Sound, in a film, is the element that the filmmaker uses to explain a movie’s story. It reproduces and magnifies the world that has been created by visual elements of the film. The aural effects of certain objects, settings and characters are what define the sound. There are many types of sound when it comes to film and they all play a specific part in telling the story. Examples of sound are diegetic and nondiegetic sound. Diegetic sound comes from a source within a film’s world and this is the sound that makes the audience aware of the spatial and temporal dimensions of a scene. Examples would be the effects in a scene, the music, or even the vocals that elude from the story in the film. Those examples would be considered off-screen because
Sound is something quite special, impactful, and adds layers of elements and complexity to a film. As with the progression of the movie making medium, sound has grown and changed drastically over the decades. However, sound cues in the form of effects, dialogue, and everything in between, shapes our perceptions of a scene and movie.
For example, in the nut sorting room, when Veruca’s shoes are clicking on the floor, which is a diegetic sound. This creates the effect that everything has suddenly gone very quiet and anticipation is growing. But, in Big Fish, Tim Burton uses sound to make people feel many different things. For example, in the town of Spectre, when the townspeople were dancing, the diegetic sounds were all of the happy dancing music. This creates the effect of happiness.
To start off, Quentin Tarantino gave much attention to detail in his diegetic sounds. By including crickets chirping, floorboards creaking, bullets ricocheting off multiple surfaces, and, of course, blood splatter, Tarantino truly brings his audience into the old American west. Another example of diegetic sounds in the film is when Dr. Schultz is waiting for Mr. Candie to sign the papers
Even though the film is essentially a visual experience, the use of sound has become extremely important in modern film. The modern viewer hears a complicated soundtrack that is as meaningful as the image on the screen. Three elements comprise the film's soundtrack: the dialogue, the sound effects, and the musical score. The proper balance and mix of these elements produced the essential emphasis required, which created the desired effects. As explained by Joseph Boggs and Dennis Petrie,
It is usually pre-recorded and placed over the top of a film or video and commonly used in documentaries or news reports to explain information. Focusing on selected sounds can create tension, atmosphere, and emotion. It can also impart personality to film characters. Walter Murch (the doyen of sound designers) once described the character sounds (in a film he directed) as "coronas" which can magnify each character' s screen space. A figure who is associated with a particular sound (often suggested by his or her clothing), has "a real presence that is pervasive even when the scene is about something else or the character is off-screen."
Diegetic sound is sound that occurs within the film’s world and which the characters can hear; whereas, non-diegetic sound occurs outside the film’s world and the characters cannot hear it (Stadler & McWilliam 2009, p. 70). An example of diegetic sound in The Jazz Singer (1927) is the knocking on the table by the audience, after Jakie is shown performing for the first time as an adult. Jackie hears the adulation and reacts to it. An example of non-diegetic sound is the film’s near-constant score; which began the film with an overture and continued to be a central aspect of the film throughout; concluding with exist music for the audience’s benefit. The use of synchronous sound; sound recoded during filming (Stadler & McWilliam 2009, p. 67);
To begin, Tim Burton uses diegetic and non-diegetic sounds throughout many of his films to twist emotions throughout the film using music. One way he does this is in Big Fish when Ed Bloom shows up to his future wife's house with daffodils covering her front lawn. The tempo of the music picks up and the music sounds almost like everyone in the world could see how much he was in
Sound and editing are both very crucial concepts in film. In Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1998), the way the narrative structure is set up can make the differentiation of diegetic and non-diegetic sound difficult for the viewer. The relationship between sound and the narrative structure, however, also makes the viewer more aware of the film's artificiality. In King Hu's Come Drink With Me (1966), we see how the major motifs of editing emphasize the unrealistic and fantasy qualities of the characters.
Another example of sound is Hitchcock's use of voice over. For instance, as Marion drives away with the money she ha stolen, she imagines conversations between the people she has left behind and their reactions to her faults. Hitchcock also uses sound, which doesn’t complement the image that we see. Whilst the on screen
Along with background music, sound effects play more of a role on the way we feel than many moviegoers think, and "although the function of sound effects is primarily atmospheric, they can also be precise sources of meaning in film" (Giannetti, 225). When the
Another aspect of sound in this film was how it affected the story. By using sound dramatically in certain parts and not using it at all in other parts, sound gave this story an entity of its own. For example, during long stretches of film with mostly dialogue, there was no music played in the background, only a phone ringing in the distance, or the men's voices during their deliberation. These long silences also took place during editing shots of the town and images that surrounded this German city. This dramatic difference in sound was a revelation of how mood can be made by images and sound put together to make an incredible component.
Sound and editing are both very crucial concepts in film. In Tom Tykwer's Run Lola Run (1998), the way the narrative structure is set up can make the differentiation of diegetic and non-diegetic sound difficult for the viewer. The relationship between sound and the narrative structure, however, also makes the viewer more aware of the film's artificiality. In King Hu's Come Drink With Me (1966), we see how the major motifs of editing emphasize the unrealistic and fantasy qualities of the characters.
One would have to say that one of the most notable features of the film would have to be its soundtrack, which incorporates no music but only diegetic sound, from the preliminary noise of the river flowing under the bridge through the even louder sounds of the forthcoming American tanks to the quaking clamors of the ending battle scenes. A prodigious example of sound transpires within the middle of the film. It is when the boys are woken from their cots and called into combat; the sequence features electronically distorted sounds that together equally insinuate the boys’ disorientation as well as the disorientation of the viewers.
In Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring when Gandalf arrives in the shire the action follows his horse drawn cart, camera angles are switched to follow the movement of the cart but the editing is done so that it is ‘silent’ and almost inconspicuous. The latter technique used to maintain temporal continuity is diegetic sound, a device referring to a sound that has been viewed within the story world. It can include off-screen sounds but it always takes place in the narrative domain. Whenever Legolas draws his bow and loosens an arrow we hear a zip for the sound of the arrow leaving the bow and a thump when it meets its target, this is an example of diegetic sound in Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.
Video has become one of the most popular multimedia antiquities used on PCs and the Internet. In a majority of cases within a video, the sound holds an important place. From this statement, it appears essential to make the understanding of a sound