German Expressionism & Synaesthesia in FW Murnau's Sunrise

A few very famous examples of German Expressionism in film:

Metropolis- Fritz Lang


The Golem (1920)



Phantom- FW Murnau (!)


Describe in detail the use of synaesthesia and "unheard sounds" in Sunrise.
Sunrise employs synaesthesia as a means to convey sound through visual information. As Szaloky writes, "synaesthesia is a routine 'synergic' confluence of senses", or stated more simply, the translation of one sense into another. Though we may only be perceiving visual information (as that is the only information available), the brain performs a strange task of creating other information. Synaesthesia is referenced quite often, and is is observable in literature: "he was red with anger" evokes thoughts of a physically red person, but also the sounds of anger and the motion of an angry person. In Sunrise, synaesthesia is used in amazingly creative ways.
Visuals of car horns and sharp knocks lead to an imagined sound, yet the couple ignores these sounds due to their self-absorption. The heightened tension and suspense of the audience is again increased as these shots are repeated, and the audience begins to assume something horrible will happen. Combined with suspenseful visuals is suspenseful music, dramatizing the situation farther. In the storm scene, the boats rocking back and forth and strikes of lightning across the foreground cause the audience to imagine an intense and overpowering sound of the storm. The dire movements of the man as he attempts to save his wife allow for an imagined tense dialogue between them.

In the reading, which shots are discussed and what are the various impacts of these shots toward making the silent medium rich with "sound?" Use examples from the text.
Szaloky describes the tension and sound created by the shot of the City Woman standing outside, and the wife inside. The man stands caught between the two women, and one can perceive a physical tension and awkwardness between the characters.
Szaloky also describes a shot of a dog barking along the same diagonal line as the Man walking, suggesting that the dog is barking at him. By seeing the dog bark, we imagine the sound everyone is familiar with.