The Importance of Sound in Film.

The Importance of Sound in Film

Film has been around since the late 1890’s, The Lumiere Bothers invented a device which they called the Cinématographe, and in 1894 The Lumiere Brothers made a 48 second short film which would eventually lead into the industry that film has become today. However, from 1894 until 1927 the films that were made were silent films and this era was known as the silent era. In 1927 an important film was released, this film would be The Jazz Singer and this was the first film that had successful synchronized sound and while there had been previous attempts to make films with sound, these films were unsuccessful in trying to make a film with synchronized sound. Since The Jazz Singer was released every Hollywood distributed film has had sound, and this is because these are the films which audiences demanded. Sound is an accessory in which audiences takes for granted for the most part and this is due to the fact that sound when done well goes unnoticed. So, just how important is sound in cinema?

Sound mainly goes unnoticed to the average media consumer and this is why many people don’t notice sound because of this, there are mainly two types of sound. The first type of sound would be Diegetic sound; this form of sound is sound which is visible onscreen or the source of the sound is present onscreen if it presented onscreen. Examples of Diegetic sound would include characters talking to one another onscreen, this is present in many different films that have characters talking to one another. Diegetic sound also includes sounds that objects make while they are visible onscreen. An example of this would be if a character flips a coin or picks up a book or something along those lines. The final aspect of diegetic sound would be music, but if this only counts if the music is being played onscreen. An example would be in the 2014 Whiplash with Miles Teller playing the drums because the sound coming from the character playing the drums. These are primarily the main examples of diegetic sound; however, this is not the only form of sound which is presented to audiences during a film because there is also non-diegetic sound.  

However, there is another form which would be non-diegetic sound, this is sound which is not present onscreen, the source of the sound is unknown to us because we can’t see it. This could be something like sound effects which are added for dramatic purposes but there is nothing onscreen making the sound. Another example would be music which is not conducted by a character onscreen, this could be the musical score for the film, the score that has been composed especially for the film. The final aspect would be narration, where someone is making a commentary about the action onscreen. This could be Morgan Freeman’s narration at the beginning and at the end of Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds. This tells you what is about to happen at the beginning of the film and then also what has happened at the end of the film. However, do be careful here because people often can get confused because while Morgan Freeman’s narration is non-diegetic this is because he is not a character in the film. You can get diegetic narration and this is where one of the characters from the film who is often the main protagonist in the narrative. An example would be the narrator in the film Fightclub, as the main character is narrating the events which has happened to and explaining what has happened in great detail. This is something often confused because not many people know and understand the difference between them.

These are the two main sectors when it comes to understanding sound, these are some of the basic elements of sound and it is important to understand what is diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound, and this is because people don’t really understand the difference between these types of sound, so you’re probably reading this post and you are now thinking that sound is quite complicated to understand. Your right sound is more complicated when looking at sound from an analysis perspective. However, while sound mostly goes unnoticed by people there are some occasions where sound is noticed by people, and this is because of a couple of reasons.

While there are many variations of sound, and these elements of sound have been part of filmmaking since the beginning in 1927. As stated in the first paragraph sound is often unnoticed by the average person, but there are a few occasions where sound is noticed. An example that is can often be used in cinema is music and more specifically a soundtrack by a famous artist which we recognise from outside the film. Soundtracks are an excellent example of when audience notices sound, an example would be the famous band Queen. Queen had many excellent soundtracks and during the 1980’s when Freddie Mercury was the lead, he had this distinctive and powerful voice when singing the lyrics and the backing track that coexists alongside the lyrics. Queen are a band that have a very distinctive pitch and timbre and this what makes the band unique. Queen has also had their soundtracks used in a number of different films, a more recent example of their music being used in films would be the 2016 Suicide Squad directed by David Ayer. Suicide Squad uses various tracks from the band and because of their distinctive sound, audiences instantly recognise when the soundtrack starts to play and therefore we as an audience notice the sound because there is this sense of familiarity with the track. This is something which is not just limited to one band, take for example Guns ‘N’ Roses in the Terminator films, you could name any band that has their tracks in a film and this would count because if like a band’s music then an audience member will recognise the soundtrack.

