Understanding and Using Sound

In the past directors did not use sound in their movies until a transition begun in 1927 with the movie Jazz Singer, but it was not a a smooth one as films became 'less cinematic' and less about 'visual creativity'. There were many problems with recording sound because of the noisy cameras they used which had to be covered with 'blimps' to quieten that sound and when filming on location there was many problems with background noises they couldn't edit out. It wasn't possible to edit a films soundtrack or sound effects until mid-30s! So whenever they wanted music or a sound effect they'd have musicians playing beside the set whilst actors were recording a scene. But since then film making has improved as we can control sound editing with 'incredible precision' and we can separately add the music and effects over/under the actors voices or cut out background noises.


Glossary to analyse use of sound in film and media texts:

• Diegetic Sound: sound that is occurring inside the movies imaginary world
• Non-Diegetic Sound: a sound that does not occur inside the movies imaginary world
• On-Screen: refers to sound that can be seen on the screen, similar to diegetic sound
• Off-Screen: refers to sound that happens outside of the screen, however still diegetic because its still happening in the imaginary world
• Parallel: sound that fits in with the scene and emphasises what's happening.
• Contrapuntal: music that works in opposition to what's on screen, for example light-hearted music playing during a horror scene
• Sound Bridge: a sound effect or piece of music that links two shots as it runs across a cut
• Post-Synchronised Sound: added after the film has been recorded. For example sometimes the dialogue is added separately then matched and added on top of the film afterwards so it sounds clearer. Sometimes this is done for films being released in different languages to the original.
• Foley Session: all sound effects that are added to the film in one of these sessions.

An example of a sound designer is Harry Cohen, he is known for being the sound designer for movies such as Star Trek, Inglorious Bastards, Robin Hood, Kill Bill and many more.