<워낭소리>에서 이미지와 소리의 허구적 동시성에 관한 연구

Abstract

In 2009, the documentary Old partner made a great success in Korea, at least in terms of box office. But it also generated not a small controversy among critics. They thought that the documentary contains too much of directorial manipulation. Even those who are more or less sympathetic to the film seem to agree to the degree of manipulation. Especially, it was noted that the film habitually puts non-synchronous image and sound together, so that fictitious (diegetic) synchrony between them appears. The fact is that such fictitious synchrony can be found not infrequently in documentaries. The usual example is an audience reaction shot over which music or speech is heard. Then why the controversy? This article argues that Old Partner is rather unique in its creation of synchrony between image and voice. It is not just that it occurs too often in the film. The form of synchrony is unusual. Unlike those passive reaction shots found in existent documentaries, many shots in Old Partner imply interaction between voice and (something in the) image. For example, combination of an image of the husband and a (non-sync) voice of the wife creates the impression that she asks something and he ignores it. In the author's view such kind of fabrication is unacceptable in a documentary. If the husband were acting under the guidance of the director, then we might regard the scene as a fiction. But most such cases in Old Partner involve candid shots, so we the audience are caught between seeing a fiction and seeing a non-fiction.