Research: Sound - Mrs. Quinlan

Sound

Sound is one of the most important things in the film industry. In thriller it helps make the scene more effective and scarier than if you would have no sound. Sound helps create the tension and fear in a thriller film. It is one of the main reasons why thriller films are scary.

Key terms

Digetic sound: sound which is part of the film world e.g. dialogue from a radio or jukebox. The sound can be off screen.

Non-digetic sound: sound which is not part of the film world e.g. narrator commentary, mood music. This is used in order to create more excitement in the scene.

On screen sound: sound that you can see where it’s coming from in the scene such as gunshots car noises.

Off screen sound: you can hear the sound but cannot see where it’s coming from but it makes sense in the film world e.g. if a character was on the beach and the camera is just focusing on him but you can still hear kids laughing and you can still hear waves from the sea.

Parallel sound: is when the sound you can hear in a film is what is expected e.g. a scene with children playing on a beach the parallel sound would be people talking and the sea waves.

Contrapuntal sound: is when the sound doesn’t match the expectations of what you’re viewing, an example of this is in the amazing spider-man, spider-man and the lizard were fighting in a library but classical music was in the background in order to create a funny scene.

An example of Non-digetic sound is in the dark knight rises the Hit me! Scene. Non digetic sound is used when you can hear intimidating music when batman is on the motor cycle trying to approach joker. This is used to create a psychological effect on the audience by making them excited to see what batman is going to do.

An example of parallel sound is from the same scene in the dark knight rises. Parallel sound is used when the joker says Hit me! And you can hear and see the cars in the background. This is used to create a psychological effect on the audience as the feel pity for all the innocents that might get hurt.

Conclusion

In conclusion after doing my research I realised that sound is one of the most important things in film and it’s what creates the thrill and excitement. I also learned how sound affects the audience. This will help me choose what sounds to use in my own thriller trailer.