The document summarizes the soundtrack of the movie King Kong. In 3 sentences: The soundtrack establishes that the movie is set in 1930s New York and on a mysterious unexplored island, and follows a film crew that travels there to make a movie but encounters difficulties. Subtle hints through sound effects suggest a monster-like animal is present on the island. The soundtrack sets a tense, mysterious, and dangerous tone for the film through its music and use of sound effects.

2. EXAMPLE: King Kong

3. Function: “Helps us make
sense of the narrative by
giving us background
information, such as where
the action is set”
Listening to the soundtrack of KING KONG, you can tell from the
sound, made up of dialogue, (narration) and sound effects, that
the movie is set in America, maybe New York/Manhattan area. It’s
also set on a mysterious island. This is recognised from a spoken
phrase “Heart of the Unknown” suggesting that no one has been
to this island before. We can also tell from the dialogue in the
trailer that they are attempting to make a movie on this
mysterious island, until things start going wrong. We also known
there may be a love story, but is it between two humans?

4. Function: “Informs us
about the characters”
We are hinted that there are some tough characters that persevere to
get what they want. From the trailer, we are told of a ‘monster’ like
animal. However, we are told this through the use of sound effects as
we constantly hear roars that could be from an animal. This makes
the trailer more appealing as we aren’t told directly about the
characters, but we are told through subtle hints of the sound effects
and dialogue.

5. Function: “Showcases the
stars appearing in the
film”
Straight away, listening to the dialogue, we know that Jack Black is
an evident character within this film. Also, that he’s a prominent one
as he narrates over the top of the beginning of the trailer. However,
other characters aren’t as easily recognisable without watching the
trailer.

6. Function: “Reinforces
the title of the film”
Without physically hearing the title of ‘King Kong’ we are aware
and familiar with the story line as it is a popular and famous one.
This is because the original King Kong movie premiered in 1933,
and then this one was remade in 2005-which is more recently.
Therefore, people already know the main plot, and character
figures, yet want to see it because it’s more recent.

7. Function: “Sets the
tone for the film”
The tone is very obvious within this trailer. This is because the music
used creates a very tense and mysterious atmosphere without giving
too much away. The pace starts off slow, but when action is
introduced, the pace of the music used increases and this is where
sound effects are also introduced e.g. the roar of king Kong. We’re
also aware that the tone is very dangerous, with a lot of high impact
action, as the sounds are played all together with a lot of stop and
starts used to create tense silent moments.

8. Summarising the movie
from listening to the
soundtrack:
A story initially about a film maker travelling to a mysterious island where a
‘monster’ takes the leading lady. However, there could be some romance
involved, either the leading lady with a main character, or the leading lady
with the monster.