In the film, Glory, the director made specific choices in editing the scenes in how we are meant to see it. He wanted for us to understand and capture what he was trying to accomplish in said scenes. Music and sound is used to capture our attention and focus on the scene that is currently being shown. The director made choices to place music and sound in specific moments when there is dialog or without. Music and sound is to help us as viewers to understand truly what is going on and how we are to take from the scene.
The techniques weren’t anything new or special like other films such as Citizen Kane but the director made a huge impact with simple cinematography. Let’s take the scene of the Battle of Antietam, had very little dialog but a lot of emphasizing on the sounds all around them. You hear canons being fired, explosions, the dirt raining on them, gun firing, men shouting and even the shuffling of their uniforms. Director Edward Zwick edited the shots to match the sounds and show us what a battle field not only looks like but also sounds like to a soldier.
A camera shots at trees falling down, smoke that covered the field, men firing, men dying, canons being fired, and canons going off. All to make a point across that this is what the battle was like back in the eighteen hundreds. There was no need for music, the director was able to put the audience right in there in the scene, put us as if we were the soldiers themselves. The same method was used on the attack on Fort Wagner, having only sound and very little to no dialog to emphasize on what is happening.
Voices are muffled but not completely mute as explosions and canons are being fired. Once again the director puts us, the audience, in the scene as if we were there, witnessing it. Making sure to edit all types of sounds from the commander ready his pistol, his body dropping on the ground, water splashing, yells, guns being fired and much more. Director Edward Zwick made sure that everyone who watched this movie wouldn’t leave without knowing what a battlefield sound like. He did something different though, he added music on the breaching Fort Wagner.
Which added emotion and made the scene even tenser as we the audience were leaning forward to see how it’s going to end. The director still kept the sounds but choosing to put music half way through the scene just made it even better. It signal the audience that this was it, this was to be the moment in the scene that will declare a winner. To finish it off with our blood pumping in participating what happened when the southerners shot their canons and the shot was covered in smoke.
Another scene that music and sound made it so powerful and had an impact to the audience was Trip gets flogged. A scene with little dialog made the audience focus by only using sound and music. The music alone had the audience drawn in for the intense moment and but it’s the sound that hit the nail on the coffin. What captured the audience was the whip sound and it’s the music that build on our emotions. The director didn’t need to shot to show the soldier whipping the black man the sound alone had us focus in.
And to have the scene to make impact the music tied us in as the director choose to use a close ups on the commander and black soldier. A picture holds a thousand words and that can be said for this scene. The ending was very well calculated editing on the directors part to draw out the sad moment with no dialog. Using simple and nature sounds of seagulls, ocean waves, and grass being blown by the wind the director put together a couple of master shots that move to show the aftermath.
After the breaching Fort Wagner the audience is already wondering what happened after the canon was shot at 54th. As smoke cleared we hear seagulls before seeing them and the ocean waters before seeing the beach. This indicating the setting is after and we are about to find out the outcome. Music starts playing at the first sight of fallen dead soldiers and gets louder. We get our answer when the confederate flag goes up and sad music continues on as it shows a master shot of all the fallen dead soldiers.
The director wants us to focus and soak in the aftermath of the Fort Wagner attack. To see the many free black soldiers dying to gain their freedom from being slaves. It had a tremendous impact on the audience as we are all effect by their courage despite being defeated. Director Edward Zwick showed us in Glory that dialog isn’t the only thing that makes a great moment. With sound and music alone he made an effective impact among the viewers without overwhelming us. He was able to get his point across to the viewers and made sure we were all on the same page.
