cinema studies. She teaches us why all cinematic kinds of sonic information (noises, silences, dialogue, and music) are 'composed' for us to feel them emotionally, cognitively, physically, and lastingly." -- Elsie
Walker, author of Hearing Haneke: the Sound Tracks of a Radical Auteur (2017), and Understanding Sound Tracks Through Film Theory (2015)