1.

During the first analytical listening to the sound matrix, one element of its structure becomes the initiator of retrospection. Encountering (by the editors) an frequently varied motive of a children's song, which is an integral part of the recorded conversation in the opening sequence in the town square, Harry recognizes his own infantile heritage and "regresses" so far as to interrupt his work. Each audio frame further reveals, as a "link" in the associative chain, new links to the counterpoint of image and sound, resulting in a series of visual associations. Carefully filtering recording by using synchronously connected Nagratape recorders, he conducts a content analysis from which constantly one dominant arises. Encountering the auditive "source" within the recording he evokes his emotional relationship with his mother which is intensified by abandonment of his father at an early age. The previously mentioned children song within the audio content produces a more serious "emotional investment" in the seemingly professional routine task.

2.

Analyzing the recording in search for the key content that can reveal elements of potential conspiracy, Harry encounters again the "knot" that produces a subconscious emotional reaction. The dialogue between conspiracy protagonists also contains an emotional reaction to the sight of a vagabond on the bench by the girl:

"Oh, God! Every time I see one of those old guys, I always think the same thing. I think he was once somebody's baby boy. He was once a baby and he had a mother and a father who loved him...And now there he is, half dead on a park bench. And where is his mother or his father...all his uncles now? Anyway, that's what I always think !"

These words, as in the lyrics of the mentioned children's song echo (thanks to the creative use of reverb - effects) as resonance of the "maternal" inside Harry's subconscious inducing also a dramatic conflict at a personal level with the mistress who, by accidentally memorizing the content of the song, caused his distrust which resulted in separation.

At this stage of The Conversation, protagonist Harry Caul (in English caul means, among other things, the medical term for "placenta") begins to "draw" himself into the content of his task, ignoring the professional distance that he, until then, always had.T hat will lead to the denouement that will completely devastate his structure of personality and career.

3.

Mechanically listening to the recording, Harry encounters an "audio mask", recorded within the multichannel recording in the general plan. The sound of Dixieland orchestra masks the dialogue of two conspirators and motivates Harry to seriously filtrate its content for the first time, and after several attempts, extracts the frequency range in which it is understandable:

"I don't know what I'm going to get him for Christmas yet. He's already got everything...I haven't decided what I'm going to get you either..."

And then quietly :

"He'd kill us if he got the chance.."

The quoted replica from the dialogue motivates Harry to aim his action towards inward. He tries to expose the employer, obviously misled by the analysis of the sentence taken out of the context, just as it happens when estimating the meaning of one shot out of the context of adjacent scenes or out of the whole scene of which it is part. In the editing procedure, in one the key scenes for the denouement, the aforementioned replica is emphasized by the process of repetition that becomes its phone..

For the first time we don't see the visual equivalent to the sound. Within a retrospection, there was a dense sequence composed of a series of squares and shots that were repeating, depending on the importance, with modified lengths (syncopation in rhythm), and thus they were creating a psychedelic effect juxtaposed with the reactions of Harry who has already and deeply "emotionally invested" in the case. Each new start of Nagra was the initiator of retrospection and the rewind had the function of disquised ellipse.

d/ Condensed sequence- onirism/ introspection

An introduction to the oneiric sequence is a love scene in which Harry stays alone with Meredith, a person who has managed to get to the hearth of his aloofness. The scene is taking place in Harry's studio – an abandoned warehouse (premises of the Zoetrope movie company ) immediately after the accident in which his colleagues from a rival company outperformed him in eavesdropping. Harry has become a victim - wiretapped for a moment only once in his life. However, this unexpected event is a special "trigger" for what was about to happen – that is the loss of self-confidence and the beginning of doubt in his own untouchability. After the accident, the "friends" are leaving the scene. Harry stays with Meredith, but actually is still alone and begins to listen to the children's song whose content is mixed with the other channels of the recording. Realizing his concern, Meredith says:

" Forget it, it's only a trick ! You're not supposed to feel anything. You're just supposed to do it. That's all. "

However, Harry's interest largely transcends the professional and he starts to intervene, dangerously for his own integrity, in the case that takes a form of a personal involvement in the resolution.

The sound level at which are interwoven the contents of the children's song, the replicas of the dialogue which reflect the anxiety, and the sentence in which Ann expresses the compassion for the fate of vagabond on the bench, receive personal overtones. This time, there is no retrospection. The visual equivalent to the audio content is the grid shadow on the faces and bodies of the two embraced that highlights the situation of enchainment. Harry lies in the semi-fetal position in Meredith's embrace, that figuratively replaces the maternal. Just before the beginning of the oneiric sequence, we hear the aforementioned replica from the dialogue, which now represents the motive for the identification of Harry and Meredith with the participants of the conversation on the square (Paul and Ann) and the initiator of oneiric sequence.

{niftybox background=#8FBC8F, width=360px} For the first time we don't see the visual equivalent to the sound. Within a retrospection, there was a dense sequence composed of a series of squares and shots that were repeating, depending on the importance, with modified lengths (syncopation in rhythm), and thus they were creating a psychedelic effect juxtaposed with the reactions of Harry who has already and deeply "emotionally invested" in the case. {/niftybox}