IndependentPress

  I remember my eight-year-old sister’s eyes glittering as she filled her mouth with strips of candied winter melon. We had waited a year for Chinese Lunar New Year to return–the candy canes at Christmas were only a preface to the treats we received on Lunar New Year. I was ten at the time, young enough to shadow older kids and old enough to manipulate my younger sister to follow my schemes, like the caper I wanted to pull that Lunar New Year. This Lunar New Year I thought I would get the best of everything. I had two goals: to eat as many sweets as I could and to gain control of the red envelopes full of money that would soon be delivered by my family members. In previous years, my mom instructed my sister and I to promptly give her the envelopes we received from our relatives, and we never saw the cash again. This year, I was determined to hide away some of the money so that my mom couldn’t have it all. My mom hurried into the living room, carrying bags of snacks to replenis...

  Has sound affected your viewing experience of a film or show? Why do we feel unsettled when a dissonant violin fades in during a horror movie? Why does the tuba from the  Jaws  (1975) soundtrack create so much suspense? Dramatic films share one thing in common: they use sound to manipulate the audience’s emotions. All moviegoers, in some way shape or form, have had their perception impacted by sound, either through musical scores or added sound effects. Sound & Cinema The first film to feature an original score was a French film produced in 1908 entitled  La mort du duc de Guise,  which translates to   The Assassination of the Duke of Guise .   i   An orchestra containing horns, violins, woodwinds, and a piano can be heard playing throughout the 15-minute-long movie. Though  La mort du duc de  Guise was created over a century ago, it set a precedent for modern cinema where composers layer music on top of film to correspond to...