Diegetic sound
- sound which originates inside the world of the character e.g., that they can/could hear
Good for:
- understanding what the character can hear and immersing the audience into the scene
- adds to the sense of realism
Non-diegetic sound
- sound which originates outside of the scene, and which the characters can/could not hear
Good for:
- adding ambience and setting the tone
- adding extra information just for the audience
Dialogue
- the words characters actually say
Good for:
- telling us what the character is like, how they behave etc
- shows the relationship between characters through the way they talk to each other
Asynchronous sound
- sound that is not synched up to the visuals or can be sound that is from an unrelated scene
Good for:
- taking away some realism from the scene
- adding a theme of meaning to a scene using sound by highlighting the contrast between what the audience is hearing and seeing
Contrapuntal sound
- when the non-diegetic sound on a shot doesn't seem to have the same atmospheric tone as the visuals. E.g., light-hearted music on the top of the scene of a massacre
Good for:
- highlighting the atmosphere of the visuals e.g., making it scarier etc
- adding hidden meaning to a scene
- making suffering seem odd or bizarre
Sound effects
- sounds that often don't get picked up by cameras, but are added in anyway by a Foley artist e.g., footsteps, squeaking doors, kettle boiling etc
Good for:
- adding realism to scene and making it seem natural
- making the audience feel as though they are in the scene
- adding tension
Sound motif
- a sound that seems to reoccur regularly, particularly to indicate the presence of a particular character, setting or situation
Good for:
- foreshadowing - helps to prepare the audience and build
- depending on the music, it can encourage the audience to feel a certain way about a scene or character
Ambient sound
- sound which naturally occurs in a location
Good for:
- adding a sense of realism
- setting the scene for the audience
- making the audience feel like they're in the scene
Silence
- pauses/gaps in diegetic and non-diegetic sound
Good for:
- drawing the audience's attention to something
- showing that someone has nothing to say, does not want to say anything
- adds tension
MCDOVED:
M - music
C - contrapuntal/parallel
D - diegetic/non-diegetic
O - on screen/offscreen
V - voiceover
E - emotion
D - dialogue
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