Sound

Often people underestimate the contribution and importance that sound has in film. sound allows a narrative to run smoothly and portrays emotion that may not be portrayed to the viewer as clearly without the sound.
 
The first sync sound film was 'The Jazz Singer' which was in 1927. Before this, films were completely silent with a pianist or orchestra playing to the films at the screenings. Once sound took off, it created issues within Hollywood, such as some big film stars had foreign accents that were not understandable or they has unattractive voices. A great example of sound introduction in films is in the film, 'Singin in the Rain', with the young attractive woman having a horrible voice and unable to sing. Audience's also had to stop talking to let the film star's speak.

'Talking audience's for silent pictures became silent audience for talking pictures.' - Robert Sklar, Moving made America

Dirks.T,2012.'Film History Milestones-1927'.'Filmsite' http://www.filmsite.org/1927-filmhistory.html
xroads.virginia.edu.'Talking Motion Pictures' http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug00/3on1/movies/talkies.html

Sound is very powerful in film today. It can create suspense, such as in 'Rear Window' where we hear the loud footsteps coming up the stairs yet do not see them or who the feet belong to. It can also create tension with it's music, such as in 'The boy in the striped Pyjamas' where we hear the music getting louder and louder while the father is racing against time to save his little boy, within the climax.
minilissiegirl,2009.'The boy in the striped pyjamas-finale scene'.'youtube',Mar,28th. Available at:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-bR1WBOttU

 

Sound comes in four main categories; Music, Sound effects, Dialogue and Silence. With this comes Non-Diegetic and Diegetic sounds.

Non-Diegetic - sounds that are not within the screen or character's world, such as soundtracks,music and narration. In 'The Conversation' we think the opening soundtrack is non-diegetic, yet when the camera gets closer into the shot and different shots develop, we see that there is in fact a band playing the theme tune within the park, making it a diegetic sound.
Diegetic - sounds that come straight from the stories world and within the screen, such as dialogue, sound effects that are within the world like light savers. although they are not realistic in our world, in the narrative's world they exist. Also if a character has a flashback moment or we hear their thoughts. This is still diegetic. Dialogue coming from the next scene, that we hear faded in towards the end of the current one is also diegetic and is known as a sound bridge, creating a smooth transition to further scenes.

All these sounds cause effects.

• space
• time
• coordination
• disruption
• symbolism
• emotion
• perspective
• subjectivity

Bordwell.D & Thompson.K (2013) Film Art. Sound in the cinema.

Silence is just as powerful as sound as it puts the viewer in an uncomfortable position as silence is off-putting in reality. Very rarely do we come across complete silence. therefore it can increase the tension in a film such as a horror. while writing this blog i have witnessed an advert which i wouldn't have even acknowledged if it wasn't silent. This proves that silence makes the audience pay attention to the visuals. The 1931 film 'M' is a good example of the power of silence as when the mother calls for her child, it is silent with no one around, showing that the child is gone.

Megannnandwhat,2012.'Breakfast'.'youtube',Jun,23rd. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1xulkUo-n8&list=UU1gOTmNXdE8oe2Y_8G-MxrA&index=3&feature=plcp

 

Sound and Space. The louder the sound, the closer it is or if it is a loud sound, sometimes Pleonastic, it may be to gain to viewers attention to the sound source or for dramatic effect. A use of Pleonastic sound i have use myself in a short film i made 'Breakfast'. I used this for dramatic effect and to portray the harsh relationship of the couple through the loud gritty sounds of breakfast cooking. The sounds space also sets the scene, such as the viewer will know that the character is in a large building or far away if their voice is echoed or quiet.

Music usually goes with the films feel, genre or time period. For example, in 'Forest Gump' most of the music is rock and roll which matches the era of Forest Gumps life story's with the hippies ect. Also in 'The conversation', the music has a wide jazz theme about it, in which i think portrays the mans character and personality, as he loves jazz music, which we see through his saxophone playing along to the music. Very often in film, a Kitmotif is used which is a small musical phrase used every time this character comes on screen or into a scene. Mostly action films use this with a few iconic beats used for a superhero in 'Kick-Ass' or the Joker in 'The Dark Knight', which only uses one beat, yet it is so effective. We also get this Kitmotif for reoccurring events, such as the famous sounds in 'Pyshco' with the stabbings and 'Jaws' with the sharks.

Gioffreda. Alberto,2010.'The Conversation - Finale'.'Youtube',Sept,22nd. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpITvQyaVb4

 

Rhythm - Just like shots, sound usually has a rhythm. Dialogue may have the same talking speed and emotion between two characters having a conversation. Also the music would normally go to the emotion of the visuals with an action scene synced with a fast upbeat soundtrack. Disney films usually have the characters moving around to the beat and rhythm of the background music, weather they are dancing or just moving in general.

VolterraChannel,2010. 'Mickey mouse-mickey's rival-1936'.'youtube',Aug,30th. 'Avaliable at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uuPu5AnDxg&feature=related

Dialogue - Dialogue moves the narration on with the speech spoke from the characters. The beauty of dialogue is that it can be a great element to change a subject, with characters having a conversation between one another. For example, character a & b talking about dinner and then character a addressing character b asking if he had heard about the man next door. A simple example but it certainly drives a narrative forwards. Voice-over from the characters can drive the story forward as well, with Will Smith's voice-over in 'Seven Pounds' it goes from the opening flashback to the beginning with his voice-over explaining that 'In seven days God created the world and in seven seconds, i shattered mine.' This drive the story on with him going straight into his back story.

trailers,2008.'Seven pounds-offical trailer'.'Youtube',Dec,12th. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W94iiam-D94

The voice performance of the character is key to allow the viewer to be able to feel the correct emotion and meaning the director wishes to be achieved. For example if Character A, had answered the door and came to tell character B who was at the door, different emotion and meaning could be portrayed by the way they expressed this. They could shout with happiness 'Tom's here', portrayed as a great feeling for both characters or character A could whisper with concern to character B, that Tom's here, with the viewer seeing some underlining story about 'Tom' and on edge about the situation.

Bordwell.D & Thompson.K (2013) Film Art. Sound in the cinema.