Opening Titles

AS MediaLesson 7 film sound

Diegetic SoundThis is the sound in a moving image text that can be heard by the characters. It is everything that is recorded when the text is filmed, plus material added to appear to have been heard during filming.

Listen carefully to the following clip, without the visuals.

Try to describe what you think is going on.We will then watch the clip.

Fine detailsSome of the sounds were clearly too minor to be audible at the location and were probably added later using a process called foley, which is where sounds are created artificially and mixed in with the recorded sounds.

That means they were included very very deliberately. Consider the impact of the following sounds in the scene.

Sound 1 the blender

Sound 2 the book page flapping

Sound 3 the ball bouncing

Sound 4 the dog barking

Sound 5 the birds

Sound 6 the lizard legging it

The effectsGenerally, these effects heighten the tension.However, semiotics applies to sound codes as much as it does visual. These sound effects are all signifiers.Write what is the signified by each sound.E.g. the ball bouncing emphasises the idea of an innocent holiday being disrupted and reminds us that children were caught up in the disaster.

Non-diegetic soundThis is sound that cannot be heard by the characters on the screen. 90% of the time this will consist of music. You may also hear an artificial heartbeat added if a character is in a frightening situation, such as in a horror film.Listen to this clip with sound only. Try to ignore the obvious diegetic sounds and focus on the music.

Further exampleSometimes the music matches the visuals at other times it is chosen to clash with them. Notice how that happens in the following clip

Putting it togetherUsing two film clips as evidence, write an extended response to the following question:

How is sound used to create atmosphere and excitement in films?

You will see an example on the next slide, which you have one minute to read before it disappears.13

How is sound used to create atmosphere and excitement in films?

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Sound contributes a great deal to the atmosphere and excitement of films. Just the pictures on their own would not have the same impact. Film makers use a mixture of diegetic and non-diegetic sound to create effects. An example of this would be in the tsunami scene in The Impossible, where the director uses diegetic sound to hint (foreshadow) the coming disaster. The exaggerated sound of a blender is heard at the beginning of the scene, which could signify the feeling the woman experiences later when she is swept along by the water. We then hear the sound of the boys ball bouncing on the patio, with all other sound deadened. This reminds us that children were innocently playing when the wave hit, heightening the tension when it does hit because we wonder if they will survive.

Using this for researchWhen you come to do a scene analysis for sound, I would like you to find your own clip. That clip will be the main example in a discussion about how sound is used in the thriller genre. However, you will need to compare to other films, and thats where you can use what you have just written.