tragedies and comedies
about silent film stars'...
...and master filmmakers' downfalls,
also kept telling...
...almost over-sentimentally, stories about
the happenings of their world.
It was, by no means, an accident.
Because the introduction of voices was
started as a change...
...to the movie character's instance,
and as the story about man's existence.
The movies were closed
and self-sufficient.
In silent movies where
existence precedes essence...
...a person first comes into existence
as an action-performing subject.
The world is already there
when he notices it.
Having been suddenly thrown
into its vortex...
...he has to accept it without a choice.
And thereafter take a role
in the story by taking actions.
With no memories of himself,
prior to acting out his story...
...of the time when he was still unborn.
On the other hand,
in movies that acquired voices...
...the character appears as an existence
who already has a personality.
A modern ego, that can't be challenged.
Then, after speaking his scripted,
magnificent lines...
...he starts taking actions.
Movie-making, though I hesitate
to say so, is not a fixed occupation.
Movie-making, well, if I can say so,
isn't a fixed occupation. Ha-ha-ha!
Movie-making, yo, if you wanna know,
ain't no fixed occupation!
Moreover, in this case,
"voices" do not necessarily refer solely...
...to characters' spoken dialogue
and monologue.
In movies, their inner thoughts are
also expressed and told as voices.
Indeed, by speaking the characters
have freed themselves...
...from the silent movies' world
of excessive and stylized gestures...
...and pushed themselves up
from being merely performers...
...who play certain roles
to that of personas.
And that same technology made it possible
for animation characters...
...that were after all nothing
more than theoretical patterns...
...to appear to have complex minds.
Animation started telling stories
and then became movies.
Night after night, maddening
animation ADR sessions are being held.
It is a place of celebration...
...where the history of transforming
silent movies to sound is re-enacted.
And it is also a Sabbath of the heretics
with a picture-less film...
...placed in the altar as their idol.
In the world of animation,
the true ruler of the work...
...who can control not only
a character's life and death...
...but also its entire existence,
including how its innermost mind works...
...is none other than the sound director.
In his presence, even the director
himself is just a mere technician...
...whose onlyjob is to design the images
and oversee the production.
What should be looked for in a
director is not creativity...
...but rather an ability
to manage the production.
And for this reason...
Enough!
I've had enough of this farce.
I have no intention of letting a voice
from outside the images...
...speak about movies.
It's true, in the history of movies...
...voices were always
subordinate to the images.
And at the same time,
regardless of circumstances...
...they dominated the images
as the voice of truth...
...and put them in their proper order.
No audience doubts the narration.
However, that's precisely why one must
make it clear who is doing the speaking.
The voice dominating the images.
What power does that voice
hold as the foundation?
What one must take measure
of is its true identity.
The words sound truthful, as long as
they are spoken along with the images.
That tacit agreement between creators
and audience is indeed...
...the spell of voices from
which movies cannot get free.
That's the trap movies walked
into right on their own...
...by having pretended
to assume the air of reality.
The matter is always simple.
The only thing that's true is
the moment in the act of speaking!
You merely stretched the
interpretation of the movies' fate...
...as a means of expression.
This is also the
limitation of the