Beyond “watching”:

Film Sound

Sound in the Cinema

Two simple but profound realities about sound in film:

1. Sound is the most difficult film technique to study. Why?

2. There was really never such a thing as a “silent film.” Why?

Considering Sound

Four essential considerations in studying film sound:

Types of SoundQualities of SoundSound as Formal CueSound and Editing

Types of SoundThere are three categories of sound in film:

Speech Music Noise

Sometimes these overlap – for example, a person singing is both speech and music, while a person mumbling in his sleep might be both speech and noise.

Qualities of Sound

• Volume – how loud or quiet a sound is to the perceiver.

• Pitch – the “lowness” or “highness” of the sound’s frequency.

• Timbre – the synaesthetic quality of a sound (its “color,” its “feel”).

• Rhythm – the beat, tempo and/or accents created through sound.

Sound Qualities(Hyperlink)

Creating Qualities of SoundSound recordists and sound editors can create sound qualities through techniques such as

Dry Recording – in a studio soundbooth, no ambient noise

Combining or Layering – combining multiple sound recordings to achieve verisimilitude

Futzing – manipulating a recording to create a fuzzy or tinny sound

Foley – creating sounds using available tools

Sound as Formal CueSound engages a distinct sense mode for the viewer by linking the visual with the aural. These links create cues via:

Directed attention – if we hear it, we’ll look for it Formal expectations - surprise, suspense,

even curiosity Altered interpretation of visual image – sound

can make us laugh at something sad or cry at something funny

The value of silence – it’s rare and shocking

Sound as Formal Cue(Hyperlink)

Interpretation(Hyperlink)

Silence(Hyperlink)

Sound and Editing• Sound is technically and stylistically related

to editing, in that both involve the juxtaposition of content (visual or aural) in order to create a coherent whole.

• Sound may be even more powerful than editing in creating that coherence, though – sound can function both diegetically and nondiegetically, and can “appear” both onscreen and offscreen.

Sound and Coherence

Sound in film is used to achieve narrative coherence by interacting effectively with

Continuity Editing

Story vs. Plot (Diegetic Sound and Nondiegetic Sound)

Visual Space

Sound and Continuity EditingEssential techniques of sound editing to achieve continuity:

Dialogue Overlap – Character B begins speaking while we’re still looking at Character A

Sound Over – the sound we hear (music, dialogue, effects) does not come from the screen space

Sound Bridge – sound from scene 1 carries over into scene 2; or sound from scene 2 begins before scene 1 ends

Dialogue Overlap(Hyperlink)

Sound Over(Hyperlink)

Sound Bridge(Hyperlink)

Sound and Diegesis

• Sound can be Diegetic (meaning it exists in both plot and story – in both our world and the world of the film’s characters). Diegetic Sound can be Internal Diegetic Sound or External Diegetic Sound.

• Sound can also be Nondiegetic (meaning it exists in plot but not in story – it exists in our world but not in the characters’ world.)

Sound and Visual SpaceSound Perspective creates a spatial relationship between sound & image. Diegetic Sound always has a relationship with the space visible in the Mise-en-Scene. It can be:

Onscreen vs. Offscreen Diegetic Sound – do we see its source or not?

Simultaneous vs. Nonsimultaneous – is it from this point in the chronology or not?

Synchronous vs. Asynchronous – does the sound line up exactly with the image?