Sound Terminology

Sound

In our lesson we learnt about the different terminologies that are used when describing the different types of sound used within a film.

Diegetic sound is the terminology used to describe the world of the text. An easy way of thinking of it is that it is sound that will be heard by both the audience and the characters within the film.
Some diegetic sounds for example are; sound effects, dialogue, televisions, radios, knocking sounds, sounds of cars, screaming and internal thoughts are all diegetic sounds that are used within films that the character can hear.

Non-Diegetic sounds are opposite, and are sounds that are used out of the world of text. Non-diegetic sounds are sounds that the character will not hear but will be heard by the audience such as; music (soundtracks), voice overs, captions and titles. These are all heard by the audience but not heard by the characters within the film.

On-Screen sounds are sounds which are shown on the screen so the audience can see what is producing the sound. If a person is talking and the audience can see the characters that is talking on the screen as they speak then this would be an example of an on-screen sound.

Off-Screen sounds are sounds where the audience cannot see the source of what is making the sound. If you can hear a car driving but the image on the screen is not focused on the car that is producing this sound then this would be an off-screen sound. Off-screen sounds are used to make the audience aware of the diegetic world, that there is more than what appears to be happening on the screen.

Parallel sounds are sounds that match the action of what is happening within the scene. Sounds are used to create an atmosphere within a scene and parallel sounds are when the sounds used match what is happening within the scene or match whatever action is being made. For example in a horror film, if the scene is a scene in which they are running to escape from something the appropriate music to use would be fast paced to show urgency. This would then be a parallel sound.

Contrapuntal sounds are the opposite. Use of contrapuntal sounds are the use of sounds that are not matching that of what is happening within the scene. If the scene has a happy atmosphere but there is a use of sounds we wouldn't relate to being content or relaxing then this would be the use of contrapuntal sounds. For example in Jaws the scene set at the beach is a scene of enjoyment and relaxation but the music used when looking from the point of view of the shark is that of suspense and danger and does not match the happy beach scene.

A Sound Bridge is what creates a smooth transition from one scene to another. If you're moving from one scene to the next a sound bridge is used to make this change efficient and easy and to link both the scenes together.