Amplifying Ambience: Rethinking Sound as a Critical Practice in Non-fiction Film-making

This practice research project investigates how the acoustic environment, explored through site-sensitive research and sonic methodologies, reshapes creative possibilities in non-fiction film-making. The study challenges language and visual-centric conventions in documentary form by positioning sound as a critical tool for knowledge and artistic exploration. The project includes a written thesis, the experimental short film Notes on Listening, soundscape compositions, and a supporting website. Drawing from sound arts, documentary film studies, and sound anthropology, it examines how sonic methods—including critical listening, field recording, and sound design—inform documentary production from preliminary research to post-production. Focused on the acoustic environment of Peckham’s Rye Lane, London, the project centres listening as a critical practice and highlights the dynamic relationship between filmmaker and place. Through a series of sonic experiments, the research demonstrates how sound functions as both an epistemic and artistic tool, offering a deeper understanding of place and expanding how documentaries can represent complex, sensory realities.

The findings show that integrating sonic thinking and methods enriches how sound conveys knowledge and perception in documentary film-making. This study contributes by articulating sound as both a critical and creative medium, offering new methods for incorporating sound in non-fiction films and expanding the creative sonic ecosystem of the documentary form.