Use of Sound

Using sound in any film is more technical and important as people actually think. With both diegetic and non diegetic sounds, it plays such a huge role in building up suspense or creating a specific mood and ambience, and it can give the audience something that can't necessarily be done just by showing something on screen.

Non diegetic Sounds are practically always used in most genres, with many using an opening soundtrack to introduce you to characters/scenery etc. Again this music is usually chosen very carefully as it wants to make the audience feel a certain emotion as you watch the selected scenes, e.g. uplifting, happy music containing lyrics = relaxed, comfortable and excited OR slow, sudden music without lyrics = trouble, tense and on edge.

In my Short Film, 'Silent Night' I am not 100% certain that I will definitely use non diegetic sound, however i am considering using a quiet instrumental song within in the background just to build up tension, and give the audience the feeling that something bad may be approaching. I am however going to be using Diegetic Sound throughout my short film. Although I am not using much speech, there will be a lot of action which will create a range of sounds, and there will be a radio used within the main scene. All these types of sounds make my short film more realistic and engages the audiences attention without distraction.

Examples of Non Diegetic Sound, within the Horror genre:

'Jaws' is one of the most iconic soundtracks of all time, with the simple two notes (mirroring the shark's heartbeat) that increasingly intensified the horror and suspense leading up to their deaths.





'Physco' is such a famous, well-known horror film, produced by Hitchcock and Herrmann, the piece of music used in the 'shower scene' is extremely iconic, and is almost always recognisable to many. The music being very high pitch and hypnotic almost, resembles the trauma and horror that is being experienced, not to mention definitely makes the heart beat faster!


Example of Diegetic Sound:



'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' presents the perfect horror scene, by using the chainsaw as the main, lethal murder weapon. As soon as you hear the chainsaw being fired up, the audience become tense and terrified as to who is going to be murdered next!

'The Grudge' originally a Japanese Horror Film, but was remade in America, uses an extremely distinctive Diegetic sound. The noise which the Grudge makes is very distinctive, and you immediately are aware that the Grudge is within the scene. This again causes huge tension and nerves among the audience, as you link the sounds to a murder.