Sound is a big aspect within creating a successful film, as it can create mood and meaning within a scene; audio can be broken down into three types, dialogue, music, and sound effects. In this report I will be analysing how mood and meaning is created by using various examples of scenes from films where audio is used in a successful manner. Firstly, Children Of Men (that was directed by Alfonso Curon) uses sound in an effective way throughout the whole film, but the scene I will be focusing on is an action scene that is shot inside the car.
At the start of the scene the highest sound type heard within the sound mix is dialogue. Said dialogue is very naturalistic (in contrast to dialogue seen in The Grand Budapest Hotel, which is very anti-naturalistic), meaning that the conversations had between characters are realistic. This is evident through the fact that two of the characters share anecdotes of previous times they have spent together, likewise all is told in a chit-chat manner, allowing the audience to gather an understanding of their previous relationship. Furthermore, this also creates a relaxed mood for the audience, the dialogue is all light-hearted and casual, therefore not creating any tension within the scene. Although the majority of the dialogue used is for character development, there is also some functional dialogue, which helps move along the narrative slightly. After the calm conversations between characters, the scene quickly turns into an action scene; one of the characters shouts "look out!" which is a form of functional dialogue as it not only makes the characters look at something but also the audience, therefore helping move along the narrative by moving our attention to the more important part of the scene.
When it comes to music there is only diegetic music within the scene, the most prominent use of diegetic music used is the music playing on the car radio;this music is diegetic as it would actually be heard by the characters within the scene. Within the sound mix, the music is quite low however it is constantly there throughout the scene as it adds to the realism - if you were in the car too you would hear the music, regardless of the action going on around you. The tone of the music is rather soft and somewhat warm, as it is just casual radio music, however this contrasts with everything else during the scene which actually created realistic mood for the audience. It created a far more authentic mood and meaning for the scene, thereby making the action seem somewhat scarier and tense,
As for sound effects, there are uses of synchronous and non-synchronous sound effects used within this scene. An example of a non-synchronous sound would be the people yelling during the attack, although you see a mass of people you don't specifically see each person when they are yelling, therefore this is a non-synchronous sound effect. The effect that this has is that it creates a more realistic scene as if you were actually there you would hear all the shouting regardless of seeing the source of it. For synchronous sounds, when a character gets shot, the gunshot sound effect is synchronous as you blatantly see the gun and the event happen. Similarly to non-synchronous sounds this also creates a sense of realism, however as you actually see the sound source it gives a more dramatic effect as it makes the audience feel tense when it happens. Another non-synchronous sound effect would be the effects of the gunshot - we hear a ringing sound. This is non-synchronous, as although you would hear ringing at close proximity to a gunshot, we aren't actually one of the characters who would hear it, The reason that the sound effect is used though, is to create emotional realism, as although we wouldn't actually be able to hear the ringing like the characters would, by hearing it we have a sense of emotional realism as if this was shot as a POV (point of view) and we were actually there. Furthermore, this adds to the ambience of the scene as the ringing then becomes the loudest within the sound mix for a while as this is something that would actually happen if we were in the car with the characters.
Continuing with the sound mix, throughout the whole scene different aspects of sound gets louder and quieter, however one sound that is constant is the music on the radio. At times it becomes so low in the mix you think it's not there, but as it is a diegetic sound it does remain constant until the camera leaves the car and the car drives away; this keeps with the diegetic aspect as we only heard the music as it was coming from inside the car.
Another action scene that contrasts with Children Of Men when it comes to sound is The Expendables 2 opening scene. The first difference would be within the dialogue; all the dialogue is functional dialogue, meaning that it is only used to help with the narrative by helping the audience have a more of an understanding of what's going on and keep up with he heavy action happening. This is useful for this scene though, as the action happening is very over dramatic and theatrical, therefore it would be very easy for the audience to get lost within the narrative and not know what to look at and what's going on. Therefore, when the characters say things like "look out" or "we gotta get out", it gives the audience a slightly better idea of what is happening.
The music also contrasts as it is all non-diegetic music- the music is very upbeat and lively, which helps set the mood for the scene. If the music was slow and melancholy then it would create a different mood, rather than this upbeat dramatic mood that's been set. As the music is diegetic, it means that it wouldn't actually be heard within the scene, only by the audience, the effect that this has is making the scene more enjoyable for the audience by adding to the thrilling visuals.
Lastly, the sound effects are all very hyper-real, which means that they are very overly-exaggerated and loud. The effects that this has is, for example, the loud car engines make it seem like they are more powerful and masculine in a sense, which helps set the scene. Furthermore, the hyper-real gun shots and explosions also just add to the dramatics of the scene and making it extremely action-packed for the audience, which keeps them gripped and full of tension.
Another soundtrack component that creates effect that wasn't seen in these two scenes is sound motifs. An example of one would be seen in Jaws when the shark arrives we are met with a repeating simple sound that then becomes associated with the arrival of the shark. The effect that these can have is creating tension for the audience; during a scene within the film a character is on high alert for the shark and during one part a girl in the water screams, therefore the character thinks the shark has arrived. However, as the audience now associate the sound motif with the shark, as it wasn't there with the girl screaming we know she isn't actually being attacked. Therefore, later on during the scene, when the motif starts the audience then become tense and they know that the shark is here and about to attack.
Overall soundtrack is a vital component to creating a successful film, as each aspect of sound will create different moods and meanings. They can help support the genre of the film, as well as making the audience react a certain way. Therefore film without sounds will have a very different outcome to those with effective sound.
No comments:
Post a Comment