Sound in Film (Techniques)

Sound can actively shape how the audience will perceive an image occurring in the shot/scene. 

   We watched this video in class explaining some sound techniques used in film. Here are some notes that I took on the video.

Rhythm 

• a beat, pulse, pace, or tempo
• it is vital to match pace of the music to the scene 
• change of rhythm can change audiences' expectations

Fidelity

• extent to which sound is faithful to the source as the viewer/audience sees it (matter of expectation) 

Parallel Sound 

• occurs when the sound that the viewer/audience hears should go hand in hand with the images on the screen

Contrapuntal Sound

• occurs when the viewer/audience hears sounds that they would not associate with the events happening on screen 

Synchronous Sound

• images and sound are in sync (sound matches what is going on the screen) 

Asynchronous Sound 

• images and sound are out of sync (sound effects do not match what is going in the scene)

Diegetic Sound

• if the sound is a character or object in the story space of the film (ex. voices of characters during a dialogue) 

Non-Diegetic Sound

• comes from a source that is outside narrative space (ex. a voice-over or music score) 

Volume

• alterations in volume have a dramatic impact on the scene