deux ou trois choses, 5 january 2023
Though it’s only three and a half minutes long, I didn’t watch the whole Room Tone montage they put together at the Criterion Collection. The intimacy is too much to bear. Still, skipping along the video is nice. And this explanation of the concept, from 2020, might allow us to consider a worthier, fuller replacement for ‘vibe’:
For those who aren’t familiar with film and video production, “room tone” is the ambient sound of a space typically captured at the end of a shoot. Editors think of it almost like the mortar between bricks: if I’m cutting together different takes, creating an artificial pause, or eliminating a speaker’s “ums” and “ahs,” I need to layer in that sound to make sure the final result is seamless. Room tone is something that can’t really be faked, because each space has its own ambience, and it’s very hard to re-create once you’ve left.
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What a tune. The fact that it recently started soundtracking some honking Twitch ads does not take away an ounce out of it. In four to five seconds of playtime it’s just, BAM.
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We know that ‘The Golden Age of TV’ is mostly codename for ‘infinite piles of debris’, and the cure is simple: add European characters (yes, we’re excluding European shows but of course we are). I am watching the current and second season of the truly terrible, unwatchable reboot of Gossip Girl - on account of my 2007 devotion to the original show I have no choice in the matter, but it’s my own cross to bear and I strongly advise against it - and that’s how I came to realise this effective apparatus. When the German real estate empress, mom to one of the silly boys, makes her appearance, a whole layer is suddenly added to the screen. It’s not that her acting is ‘layered’ or that her character is even somewhat interesting, it’s just that in the most idiotic and provincial sense, the use of German makes everything sound better and smarter.
Another case in point: the sharp jolt which the Scandinavian character of the asshole CEO brought to Succession.
An honourable mention here should obviously go to Whit Stillman’s The Cosmoplitans (the cause for my embarrassing Twitter handle). It’s one brilliant pilot episode that brings together Americans and Europeans in a rare manner, one which lets both beasts exist.
You might also include Emily in Paris and the latest White Lotus - both seemingly populated by Europeans - yet the jolt, the added layer, the spark, is not coming through in the same way. Perhaps because in these shows it’s less of a subversion and more an integral part of the plot - thus while the European-ism is allegedly more present, it’s actually more contained.