INFORMATION ABOUT THE MASTER'S THESIS
1. Student's full name:Ngo Thu Huong2. Gender: Female
3. Date of birth:19/10/1993
4. Place of birth:Hungary
5. Decision on student admission No. 5915/QD-XHNV dated October 28, 2024, by the Rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
6. Changes in the training process: None
7. Thesis title: Urban acoustic landscapes in filmsCyclo(1995) andRom (2019)
8. Major: Theory and History of Film and Television Code: 8210231
9. Scientific supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phung Ngoc Kien, Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
10. Summary of the thesis results:
This thesis examines how urban acoustic landscapes are constructed.Cyclo(Tran Anh Hung, 1995) andRom(Tran Dung Thanh Huy, 2019), based on a combination of R. Murray Schafer's acoustic landscape theory, Michel Chion's auditory-visual relationship, and Yuri Lotman's approach to space, boundaries, and events. Accordingly, urban acoustic landscape not only reflects the acoustic environment of the city but is also an auditory-visual structure that participates in creating space and organizing cinematic time.
The research results show that the two films form two different ways of organizing space. FilmCycloThe film creates a layered audio-visual perspective, linked to a situation of coercion and a decline in the subject's self-determination, while the film...RomThe film creates an interconnected auditory-visual perspective, where the character constantly crosses boundaries but this does not equate to control over space. In both films, the auditory-visual boundary remains indeterminate due to the expansion and contraction of the auditory field and the alternating presence and absence of the sound source.
On the temporal plane, the thesis identifies auditory events as occurring when changes in the auditory-visual relationship alter how time is organized and perceived. In relation to narrative events, auditory events can be directional in the form of indicators or retrograde in the form of afterimages. Throughout the film's course, they form converging trajectories in the film.Cycloand the state transition trajectory in the film.RomThis illustrates two different ways in which the acoustic landscape organizes the experience of urban transformation.
Placing these findings in dialogue with Rob Nixon's concept of delayed violence, the thesis identifies a sense of delayed urban violence, indicating that violence is not only present in tangible events but is accumulated in space and prolonged over time. Therefore, the important common point is...CycloandRomThe acoustic landscape not only reveals how the city sounds, but also participates in shaping the city as a spatial structure and making its transformations a temporal experience.
11. Practical applications: This thesis serves as a useful reference for further research on soundscapes in cinema in general, and in Vietnamese cinema in particular.
12. Future research directions: The evolution of soundscapes in cinema, sound theory in cinema, contemporary film aesthetics.
13. Published works related to the thesis: None
INFORMATION ON MASTER'S THESIS
1. Full name: NgoThu Huong2. Sex:Female
3. Date of birth:19/10/1993 4. Place of birth: Hungary
5. Admission decision number: 5915/QD-XHNV Dated28/10/2024
6. Changes in academic process:No
7. Official thesis title:The Urban Soundscape in Vietnamese Cinema: A Study ofCyclo(1995) andRom (2019)
8. Major: Theory and History of Film and Television 9. Code: 8210231
10. Supervisors:Assoc. Prof. Dr. Phung Ngoc Kien, Faculty of Literature, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
11. Summary of the findings of the thesis:
This thesis examines how the urban soundscape is constructed inCyclo(Tran Anh Hung, 1995) andRom(Tran Dung Thanh Huy, 2019), drawing on R. Murray Schafer's theory of the soundscape, Michel Chion's concept of audiovisual relations, and Yuri Lotman's approaches to space, boundaries, and events. From this perspective, the urban soundscape does not merely represent the city's acoustic environment; rather, it constitutes an audiovisual structure that participates in the construction of cinematic space and the organization of cinematic time.
The findings demonstrate two distinct modes of spatial organization.Cycloconstructs a stratified audiovisual perspective, associated with situations of constraint and the diminishing agency of the subject.Rom, by contrast, constructs an interconnected audiovisual perspective, in which characters continuously cross spatial boundaries without necessarily gaining control over those spaces. In both films, audiovisual boundaries remain unstable through the expansion and contraction of the auditory field and the shifting of sound sources between states of presence and absence.
On the temporal level, the thesis defines a sound event as occurring when a transformation in audiovisual relations alters the way time is organized and perceived. In relation to narrative events, sound events may operate prospectively, as indicators of an approaching event, or retrospectively, as its sonic residue. Across the films as a whole, these events form two different trajectories: a convergent trajectory inCycloand a trajectory of state transformation inRom. These trajectories reveal two different ways in which the urban soundscape organizes the experience of urban transformation.
Bringing these findings into dialogue with Rob Nixon's concept of slow violence, the thesis identifies an aesthetic sense of urban slow violence: violence is experienced not only through visible events but also as something accumulated spatially and prolonged temporally. The significant commonality betweenCycloandRom, therefore, is that their urban soundscapes do more than convey how the city sounds. They participate in constructing the city as a spatial structure while making its transformations perceptible as experiences unfolding through time.
12. Practical applicability, if any:The thesis serves as a useful reference for further research on soundscapes in cinema in general, and in Vietnamese cinema in particular
13. Further research directions, if any:The evolution of soundscapes in cinema, film sound theory, and the aesthetics of contemporary films
14. Thesis-related publicationsNo
Newer news
Older news
