Sound and Meaning

In this lesson we learnt about various key points which surround Sounds.

A direct address is when a character speaks directly to the audience about their thoughts of feelings. This engages the audience as they know what he/she is feeling while the other characters sometimes do not.

Diegetic sound is when a specific sound comes from the actual film and it isn't a voice over. So for example, the sound of a gun or a scream would be a diegetic sound as the characters in the film will hear the noise.

Whereas a Non Diegetic sound  is a sound in which the characters don't hear the noise, so this would be either a voice over or a song to create the scene. It would be something which you can hear as an audience, but none of the characters are able to hear it, an example of this would be a backing track to a tension building scene.

A voiceover is a commentary on either the film or another subject as the scenes continue. They are normally not accompanied by a synchronised image while the Narrator is forming the words.

Sound bridges are a sound or song which plays continuously from one scene to another. This creates a smooth transition as the frames flow effectively. This enhances the continuity throughout the entire film.

A parallel sound makes sure that the image and the soundtrack complement each other, so this means choosing the correct soundtrack for a specific scene.

The contrapuntal sound is the complete opposite of a parallel sound, so a soundtrack which doesn't complement the scene. This could be effective because you could think that a scene is filled with happiness when it could be confused with a tension building scene.