Soundtracks are the main factor when noticing sound in a film, but there are some more examples when sound is noticeable to the audience when watching a film. Another example of when we notice sound design would be when there is poor sound design. Poor sound design is hardly ever put in big budget Hollywood films because the filmmakers have taken their time to make sure that the technical aspects of the film. Poor sound design could be anything from terrible sound effects or poor sound quality during the runtime, a lot of the films that have poor sound would be films like Jurassic Shark from 2012 and directed by Brett Kelly. The sound in this film has been distorted and there are elements of the sound design which you can hear echoes from the backgrounds of the film. This is a good example of poor sound design and this is when audiences notice the sound from a film, this is because the poor quality recording is very distinctive compared to the Hollywood films which have excellent sound. Another time when audiences notice sound is when the sound is not synchronised with the images that have appeared. This doesn’t happen in many films but a good example would be YouTube videos, sometimes when you watch a video on YouTube there can be some videos where the sound is not synchronised with the visuals that appears onscreen. These are examples of the poor sound design and this is something which as an audience would notice because the sound is either poor quality and terrible synchronisation.

Audiences often notice when sound design is of poor quality and when the sound is not synchronised with the visuals and there is another occasion when an audience notices sound, the sound can be noticed through the sound editing. Another example of when an audience notices sound wold be the J-cut, a J-cut is an editing technique which is used in some films and this is basically when the sound from the next scene overlaps with the current scene. This happens in many different films and this would include the first film with sound, The Jazz Singer and directors such as Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick use this editing technique, this usage of the J-cut so that the audience can get immersed into the next sequence of the film and this is the main reason why a director would use this technique because the director wants the audience to focus on the next scene. This is the other time that the audiences notice sound because the director has made the sound so that the audience can hear it more and focus on the sound more than the visual elements that are onscreen at that current time. The importance of sound in film and this is important because good sound quality is something which is guaranteed in most films because an audience doesn’t just watch a film but they also listen to the sound as well and this is something which many people don’t understand, sound is a tool which is used so that an audience is emerged into the world of the film.

Sound is an amazing aspect to film that not many people notice and this might be because people pay more attention to the visual elements that are being presented. There is one thing that sound is incredibly good at that not many people think about. Sound is very good at evoking an emotional response from an audience. But how does sound evoke an emotional response in audience members. There is one main reason why sound evokes an emotional response, and this would be the musical score that is used in films. A score is a piece of music which has been made by a composer and it can be made for many different reasons. There are many famous composers from Hans Zimmer and John Williams to Alan Slivestri and Cliff Martinez. These composers all have one job to make sure that the emotive language is communicated to the audience, it is sort of like the filmmakers are manipulating you into feeling for the characters. An example could be John Williams, he is one of the most iconic composers in Hollywood, he has done everything from Indiana Jones films to all of the Star Wars films. Take the score from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and the introduction to the character of Rey.

The character of Rey is introduced to the audience without her saying a word of dialogue but from the sequence the audience understands everything about the character and while the visual elements show the audience that she is isolated on Jakku. While the visual elements of the film are showing these themes about the character, the score uses the timbre and pitch to feel for the character of Rey because she is isolated and has nobody in her life. This shows that a score can make the audience feel emotion towards a character because while the images show the same thing, it wouldn’t be quite as effective without the score. However, a score is not just used to communicate themes such as isolation and sadness, the score can also make the audience feel happiness and a sense of joy. This usually happens when the main character achieves something or they have overcome the odds and defeated the antagonist. This happens in the majority of the films that are released by Hollywood, the scores in this films have an uplifting pitch with calm sounds and this is a signifier to the audience that the main protagonists quest has come to the end and they have succeeded in their mission. Again take the ending to Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the entire film relies on finding Luke Skywalker because he is the only person that can bring balance to the focus and restore equilibrium against the first order. When the ending of the film is playing the score isn’t as intense as other moments in the film and the tone has changed completely, from when the rebellion is fighting the first order and trying to take down Star Killer Base. The score is in the background and when the audience sees Luke Skywalker onscreen the score is stating that Rey has completed her quest and that she has found Luke after he has been in hiding for many years. Different scores communicate different themes throughout the runtime of the films and this is the main thing to remember when watching a film because often the score is being used alongside the images to evoke an emotional response whether this be a positive emotion or a negative emotion towards a character, a score is a very important aspect to a film.

Sound is amazing when looking at it from a critical mind, so just how important is sound in film? Sound is quite important and while it doesn’t define the images that an audience sees onscreen, the images don’t define the sound either. Both these aspects of sound unify together to give audiences pleasure from watching the media that they are watching. Films have come a very long way from when they started, and the biggest advancement would be sound. Sound is something which shouldn’t be unappreciated either because it can be used to add depth to the images that an audience is seeing and this is the main thing to remember when talking about sound. Sound is very good for making audience feel an emotion but mainly goes unnoticed for many reasons. This is mostly a good thing because it shows that the filmmakers who have put effort into the sound have done enough so that people don’t notice it and by itself sound is an art form which expresses many different things.