Some Thoughts on Cinematic Listening

In this video essay I explore the idea of cinematic listening, drawing on my experience as a teacher and researcher of film audio-viewing and as an audio-viewer myself. The initial focus is Jules Dassin's heist film Rififi (1955) and the essay closes by making reference to Woody Allen's comedic caper film, The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985). Along the way there's mention of an armed robbery and images of hot-tub cinema. My aim is to provide a provocation to think about cinematic listening as a form of socialised audio-viewing (even if it only exists in an idealised and rarely experienced form for many of us these days).This video essay was created for the conference "Listening Cinematically" held at Royal Holloway, University of London, 25-26th June 2015, supported by the British Academy and Royal Holloway Humanities and Arts Research Centre (HARC), and convened by Dr Carlo Cenciarelli.I have included two audio-visual extracts in this video essay under the exception for the use of a quotation from a work where the use is fair dealing, and acknowledge these clearly within the essay. The exception is an amendment to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988: the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Quotation and Parody) Regulations 2014. I do not seek to infringe copyright.