Research - Sound - Ms Begum

Sound – Ms Begum

What is sound?
In reference to films, sound is used to create an understanding to the audience without including a visual concept and to create more meaning about the character and their emotions. Moreover, sound is also used to create a response from the audience. For example if there was a sudden loud noise it would make the audience jump. As shown in the example, sound is important in films because of the huge impact it has in understanding what’s happening in a scene. Such as music that builds tension adds suspense to the scene.

Terms learnt in lesson:
 

Diegetic sound:

This is a type of sound that’s a part of the film, and that the character him/herself can hear as well as the audience. For example, the telephone ringing at the begining scene of  'scream'

Non diegetic sound:

This is when the sound is not a part of the film and the audience is only aware of it. An example which would be the soundtrack of 'se7en' while the credits are playing at the begining of the film. This gives information that’s specific only to the audience information about the film which the characters aren't able to hear.

On screen sound:

On screen sound is when the audience can see where the sound is coming from, such as in scarface when Al Pacino fires a gun both the characters and the audience can hear.

Off screen sound:

An off screen sound is when we can hear sound, but we are not aware of where the sound is coming from but it’s still relevant to the film. For example, in 'scream'when the victim walks off into the kitchen and hears a phone call made by the killer in antoher room.

Parallel sound:

This is when the sound we hear compliments what we see. For example frightening sounds conveyed by the antagonist followed by fightened images or upsetting moments. The sounds that are expected would occur for the audience in a parallel sound. In the example we can see Bond walking slowly towards the victim and the parrelel sound would be the clicking of the gun.

Contrapuntal sound:

Contrapuntal sound is the opposite of parallel sound. It’s when the sound does not match with what’s expected of what we are viewing. The most famous thriller film example has to be ‘Jaws’ when there is scene of a happy holiday on a beach we hear the ‘dur dur’ sound which implies the shark approaching. This would cause the audience in expecting something bad to happen despite the positive and happy images

 

Conclusion:

This research of sound helped me be acknowledgeable about the different types of sounds that a film has and the meanings of it. These sounds are used effectivelly to create meaning and response by the audience recieving what they expect such as a parrelel sound or an on screen sound. However, at times the sounds are used in effect by not relating to the images the audience see's such as contrupuntal sounds or off screen sounds. I also learnt the sounds that are specific for the thriller genre which would be helpful for me to use on my own thriller trailer. One of the different types of sound techniques I could consider using could be the contrapuntal sound technique because of the twist it could add to my thriller trailer. It also keeps the audience at the edge of their seats and results in the audience to expect the unexpected.