Moscow’s NV devises original soundtrack for experimental Soviet silent film

Moscow-based musician, singer and producer Katya Shilonosova, known as NV, has created an original soundtrack for pioneering filmmaker Lev Kuleshov’s 1931 silent movie Forty Hearts.

Progressive in form and propagandistic in content, Kuleshov’s Forty Hearts centres on development through electrification and the imminent merging of cities and villages, presented via the filmmaker’s distinctive montage editing technique, which has come to be known as the Kuleshov Effect.

NV here aims to balance the visual aspects of the silent film with a musical track, lending equal weight to the image and score.

“I reflect upon how people tend to consider music secondary to images and how it simplifies their perception,” says Kate of her fascination with the bringing together of sound and image, speaking to InRussia. “Some people seem afraid of silence and unable to apprehend larger forms of music without imagery, as if trying to escape a feeling of boredom. The same goes for silent cinema.”

Shilonosova’s soundtrack makes use of both synthesised sounds and instruments such as the flute, marimba and guitar.

“By combining electronic sounds with live instruments, I wanted to give the score a more humane appeal to reflect the film and its title — 40 hearts means 40 power plants providing energy for the people,” she explains.

Source: InRussia