Sound

Humans are very sensitive to sound, and filmmakers can use musical and audio effects to heighten the dramatic impact of their work.

Introduction

While primarily a visual medium, filmmakers can use both music and sound to heighten the dramatic effect of their film texts. 

It is impossible, for example, to imagine the shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho without the terrifying music composed by Bernard Herrmann, or the original Alien films without the unnerving blips of the motion trackers.

Sound in Film

While we refer to the first films as "silent", this was not really the case because screenings were almost always accompanied by live musicians—from a solo pianist to a full orchestra. 

Although dialogue and additional information were provided by "title cards" which appeared on screen between shots, it wasn't long before music, human voices, and sound effects were included in a film's soundtrack which ran alongside the individual frames on a film reel (see the image above). 

There are two types of sound available to filmmakers: diegetic and non-diegetic. 

Diegetic Sound

Close your eyes and listen—what do you hear? 

Perhaps the chatter of conversation, the hum of an air conditioner, or the distant revving of engines. These everyday sounds can be replicated in film through the use of diegetic sound. 

Often, diegetic sound is used to establish a location, such as the clattering of cups in a cafe, or the tapping of keyboards in an office. 

Importantly, editors can turn these sounds up or down as needed. 

As a scene progresses, and the dialogue between characters can become more important, diegetic sounds can be reduced to a distant murmur, or complete silence, as needed. 

Diegetic sound adds to the authenticity of a scene, helping to establish a sense of time and place. However, it can also be a distraction from what is truly important in a story. Thus, it can be included or removed by filmmakers as needed.

Non-diegetic Sound

Non-diegetic sound refers to noises which do not occur naturally within a scene. In other words, non-diegetic sound is something which the audience can hear, but characters cannot. 

Diegetic sound is, of course, cheating because it is adding something to a situation that is not "real." But, then again, all fiction is cheating: what matters is the effect of a text upon the audience. 

There are several types of non-diegetic sound available to filmmakers: narration, music and sound effects. 

Narration

Martin Scorsese's 1990 film Goodfellas begins with the line "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." However, while this line is said by the film's protagonist, it is not directed at another character. Rather, the line is delivered as a form of voiceover narration.

Narration refers to a voice that is speaking directly to the audience. This voice can be used to guide the audience through a text—contextualising, criticising, and commenting on what is happening, always with the goal of making a text more meaningful and interesting.

However, when overused, narration can lead to "lazy" filmmaking, in which a filmmaker relies on telling, rather than showing, the audience what is happening in a story.

Music

Music in films can be diegetic, such as when a character is listening to something on the radio. However, most music in films is non-diegetic and can take the form of a score, or licensed songs. 

Usually, a film's score consists of classical music produced by an orchestra. That said, with digital software a score can be synthesised by one or more musicians when the budget is tight. 

A score can switch between music in major or minor keys depending on whether a positive or negative mood is required. This music can be used to build tension, heighten success, or deepen failure, all through the use of tempo, pitch, volume, and other musical techniques.

Additionally, a film can license music from existing songs to suit a specific scene. If the audience is familiar with a particular song, this familiarity may increase their enjoyment of a scene (although the royalties for including such a song can be expensive). 

Sound Effects

While natural diegetic sounds can be captured live during filming, additional sound effects can be added to scenes as part of the editing process.  

Such effects can be amplified versions of existing sounds, which appear louder or more intense to the audience than they do to characters in a scene. Or, these sounds can be entirely artificial with only the audience able to hear them.

As with all techniques, the purpose of sound effects is to evoke specific moods in the audience, and to help communicate meaning in interesting ways. 

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Visual Effects