Private Project

The Music of Sound

Featuring cameos from director Lila Avilés and actor Elsie Fisher, among others, a recently turned 26-year-old filmgoer captures the significance of sound with their DIY, low-res camera setup.

  • Edward Frumkin
    Director
  • Edward Frumkin
    Producer
  • Elsie Fisher
    Key Cast
    Eighth Grade
  • Lila Avilés
    Key Cast
    Totem
  • Edward Frumkin
    Editor
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Experimental
  • Genres:
    Documentary, Comedy
  • Runtime:
    18 minutes 9 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 31, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    200 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Edward Frumkin

Edward Frumkin is a neurodivergent critic and filmmaker. He has written for publications like BOMB, The Daily Beast, IndieWire, Interview Magazine, and Reverse Shot. He shown his films at festivals like Big Sky Documentary, Brooklyn, SCAD Savannah, and Sidewalk Film Festivals.

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Director Statement

In "The Music of Sound," I discover the role of sound in people's lives, its weight in the artistic process, and how this invisible force influence people's sensations. Sound has many meanings, but it is ultimately a factor towards world building, transmitting statements, and uniting/dividing communities.

Film diaries are the most accessible and democratic form of filmmaking as the form gives the storyteller the immediate need to express their relationship with the universe. After diving into the plethora of such films from filmmakers like Kirsten Johnson, John Wilson, George Kuchar, and Jonas Mekas, I was inspired to make first-person narratives about my life around cinema.

This is where the term "filmgoing diary" comes into play. My first two filmgoing diaries, "The Music of Sound" and "Rap World Day," explore my relationship to cinema and how this artistic expression informs my relationships with many people in the NYC film scene, ideology, and passion to continue living in this world. While I filmed "Rap World Day" on my friend's Sony Handycam, I film my subsequent filmgoing diaries on a used Panasonic SDR-H60p with a taped Zoom H1n recorder to elicit a timeless, homemade aesthetic to my filmgoing experience. It gives the feeling that the footage and sound from this tiny DIY setup doesn't resemble commercial and narrative filmmaking. While the camera is unpolished with its red dead pixel on the LCD sensor and dust on the lens, there is a clear message in the frame. Filmgoing diaries obscure the mediums of criticism, documentary, journalism, performance art, podcast, reality television, and vlog through humor, love, and sincerity. In addition, filmgoing diaries preserve the socialization of going to the movies in our digitized society that has been heavily affected by streaming platforms and COVID-19.