1. Analysing a clip – Prime Evil.
The clip I have chosen to Analyse for sound is from the popular British television show
“Prime Evil”. In this clip, we see a range of different events take place, which is excellent
when discussing sound, as there will need to be many different types of sound used,
including different tones and paces of sound. I will be listing the types of sound used and
will then go on to discussing them further.
List of different types of sound used:
Sound bridge.
Diegetic sound.
Non – Diegetic sound.
Soundtrack.
Off screen sound.
Sound Perspective.
Synchronous sound.
Sound Bridge:
From 0:19 – 0:20, the tone, pitch and pace of the non-diegetic sound of music changes from
relaxed and calm, to a more serious sounding piece of music. Whilst this change and
contrast in music is not at all sudden, the gradual change from calm to tense seems even
more effective than perhaps just completely changing the tone of the music. This is because
of the scene that the sound bridge follows. As you can see from the clip, there is some form
of conflict between two of the protagonists. Their dialogue does not change according to
sound perspective, so there is a maintained level of volume throughout the clip, even
though one of the characters is clearly aggravated by something. Linking back to how the

2. sound bridge is effective, it is because the music used matches the emotions from the scene
before it changes. The music starts of calm, with a low level of volume like the dialogue, but
then gets tense as the scene ends and eventually changes. The fact that this change in music
carries on into the scene suggests a change in event and brings a whole new mood to the
clip.
Sound perspective:
On 0:28, the timbre and pitch of the music change dramatically from the already mentioned
tense and serious tone to a more gentle, but equally eerie sound. In this particular scene, it
appears that the diegetic sound has lowered as the clip builds up to the changing point in
the scene, in which one of the characters finds a hand buried in a deep pit! The change in
music displays emotion and fear, suggesting that something else is to come.
Further into the clip, at 0:46 – one of the characters spots the hand that is badly hidden in
the mud. To express the shock, fear and horror of the scene, the sound editors have
suddenly replaced the eerie music, with a hissing, percussion instrumented sound. The non
– diegetic sound of the instruments can actually make the audience jump as it is
unexpected. In addition, it also exaggerates the discomfort felt by the character upon
discovering the hand.
Off screen sound:
Following on from the two previous scenes, in which a hand is found buried in the ground –
things get worse for the characters. Following on from this, the off screen, non-diegetic
sound of an animal roaring and growling is heard – but the animal itself is not seen at the
same time as the sound is heard. In addition, the use of a panning shot displays the miseen-scene, which is an open forest. This suggests that the characters have nowhere of any
relative distance to run and hide. Together, with the off screen sound of the growling
animal, tension, fear and horror is added to the scene. Seeing as the animal cannot be seen
but can be heard, it makes the audience wonder where the imminent danger will appear
from, further highlighting the tension of the scene.