Skip to main content

Description

Bringing concepts from early film theory into dialogue with the vibrant field of contemporary sound studies, Wild Sound turns an analytic eye and ear to the role of the soundscape in cinema, particularly the way that film soundtracks capture, create, represent, and even critique our sonic environment.

Listening beyond music and dialogue, this book draws attention to the oft-ignored background soundscape-film's "wild sound"-which plays a quiet but substantial role in determining how film audiences feel about certain places, people, and processes. It explores the relationship between location sound and wider practices of phonographic field recording in the creation of a cinematic sonic environment.

The latter half of the book shifts attention from the controlled soundscapes of cinema to the relatively chaotic sonic environments of the world around us. Michael Pigott ultimately demonstrates how a theory of cinematic soundscapes helps us develop practical strategies for investigating the sonic environment in our personal and natural sound worlds, beyond the cinema auditorium.

Accessibility Information

Additional accessibility information

  • EPUB 3.0
  • Conforms with the requirements of EPUB Accessibility Spec v1.1
  • WCAG level AA
  • WCAG v2.2 compliant
  • accessibility@bloomsbury.com

Hazards

The publication contains no hazards

Support for non-visual reading

  • No accessibility features offered by the reading system, device or reading software are disabled or otherwise unusable with the product
  • Has alternative text descriptions for images

Visual adjustments

Appearance of the text and page layout can be modified according to the capabilities of the reading system (font family and size, spaces, as well as color of background and text)

Navigation

  • Page list to go to pages from the print source version
  • Elements such as headings, tables, etc for structured navigation
  • All or substantially all textual matter is arranged in a single logical reading order
  • Content is enhanced with ARIA roles to optimize organization and facilitate navigation
  • Purposes of all links are made clear

Rich content

Language tagging provided

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
List of Illustrations

Introduction
1. The Wildness of Sound
2. Ghosts in the Grass
3. Lumberjack Westerns
4. Volcanic Cinema
5. Oceans of Sound
Afterword: Atmosphere, Dead Air and the Deep Hum of the World
Bibliography
Filmography
Index

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published Jan 22 2026
Format Ebook (Epub & Mobi)
Edition 1st
Pages 224
ISBN 9781501350924
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations 20 bw illus
Series The Study of Sound
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Michael Pigott

Michael Pigott is Reader in Film and Television St…

ONLINE RESOURCES

Bloomsbury Collections

This book is available on Bloomsbury Collections where your library has access.

Related Titles

Environment: Staging