PG. 225

• Sound can also be used as the meaning behind the film.

• Most sound is not recorded on set, but recorded later sometimes using a different object.

• Most of the sound can be found in libraries or is prerecorded by the sound editor.

• Many people believe in "see a dog, hear a dog" which means that everytime the audience sees a dog, they expect to hear traditional dog sounds.

• The sound mixer decides the volume of the sound and the channels that the sounds go into.

• Diegetic=Sounds that the characters can hear.

• Nondiegetic=Sounds that character cannot hear.

• Movie goers are not usually aware of the way sound effects them.

• High-pitched sounds=Strident and produce tension.

-Shrillness is unnerving. This is most commonly used in suspense

• Low Frequency Sounds=heavy and full.

-often used to emphasize solemnity of a scene

• Low pitched sounds=suggest anxiety and mystery

-suspense scene often start with these and gradually increase as the climax of the scene is nearer.


Examples:


In this movie, sounds such as a dog biting into a dog biscuit were recorded and used for things such as the crushing of a skull.



In this scene, there is the sound of the water, but there are also slashing noices that are mysterious, until the murderer walks in.

Pages 226-227

• Loud sounds tend to be forceful, intense, and threatening. They create a sense of tension. This applies to tempo as well. The faster the tempo, the greater the tension.
• Quieter sounds are delicate, weak sounds that create less or almost no tension.
• Off screen sounds also help to expand scenes to audiences. By hearing the external sounds, the audience can picture what's outside the frame.
• Off screen sounds are often used to create a sense of anxiety because we fear what we can't see.
• Sound effects can be more effective than seeing the actual image. This technique is often used in horror movies. They can also serve as symbols in a movie. Sounds can be used to symbolize ideas, objects, or emotion.
• Sometimes outside sounds are omitted from scenes so that we can hear what characters are saying
• Cinema vertie (direct cinema)- a method of documentary filming using the aleatory methods that don't interfere with the way events take place in reality

Examples:

A Clockwork Orange (Britain/USA, 1972)
In this movie, the key sound is the dialogue. The protagonists uses his words as his weapon...the voice is the weapon.


Ran (Chaos, Japan, 1985)
In this movie, the main character is characterized by the eerie chafin sound of her silk gowns as she glides across the polished floors.

Pages 228-229

• Final scene from a movie is often the most important. It can sum up the significants of the previous scenes.

• Sound effects can express internal emotions.

• Absolute silence, in a good film, tends to call attention to itself. It creates an errier vacuum- a sense of something impending.

• Silence can symbolize death, because we tend to associate sound witht the presence of ongoing life.

EXAMPLES:

In this movie by Robert Redford, an uptight mother has prepared French toast for her emotionally unstable son. When he does not eat the mother becomes irritated with his "selfishness". She picks up the plate and stuffs the French toast into the garbage disposal, its grinding is a symbolic because it portrays her anger. - an example of sound effects expressing internal emotions

by Arthur Penn
The lovers stop on a country road to help a firend with his truck, which has broke down. Clumsily, he scarmbles under the truck. There is a long moment of silence. The two lovers exchanged puzzled, then anxious, glances. Suddenly, the soundtrack roars with the noise of machine guns as the lovers were brutally cut down by policemen hiding in the bushes. - an example of silence calling attention to itself.