Here, the music acts as a symbolic link between Weewar and his homeland. Superimposed onto this meaning is the meaning arising beyond the film, the wider story of the many Aboriginal prisoners who shared his fate. The symbolic meaning acquires a new layer of meaning partly through the treatment of the singing voices and partly through the new sound/image relationship that has been made.
Weewar - Background and Challenges
Weewar is a dramatised version of an actual historical event that is fundamentally important to the Nyungar people of Western Australia, as it marked the moment when their law was superseded by the law of the English colonists. Set in 1840, in what was then a very new colony (Perth was chosen as the capital of the colony in 1829), the film aims to depict life as it would have been then. It is therefore a special example for examination, since it is a drama that brings another dimension to the analysis and to the production of the soundtrack, the issue of authenticity of representation. It is of particular significance for the Nyungar people that the story be told in their language and from the perspective of their Nyungar warrior ancestor.
Weewar is thus an important cultural document both in presenting a significant event in Nyungar history and also because it is one of the rare films in the Nyungar language. It uses the natural environment and culturally significant sounds that are recognisable to a Nyungar audience. The sounds of the environment are fundamentally important in the depiction of a place, both in life and in film. In Weewar they had additional resonance. Were inauthentic sounds to be used, they would immediately draw attention to themselves and raise questions regarding the authenticity or artificiality of the film. As a result, all the natural sounds in the film had to be recorded in the real locations. The particular sound of wind in the some of the trees, the insects and frogs, are all specific to the locations used in the film. They are also to a large extent recorded at the actual locations in the real story.
The script for Weewar (Kearing & Stasiuk 2005a) contained many of the references to sound that appear in the final film. With sound integral to the story from the outset, the director, director of photography and other crew, were aware of the way it was to be integrated with certain shots and sequences in the film. From a sound practitioner’s perspective this is an almost ideal starting point, in that the script takes account of the way sound is to be integrated into the story. Other documents produced from the script, especially the shot list, become the "bible" for many of the director of photography’s crew on set. With gripping, camera and lighting departments all working to the shot list, it is often only the script that contains any reference to sounds other than dialogue.
The sound of rowing – Icon, Index and Symbol
Immediately after the film’s opening dedication title screen, and while the picture is black, we hear the sound of rowing, although it may not be immediately obvious that the sound is that of rowing (see Clip 6). The remainder of the opening sequence combines the dialogue of the defence lawyer scene and shots, alternating between close-ups of Weewar and long shots of him running through bushland. These choices stem from the original script and were integral to the picture editor’s choices for the film. Sound is prominent in the script, as we can see from the opening lines (Kearing and Stasiuk 2005a):
These concrete examples of sounds in the script signal that sound, beyond the confines of dialogue, is being used to create the story. The original opening sound effect was that of water lapping against the boat, but it was subsequently replaced by the sound of rowing, partly because it fulfilled the need for boat sounds and partly because it provided the “sonic heartbeat” specified in the script. Whilst the sound of creaking oars rowing was not mentioned in the script, the fact that the script highlighted a sound at all for the opening scene left a space for the sound around which the other elements could work. We are not shown the origin of the sound, but instead are shown a character in close-up. The image starves the viewer of information, and so the soundtrack is given a more equal role in the unfolding story.
The rowing sound, in Peircean terms, has three functions:
Iconic – The sound of rowing is initially heard without a visual reference to its source. The sound’s characteristics are merely iconic, in the sense that it is presented as purely the sound itself. In Peirce’s terms, it is “a mere quality” (Peirce et al. 1960: 5.71), a Firstness without reference to anything else. At the start of the film, the sound of rowing is heard while the picture is black, and with no visible cue the sound is ambiguous. Even when Weewar is seen in close-up, there is no clue as to the source of the sound.
Indexical – Only towards the end of the sequence is the rowboat containing the four men seen, and the source of the sound becomes apparent. Once the origin of the sound becomes clear, as the image appears on screen, it takes on meaning as an indexical sign of rowing (the object of the sign), and can thereafter represent the boat being rowed.
Symbolic – At its final usage, over the end credits, it now has become a symbolic sign that represents not simply the boat but Weewar’s journey, and similarly the journey that other prisoners made (see clip 7). The final scene uses the same boat rowing sounds, and when the final song is sung, the rowing sound rather than music remains playing over the end credits.
By the final scene of Weewar being transported to Rottnest Island, what was initially a relatively benign sound at the beginning of the film gradually accumulates more meaning, as each stroke represents his removal further and further from home and closer to the prison island. By the time the sound is used in isolation over the end credits, the relatively simple sound has become a symbolic sign representing both the boat trip as well as the journey to Weewar’s final destination, where he and many other Indigenous prisoners spent their remaining days. The meaning of the sound develops from the initial interpretant, the sound that the rowing makes, to dynamical interpretant representing Weewar’s journey to his final destination, with the final interpretant embedding references to all the other prisoners who followed. This highlights Peirce’s differentiation between an idea and a sign: “The meaning lies not in the perception but in the interpretation of the perception” (Peirce & Hoopes 1991: 7).
