15. The Importance of Sound

WHY IS SOUND SO IMPORTANT?

What is sound?

Sound are things that we can hear.     

What is a soundscape?

Soundscape is everything we can hear.

What is sound design?

Sound design is the way sound is organised.

What is 'suspending disbelief'?

'Suspending disbelief' is when the audience actually believe it.

What is sound used for?

Sound is used to establish the tone and atmosphere of the film. It is also used to give the audience clues about the plot, characters and genre of the film. Ir also helps to 'suspend disbelief' to create realism and this heightens the audience's experience of the film.

According to George Lukas, 'sound is 50%' of a film. Without sound, the film would be half incomplete. The modern technology has been improved hugely over the years so that the audience are able to enjoy hearing the movie as well as watching it.

Sound is very important in a film. Without sound, the plot is very unclear and boring. The audience would not enjoy it and wouldn't know what is happening because sound is what hooks the audience in and gets them engaged. Sound creates more feeling and reaction from the audience. It penetrates through the audience and gets an emotional reaction or feeling out of it. It also make it easier for the audience to figure out the genre as the sound normally gives hints about the genre. Sound allows us to stay attentive throughout the film, so without it, our minds could go off elsewhere.



FOR EXAMPLE:
The film "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" would be half incomplete without the sound because the sound gives the video a life and makes it more dramatic and clearer due to the judgements the audience make from high to low pitch sounds and from loud to quiet sounds.
To watch, click here

There are a number of different sound terms to help us analyse and understand sound and how it is used or created in films:-

• Ambient sound: Sound of the surroundings. Example here
• Diegetic: Sound who's source us visible on the screen.Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound examples
• Non-Diegetic: Sound who's source is not visible on the screen.
• Score: Music played specifically for the production.Example, click here
• Song: Singing of vocal music. 
• Voiceover: Voice over a film.
• Dialogue: Word sound.
• Foley: Sound effect of something.
• Synchronous: Where the sound is in tune with the object giving off sound.
• Asynchronous: Where the sound is deliberately out of sync with what we see.
• Sound bridge: Sounds or music that line together.
• Sound motif: Recurring piece of music.