Film Studies

Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we really cannot afford to underestimate the importance of film sound. A meaningful sound track is often as complicated as the image on the screen. The entire sound track is comprised of three essential ingredients: the human voice sound effects music These three tracks must be mixed and balanced so as to produce the necessary emphases which in turn create desired effects. Example: Star Wars – with soundtrack and without soundtrack

The most common form of sound. It is any sound that should exist in the reality of the film world, speech, cars squealing in a car shase, bullets from a gun etc Example: Goodfellas (opening scene)

Sound that is added in post-production to enhance the viewer’s experience of the film Examples of non-diegetic sound include a voiceover, a soundtrack and subtle enhancements to the diegetic sound Example: Goodfellas (opening scene)

The bedrock of all modern movies, character speech Examples: 100 Best movie lines in 100 seconds

Sound doesn’t have to be used, silence is a powerful tool for the director to suggest fear, create suspense or make the audience question what they are seeing Example: The Artist (sound scene) The Cube (not that one)

Characteristic sound that is associated with a particular location. For example 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 (reality of scene) Example: Once upon a time in America (opening)

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 a film world or to relay information to the audience Example: Watchman – Roscharch’s Journal Easy A (opening scene)

Sounds or music (in the form of a short recurring repeated soundtrack ) that is associated with a particular character Example: Raiders of the Lost Ark James Bond – Ski scene

When an actor talks directly at the audience. It is similar to a monologue in a play and the audience are usually invited to share the character’s secrets or his/her’s view Direct address is not common because the audience have to suspend their disbelief and also what is called the fourth wall is broken Example - Alfie

Music/compositions added to the film in post-production to guide the viewer’s feelings at critical times in the film, when there is an emotional beat or a period of action for example Example: Best movie soundtracks

When the music from the soundtrack is sustained from one scene to the next Example: Generic example from YouTube

The most common form of actor’s dialogue. This form of sound is when the speech matches the lip movements of the character speaking. Sometimes actor’s 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 of the dialogue in the studio which is then dubbed onto his acting from the set footage; obviously it has to match – be synchronous – Mission Impossible 2

The opposite of synchronous sound. It is when the lips and dialogue don’t match and this is done either for comedic effects or to illustrate that a character is drugged, drunk or in a dream. This type of sound can also be found in foreign films that are dubbed badly meaning sound is incorrectly synched up Example: The 39 Steps (scream) Bruce Lee fight

A music punctuation mark to suggest a dramatic climax – often used in horror films to highlight a shock to the audience. – Example: Cat People (park scene)

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 i.e. 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 Example: Kill Bill – Crazy 88 fight scene

Sounds which go against what you’re seeing on the screen, to make the audience question what they are seeing, to provide humour or to make an artistic comment on the nature of reality Examples: The Shining – opening Face off – Somewhere over the Rainbow scene A Clockwork Orange – Singing in the Rain

More commonly termed as background music, these are sounds used to establish the mood of a character, or a setting etc. Very similar to a soundtrack. Example: Carry On Incidental music