Ghost story exercise ( The darkness)

The darkness

It’s me. I’m alone, weird thoughts in my head. Should I be scared?  I might have fallen asleep, felt someone touching my shoulder, I didn’t know what to think after all as I was myself. I’m paranoid not wanting to get up and go to the bathroom, when I convince myself I am just imaging things because I am sceptic about ghost. Going through the dark corridor I felt cold air as if something past me which is invisible to the eye. The feeling that someone is following me, panicked and didn’t know what to do, I was telling myself ‘’you are nearly at your bedroom door’’ just the second I got there the door slammed in front of me, my phone was in the room couldn’t call for help. What should I do? Run, scream for help? Nothing seemed real anymore, I decided to run towards the front door I remembered it was open… It wasn’t, it was dark towards the kitchen I felt the dark was pulling me in, I didn’t understand why because I am scared of the dark therefore I would never go towards it, but this time I ended up going towards it, it felt someone is pushing me. I was thinking if I could get away from this ‘thing’. Just in that moment I couldn’t breathe naturally I seen something black, silence for a minute and I lost it, I fainted not knowing what was happening. When I woke up I was not like my original self.

Glossary for sound in film

Glossary

Diegetic- Diegetic belongs to the world of film. An example of diegetic sound is dialogue. This is because it can be seen on the screen. It can be both on or off screen depending on the source whether it’s outside or inside the frame. Diegetic is also named as actual sound.

Non-Diegetic- non-diegetic is external is does not belong to the world of film, for e.g. voiceover, narration or music. It cannot be seen on the screen as the sound/voice is coming from outside the story space. Another term for non-diegetic is commentary sound.

(External diegetic- It is diegetic ad non-diegetic at the same time, It’s not in the shot but it is in the world of film. Which means it’s the part of the plot but it is not showed on screen not visible for the eye.)

Ambient- ambient sound can be anything you hear in the background examples of ambient sound can be a bird to indicate the time of the day or wind. Although wind can be useful as much as it can cause problems throughout the recording.

SFX- sound effects are created, for viewers to know what might happened within that scene or even something to happen unexpectedly, in other words to evoke a feeling. Foley sound is considered as sound effect as it is made after the scene was recorded. Foley sound can be hard to create because it perfectly has to match to the moving image to create the best outcome possible for the viewer.

Mood- using music can create an atmosphere and a mood for a film.

Tone- is a certain frequency that we hear. There are various frequencies that we can hear which are between 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.

Genre- Different genres require different sounds, for e.g. horror and comedy are very different therefore different sound effects and music is needed. It all depends on the aim that the film wants the audience to feel or hear.

Theme music- Theme music is important because it can immediately give an impression to the audience. This again depends what kind of genre is the film. If the theme music catches the audience’s attention, which means they will want to watch the film.

Voiceover-   if there is a scene and you see an image and you hear one talking but you can’t see the person or character that is telling the dialogue.

Musical score- Musical score in this kind of environment means that the music was composed directly for the film to enhance the story as it builds up.  The musical score is usually instrumental in order to not overwhelm anything else within the film.

Synchronous sound- This kind of sound is sound that has to match to the occurring images in the scene for example footsteps, walking or running.

Asynchronous sound- This sound is the opposite of synchronous sound as it is not matched with what is visible for the eye on the screen. This can help the film to look more realistic, this can be reached by adding sounds that can tell the audience what happened without them seeing the visuals.

Contrapuntal- This kind of sound is when the image and the sound/music is irrelevant. If one is looking at a scene where one is being murdered and the music is happy it does not match that is called contrapuntal.

Silence- Silence is very important, because it can also evoke feelings and it can tell one that something is going to happen. This is usually very useful for horror or action films. Another term is use of presence that is when the room’s presence is recorded for no longer than you need it

Selective sound- Selective sound means removing some sounds to make other sounds more recognisable. For a dramatic effect, to identify with the character to hear what she/he is hearing. Selective sound can also be used to create an atmosphere, give a meaning or evoke emotions from the audience.

Sound bridges- Sound bridges are used in-between shots so it flows continuously, for e.g. when one shot ends the use of sound bridge can be used so it looks uninterrupted when another shot starts.

Sherlock Holmes

Sound in Film

Diagetic

Horses whinnying, hooves clattering

The cocking of the shotgun

The cowing of the bird

The door being kicked

Revolver

The clinking of the reins

The wheel rims turning

The footsteps, jumps and running

Non-Diagetic

Music –

Slow start (piano)

Picks up speed and rhythm (cello)

Emphasis – drum rolls

Sound effect- ghostly whoosh

Sound bridge- from out to in.

I am going to analyse the opening scene from the Sherlock Holmes film.

In this scene there are lots of diagetic and non-diagetic sounds that we can hear. These sounds I have all listed above. But I would like to concentrate more on the theme music and analyse what the music tells about a scene or what kind of feelings the music evokes from the audience. The background music which becomes the main theme music starts with a piano, while we hear the piano when the classical instruments starts to come in it becomes a fast paced and has a mysterious feeling to it. We can see/hear how the music matches to everything within the scene ( Mise-en-scene) for example this music matches to the historical setting of the film which is played in the Victorian London. Even though we have the background music throughout the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds still remains as it also adds to the scene. The theme music is very important because it can give a first impression of the movie itself. From the chains that are attached onto the horses we know that they are travelling at a fast speed therefore the theme music is also fast paced as mentioned before. As the camera moves faster the music becomes faster and we can hear an increase in the volume of the music, this is to build expectations for the audience about the action and also to build excitement for the audience. The music as well as the custumes adds realism to the movie, which is great because in some way the audience can relate to what is happening.  

Link to video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=098QxdbedQI