Sound

Sound

Importance of Sound in Film

• We might think of film as a visual experience but we cannot underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful soundtrack is often as complicated as the image on the scene.
• Soundtrack is comprised of three essential ingredients: The human voice, sound effects and music.
• These three 'ingredients' must be mixed and balanced to produce impact.

Diegetic Sound

• The most common form of sound.
• It is any sound that should be visible on the screen and exist in the reality of the film world
• Dialogue, tyres screeching in a chase, the sound of rain etc.

Non-Diegetic Sound

• Sound that is added in post-production to enhance the viewers experience of the film
• Sounds that the character cannot hear in the film world.
• Examples of non-diegetic sound include a voice over, a soundtrack and other digital music like subtle enhancements to the diegetic sound.

Dialogue

• The characters or narrators speech.
• Was not used in 'old' films as they did not have the enhancements of it
• A film is very hard to understand without it.

Synchronous Sound/Parallel Sound

• The most common form of actors dialogue. This form of sound is when the speech matches the lip movement of the character speaking.
• Sometimes actors dialogue has to be dubbed because of the conditions on set, if it is loud or windy for example. 
• So the actor re-records all the dialogue in the studio which is then dubbed onto the acting from the set footage.

Asynchronous Sound

• The opposite of synchronous sound.
• When the lips and dialogue don't match, this is either done for comedic effects or to illustrate tat a character is drugged, drink or in a dream (or if the film has been dubbed badly).

Voice Over

• A type of non-diegetic sound that gives the audience a true reflection of how a character feels.
• Also used to set the scene of the film world or to relay information to the audience.

Sound MOTIF

• Sound or music (in the form of a repeated sound track) that is associated with a particular character.
• The Motif can then be used for emotional or narrative impact.

Direct Address

• When an actor talks directly at the audience. Similar to a monologue in the play, the audience are usually invited to share the characters secrets or his/her view.
• Direct address is not common because the audience have to suspend their disbelief and also what is called the fourth wall is broken.

Soundtrack

• Music/compositions added to the film in post-production to guide the viewers feeling at a critical time in the film, when there is an emotional beat or a period of action for example.
• Sound bridge: when the music from the soundtrack is sustained from one scene to the next (to connect characters, events).

Music Sting

• A music punctuation mark to suggest a dramatic climax 0 often used in horror films to highlight a shock to the audience.

Pleonastic Sound

• Similar to a music sting but used more often.
• These are sounds added in post production in order to increase the impact of a particular moment in a film.
• for example the sound of a punch in a boxing film or the sound of a sword being taken out of a scabbard to suggest how sharp the sword is.

Silence

• Sound doesn't have to be used in some movies, silence is also a powerful tool for the director and not in the way of using silence in horror films to create tension.
• Silence is efficiently used in movies like A Quiet place.

Soundscape

• Characteristic sound that is associated with a particular location.
• for example a car horns and traffic in an urban location or the tweeting of birds in a  forest.
• These sounds add to the feeling of immersion felt by the viewer and can also be used to heighten tensions by focusing on specific sounds, again well used in A Quiet Place.