Importance of Sound (16)

Some important key definitions:

• Sound is defined as a vibration which travels through a medium and can be heard.
• Soundscape is defined as a piece of music which is considered in  terms of it's component sound.
• Sound design is a process if specifying, manipulating or generating audio elements.

The importance of sound in film

An obvious reason for why sound is essential in a film is for understanding of context. A film without dialogues and sound effects essentially becomes just moving images. Sound helps establish the relationship between characters through dialogue, or tell apart protagonists and antagonists with sound effects- for example, in the title sequence 'Taking of Pelham 123'' the music was aggressive while the camera was on the antagonists which, hints towards their role as the 'bad guys' in the film.

Another reason why sound is of great importance in the film is for setting the atmosphere and tone of scenes. It is usually the sound effects and background music which play a big part in this. For example, playing soft piano or violin as background music to a scene can make the audience feel sadness or sympathy towards a character or situation. It can hint towards a tragic event and how characters are feeling in that particular scene.

A third reason for the significance of sound in films is to suspend disbelief. This means that the sound helps take the audience out of the ordinary world and into the world of the film. This is significant because escapism is theoretically one of the primary reasons for the consumption of media according to Blumler and Katz's theory of 'Uses and Gratifications'.

Importance of diegetic and non-diegetic sounds

We watched a clip, once with diegetic sounds only and once with non- diegetic sounds only (lastly, with both) so we could understand the importance of each type of sounds and them combined together.

1. Only diegetic sounds
 When the clip was watched with only diegetic sounds it seemed like the sound effects were over played to create a sense of realism, which consequentially loses it's realism. It was also very hard to identify the genre of the film as the background sounds, which are usually non-diegetic, are often used to create the tone of the film or scene. This, therefore, meant that there was little information that the audience could gather about the film from that clip compared to what we could have known with the presence of non-diegetic sounds.

2. Only non-Diegetic sounds
Playing the clip with only non-diegetic sounds seemed to be more useful than when it was played with only diegetic sounds. This is because this time the tone and atmosphere of the tone was successfully established. There was a clear sense of tension built with the use of music and incidental sound. This also helped foreshadow further events and meetings between characters. However, because of the lack of diegetic sounds the scenes seemed unrealistic especially during moments of dialogue and it was limiting with establishing relationships between characters.

3. Both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds
When both types of sounds were present, the clip was the most engaging and entertaining. The sounds successfully increased tension while also helping create a sense of realism. Also, suspending disbelief was the most successful with both sounds involved as they managed to create a solid and realistic world within the film. Furthermore, the tone and genre were easily recognisable and tone effectively established. Lastly, the layering of both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds helped with the impact made to the audience when synchronised with the moving images.