Use of sound in film

Sound within film is just as important nowadays to the viewer as what they are seeing on the screen. Sounds in film influence the way the audience perceives a character, or the way in which something is happening. For example if there was no sound and someone saw a character they would have a hard job depicting what they were saying, with the use of sound the audience can find out what sort of charcter this person is and then judge them off what they are saying. Within film there are 3 main types of sound, these are sound effects, dialogue and music.

  Sound effects: Sound effects within a flm are sounds which are made artificially, this does not include speech or music. An example of sound effects within a film is the sound of shooting guns. Most of the time when a film is being filmed the prop guns being used do not actually make a sound, so to make the film more realistic they add sound effects to make it sound like the gun is shooting. This sort of sound effect is synchronous. A synchronous sound effect is a sound which is seen on screen, like a gun being shot, or door being slammed. These sounds are used to help make a film more realistic and to emphasise what the audience are seeing on the screen. The opposite of a synchronous sound effect is a asynchronous sound effect. These sounds are sounds which cannot be seen on screen but are still happening. For example this could be a helicopter flying past a characters house, you wouldn't be able to see it but you would still know that it is happening. The reason this is used in film is because it can add to the realism of a film, hearing background noises such as these makes a film more realistic and therefore offers a better film experience for the audience.



This is an example of a asynchronous sound which cannot be seen on screen but you still know its happening.

Dialogue: Dialogue within a film is a conversation with two or more people,this can be anything from an argument between two people to a massive conference with hundreds of people. Dialogue in film is very important, if the dialogue is done wrong or badly then it can make a good film awful but then again if dialogue is done well then it has the capability of making a bad film good. Dialogue is used to show what a character is feeling and what they want, if the dialogue is good then it can help the audience make a connection with the character and feel what they are feeling. This sort of experience can enhance the film for the audience and make it seem better and more realistic.

This clip is from the film 'Pineapple express', in this clip we see a conversation between James Franco and Seth Rogen, James Franco is playing a drug dealer while Seth Rogen is playing a salesmen who has come to buy some drugs. We can tell what sort of characters they are from the way that they are talking, for example we can see that they are good friends with each other due to the fact they are chatting and laughing a lot. Around 2 minutes into the film Seth goes to leave and James Franco says something in a sad tone, this shows that he was upset so the dialogue in this instance was showing us that he did not want Seth to leave. This 4 minute clip shows the importance of what dialogue can tell and audience and how it can make you feel what the characters are feeling.


Music: Music is a combination of sounds, generally made from a musical instrument or a persons voice put together in order to make an effect. Music within film is very important, if music is used wrongly then it can make a scene feel very different to how it should. For example if someone has just passed away and people are crying there should not be happy music on because this would confuse the audience and make it seem like its not sad, whereas if a different style of music was played, something slow and sad then this would help the audience connect with the characters and would put them in a more sad mood. Music can not only be used to show the mood of a scene in film but it can also help build suspense. In a horror film for example, if there is about to be a murder music could be played to enhance the fact that this is going to happen and make the audience more scared.