Dialogue Indexicality and Symbolicity
Immediately after the initial sequence showing the boat and Weewar running through the bush, there is the fireside scene in which the elders give their judgement to Weewar (see Clip 6). The three elders are all Nyungars speaking in Nyungar language. The sound recordings of the elders had both a simple synchronous relationship with the image, but also an equally important cultural significance transcending the filmic action. Prior to the scene being filmed, two of the Indigenous actors performed a welcoming/blessing ceremony since the location was an actual Nyungar meeting place rather than simply a film location. To rerecord the voices would destroy the link between the location and what the three elders were saying, which was, in effect, the words of their direct ancestors. The voices work both as the simple indexical signs of the characters themselves as well as a symbolic link to the words of their ancestors. The voices are also symbolic, in the sense that the language being used is in fact a symbolic representation unfamiliar to some and familiar to others, but also symbolic in the sense that it represents the Nyungar culture since there are so few films that contain Nyungar (or any Australian Indigenous) language.
This scene illustrates some of the complexities of indexicality for sound. The sound-image relationship has its own indexical link, with synchronous sound recordings functioning as a proof of the creation of the representation while the event took place. The sound quality of the recording in this case was less than ideal, and so the iconic qualities of the sound recording, the firstness, in Peirce’s terms, were manipulated to remove those aspects of the sound recording that compromised clarity or intelligibility, or otherwise betrayed the artifice of the filmmaking process. In this particular film, based as it is on a historical event, the representations in the film provide an indexical link to a particular group of people and to real historical events. The initial object of the sound-sign in the film may be the character speaking the words and the initial interpretant is the message of those words. In the context of Weewar, the dynamical object of the sound-sign can also be interpreted as the words spoken by the elders’ forefathers in 1840.
Sound Effects Indexicality and Symbolicity
In this sequence, Weewar, having speared Dyung, is pursued and eventually captured by two policemen (see Clip 8). The clapping sticks provide the musical score to the otherwise naturalistic sounds of footsteps and ambience, which were captured during filming. The animal sounds (birds, insects) in this sequence are all from location sound recordings with the exception of the sounds of a bird’s wings flapping. The natural sounds of the scene were captured on location in order to present as faithful a representation as possible. Here the needs of the story were counterbalanced by the need for an authentic representation, since a sound that did not fit the landscape would potentially stand out as being fake. Sound effects provide both an indexical and symbolic link to the specific location as well as performing a more traditional narrative function, indicating something off-screen, such as a bird flying way.
Naturalism is briefly abandoned when Weewar, realising that he is trapped, picks up and twirls a fallen branch to use as a weapon, and its sound (effect) is similar to that which might be used in a martial arts movie, exaggerating the speed of the motion and suggesting his skills as a warrior. The moment of twirling the wooden club is a moment of licence, which attempts to heighten the drama whilst not destroying the authenticity of the overall representation. Different audiences may interpret the sound sign differently. The symbolic meaning of the heightened sound effect may represent speed and mastery for some, whilst others may understand it as a link to other cinematic genres, learned through prior experience.
Music Indexicality and Symbolicity
For many people, the sound of the didgeridoo is synonymous with authentic Aboriginal music. For the Nyungar community in the story, clapping sticks and vocal chants are the more common form of traditional music. For this reason, the musical score of the film contains only Nyungar singing and clapping sticks. Again, whilst a western audience may not immediately make the link between the sticks and the Nyungar culture, to a Nyungar audience the sticks are not only familiar but authentic. Vocal music also appears both within the film and as scored music. The elders perform a traditional ritual song as part of the film’s action. The final music cue in the film is a vocal chant which begins as Weewar looks over his homeland for the last time.
By manipulating the amount of reverberation applied to the singing, "Weewar’s song" differs from the other music cues in that it gradually becomes less "dreamlike" and more "present" as it progresses. It moves from a "film score" feel and depiction, as the images accompanying it move from Weewar, on to images of his homeland, and finally to the archival photograph of Aboriginal prisoners in uniforms and chains at Rottnest Island (see the figures below), followed by the dedication that ends the film. The treatment of the music attempts to shift the music from functioning as the theme music that accompanies the final scene of the drama, toward serving as a musical representation of the plight of the many prisoners shown in the photograph.
FADE IN: Sound-scape of boomerangs clapping and traditional singing. Cue sound of water lapping up against a boat.
1.EXT. BOAT ON OCEAN
Sound of water lapping peacefully (boomerangs clapping quietly underneath). WEEWAR sits in a colonial row boat heading across the ocean to Wadjemup (also known as Rottnest Island). Close-up of WEEWAR’s eyes.
FLASH BACK: Sound of boomerang clapping strong and steady.
2.EXT. WEEWAR RUNNING
Medium close-up of WEEWAR’s face. His head bobs up and down as sweat beads on his forehead. His eyes express adrenaline and desperation. A sonic heartbeat complements the pounding of his feet and heavy breathing.
3.EXT. BOAT ON OCEAN
Shot of WEEWAR face with water surrounding him in the background. Sounds of water lapping and oars rowing.
