Key Terms of Sound Elements:
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In this Home Alone scene different sound elements are used to bring the scene to life. The first sound we hear is a non diegetic score, this is used to build tension, create an idea of mysteriousness and that something is about to happen that is unexpected to the actor, the score gets louder to build tension as the actor is about to stand on the Christmas decorations and hurt himself. At 0:14 we hear a diegetic sound of the actor screaming in agony after standing on the Christmas decorations and then a diegetic thud noise as he falls to the floor.
The scene then continues at 0.22 to build tension by adding another non diegetic score, this is an instrumental piece of music played over the top to build tension again before the actor stands on yet another decoration causing him pain. At 0.37 the actor is greeted by another actor which causes dialogue between the characters to take place, this causes communication between all three characters within the scene. At 0.49 the two actors slip and fall on some toy cars, with this comes diegetic sounds of both characters yelling and a non diegetic sound of them falling to the floor which is emphasised by a sound effect of crashing/ smashing to enhance the scene. At 0.55 an instrumental piece of music is added to create more of an atmosphere, the atmosphere is like a chase scene as both of the actors are trying to chase the young boy around his house we know this because of the fast pace music added at this particular point. After a brief piece of dialogue, at 1.12 the actor gets hit by a paint pot tied on some string, with this comes diegetic sounds of the actor yelling and added sound effects to emphasis the force of the hit. Furthermore, we can then hear dialogue between the two actors as well as a background instrumental to help build the tension this carries on until 1.45 where we see the actor dial the police the diegetic noise of the dial pad on the phone is apparent here. The scene finishes with the actor putting down the phone and the background tension music increases in volume. |
In this clip from Skins there are many sound elements used that are used in most TV drama's. The first sound element we hear is a diegetic sound of the boy walking with his bike, you can hear the sound of the footsteps as well as the bike wheels turning to add to this there is also the sound of the diegetic atmosphere which is what the location sound (birds tweeting, car engines) and the sound of the boy walking with his bike create. At 0.07 the boy walks into the house and shuts the door behind him of which we can hear the diegetic sound of the door being shut, the boy then starts shouting the girls name and gets no reply, to create further tension to this situation a background score has been added - the score gets louder but stays at a constant pace which suggest the score is just added for emotion rather than a tension builder.
At 0.33 the background score changes from the constant sound and becomes a more uplifting, this is on top of the actors dialogue. The girl actor is cutting up and ripping through papers and magazines we can hear this as a diegetic sound as well as seeing it, after the communication between the characters stop the background score track becomes constant again as the scene is left on a cliff hanger, this is to create tension and add to the already tense situation leaving the audience wanting to see the next episode to find out what happens. |
This extract is an animation called 'The Answer' as its an animation there is no diegetic sound as all of the sound has been added on as non diegetic sound to create atmosphere and effect. The animation starts with the sound element of a sound track, this sound track is the backing track and runs through half of the animation. There are added sound effects on top of this such as noises of objects being put onto a counter and a razor being used which we can see in the animation.
At 1.14 the audience hear the sound element of sound effects, the sound effects is the noise of the doorbell ringing and the animated characters foot steps. At 1.26 there is an extract of dialogue between two other characters who are not seen in the animation to begin with, the animated characters use a TV remote to play the rest of the animation and for this we hear a sound effect of a TV remote being pressed play. As the animation continues on the animated character background music is played to create emotion and to portray the characters feelings, the music is depressing, slow and quiet. At 1.53 the animated changes to an extract of a book, the extract is complete with a voice over and tense background music. The scene is then brought back to the original animated character, the sound elements in this scene is uplifting background music, dialogue from the character and sound effects such as coughing and a book closing. |
This TV advert was made for Snickers, all of the sound elements within this advert are used to engage the audience and help promote the product that is being sold in the advert. In most adverts, including this one the advert will have a jingle which helps the product that is being sold be recognisable among audiences and contributes to the company's brand identity and ethos. In terms of the sound elements used in this advert, the advert starts with western atmosphere sound effects and then a sound track starts playing this is used to set the scene of the advert as they setting is in ancient China and the people in the advert as seen as Kung Fu fighters.
