Feeling the voice: Embodied aural encounters in under the bombs (Philippe Aractingi, 2007)

Shot on digital video during and after Israel’s aerial bombardment of Lebanon in 2006, Philippe Arachtingi’s Under the Bombs (2007) uses actors to play the lead characters in a fictitious narrative, interacting with bystanders and using a real war as its setting and backdrop. Johnston argues that the soundtrack, particularly the voice, has an important role to play in creating and enabling this hybrid of fiction, documentary, and news footage. The verbal and nonverbal vocal elements of the soundtrack provide a tactile embodiment of the performers visible on screen. Furthermore, synchronized location-recorded sound simultaneously authenticates the reality of the moment, and initiates a felt emotional response. Using analysis of key scenes in the film, and focusing on nonsemantic characteristics of voice, the chapter considers the role of sound technologies in the mediation of screen performance, experienced as embodied aural encounters.