Film Studies
 Though we might think of film as an essentially visual experience, we
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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
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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
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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