The same sound track continues to play which is a Chinese piece of music that underlays the whole advert. We then hear speech of the people in the advert which creates meaning as it guides advert and tells the audience more about what is going on. The background piece of music then builds up pace, this is to match the actions of the 'Kung Fu masters' with the music as they are jumping from building to building. At 0.27 we then hear more diegetic sound effects of birds tweeting as well as sound effects from Mr Bean. As the advert continues the sound elements get louder and much more frequent, this is to keep the audiences attention as it is common that most members of an audience lose the focus on the advert if there is not much dialogue or loud sound elements. At 0.41 Mr Bean falls through a roof, this obviously creates an abundance of sound elements such as the diegetic sound effect of a crash, the soundtrack still playing and a fire being lit by one of the Ku Fu masters all of these sound elements really engage the audience in the scene especially as this is set in acient China and the fact Mr Bean doesn't really speak much sound has to be used to keep the audiences focus throughout. The advert then comes to an end with a jingle, the jingle is the standard jingle for snickers 'You're not you when you're hungry! Snickers get some nuts' this is the brand identity so therefore it is played at the end of the advert to not only round the advert off nicely but to make it be the last thing the audience see as it is more likely they'll remember it and buy snickers which is the sole purpose of the advert. |
This is a game play video showing the Call Of Duty game in action, when it comes down to sound elements in games apart from the title music and any other music or jingle that may appear during the actual game play a lot of sounds are repeated or over lapped as the audience member is the one in control of the game rather than the game being in control to the audience. Because of this, sound elements depend on the audience and what actions they take in the game for example if the game player decided to shoot someone or something there is a diegetic sound of a gun shot again if the game player goes to a main road scene like in this game play we hear the sound of the atmosphere of a main busy road such as car exhausts, car horns etc. This is so that the gamer can feel like they are really in the game rather than just playing it which helps set the scene and can encourage a gamer to get lost within the game.
In terms of other sound elements in this game play it is apparent that there is dialogue and speech elements as the characters in the game talk to each other this is more to guide the gamer as the dialogue is usually commands like "Get across the street" which is telling the gamer what to do. At 2.39 there is background music to help build suspense during the game, this creates more tension therefore the gamer feels like they are in a battle which again focuses them on the game and keeps it interesting. |
This is a classic radio play performed by Barry Bowman, radio plays are audio stories therefore sound elements have to be used to set the scene as there are no visuals to match the audio. At the beginning we here a short title song which sets the mood, it is obvious it is a horror story based on the tone of music played at the beginning. As the play continues the dialogue starts and anchorage is used in the background to continue setting the mood, this is apparent as an anchorage all the way through the play when the narration is taking place,
As the play continues we hear all of the sound effects that would be present in the scene that the play is trying to give off such as car doors shutting, footsteps etc this helps the audience identify what's going on at all times. The play interestingly has a narrator who generally tells the majority of the story but there are dialogue parts to emphasis the scene where actors are present. Diegetic suspense sound effects are used to build tension and to keep the audiences attention, this is because some may say that a radio play could be boring due to the fact there are no visuals but sound elements really do help keep this play alive and also builds tension as well as adding to the horror style. Tropes are used a lot in the play, these are specific sounds that relate to genres such as suspense sound effects or screams etc. Tropes are used to also enhance the sound and make the radio play seem more lively than just dialogue heavy. The radio play ends with suspense music that gets louder but then comes to a halt when the radio play finishes, this is so that the audience are left wanting to hear more and it also finishes it off nicely and isn't left on a cliff hanger. The narrators voice also gets a lot quieter towards the end of the play which signifies and suggests horror themes but also gives the narrator a terrifying feel as the audience feels like he's whispering to them. |