The document discusses various elements of film sound, including early silent films that were accompanied by live music, synchronous sound designed to match images on screen, characteristics of sound like volume and pitch, categories of film sound like speech, noise, and music, and elements of speech in film like text, subtext, and voiceovers. It also discusses diegetic and non-diegetic sound, Foley artists who create sound effects, music elements like tempo and symbolism, and provides an example of how sound design enhances the film Fight Club.

1. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
Early movies without soundtracks are
often called “SILENT”, but that is
misleading; early “silent” movies were
typically accompanied by live music,
either from an orchestra, piano, or organ
in the theater.
Film has long been associated with
SYNCHRONOUS SOUND; sound that is
designed/recorded to “SYNCH UP” with
the film and appear simultaneously with
the images as they appear on the screen

2. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOUND:
VOLUME:
How loud a sound is; often used to direct
attention
PITCH:
The acoustic frequency of a sound and is
characterized as HIGH (soprano) or LOW
(bass); often used to create dramatic effect
TIMBRE (tam-ber):
Quality or tone of a sound; it’s what enables us
to differentiate between two sounds at the same
volume and pitch

3. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
TYPES OF FILM SOUND:
SPEECH:
Includes dialogue, of course, but also includes
other human sounds, such as laughter, sighing,
moaning, and crying
NOISE:
Sound effects and ambient noise are the most
common examples; often added in post-
production
MUSIC:
The music heard in the film by the audience and/or
the characters; often used to convey psychology and
for dramatic effect

4. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
FILM SOUND CATERGORIES:
DIEGETIC:
All the sounds heard INSIDE the film itself
that the characters (and, obviously, the
audience) can hear themselves within the
context of the story
NON-DIEGETIC:
All the sounds heard OUTSIDE the film itself
that the characters can NOT hear
themselves, only the audience can hear them
VIDEO EXAMPLE
FYI: “DIEGESIS” comes from the Greek word for “to narrate”

5. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
SPEECH FILM ELEMENTS:
TEXT = what the dialogue is actually saying;
the words and their surface meaning
SUBTEXT = implied meaning below the
surface of the words; adds layers of
psychological complexity to characters and
captures the way people communicate in real
life; can come from situation and/or
performance
VIDEO: DIALOGUE-SUBTEXT
VIDEO: STUDENT FILM SUBTEXT EXAMPLE

6. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
DIAGETIC SOUND + SUBTEXT EXAMPLE:

7. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
SPEECH FILM ELEMENTS:
VOICEOVER = When a character speaks
over the film, sharing thoughts and
information that only the audience can hear
The potential problem with using voiceovers
in film is that it violates the general film rule of
“Show, Don’t Tell”; good voiceovers should
always add to a film’s style and impact and
not simply be a way to cover holes in the
storytelling

8. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
NOISE FILM ELEMENTS:
FOLEY ARTISTS = Specialists who create
realistic sound effects that are perfectly
synchronized with the actions depicted on the
screen; part of post-production
FOLEY ARTISTS VIDEO EXAMPLE
FIDELITY = the degree to which a sound is
realistic or faithful to its visual source; film
sound can be very realistic or used in a more
symbolic way

9. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
MUSIC FILM ELEMENTS:
TEMPO/RHYTHM = just as with editing, the
tempo/rhythm of music can be used to create
a sense of urgency or non-urgency in
filmmaking
SYMBOLISM & MOOD = Music can also be
used to create setting, mood, and symbolic
and psychological meaning for the film and its
characters; for instance, when a sound
becomes louder as an object approaches; or
when film characters can have a musical
“motif” or “theme” that signals their presence
(think JAWS or Darth Vader’s “theme”)

10. CHAPTER 5: SOUND
FIGHT CLUB:
The Beauty of Sound Design

11. CHAPTER 6:
WRITING ABOUT FILM
Whether it’s just for pure entertainment
or to find meaning, decode symbolism,
and identify artistic themes, there are
undoubtedly a variety of ways in which
one can watch films. And there are also
a number of ways in which to write
about them – some more academic and
analytical while some are more casual
and loose

12. 4 TYPES OF WRITING
ABOUT FILM
INFORMAL WRITING INTENDED FOR
AN AUDIENCE
SCREENING NOTES
FILM REVIEW WRITING
ACADEMIC WRITING

13. INFORMAL WRITING
This type of writing about film includes
texting, tweeting, online discussion,
Amazon reviews, Netflix comments – all
designed for a general and informal
audience but often lacking in depth; the
author tells us the movie “sucked” but
doesn’t explore why it sucked, making it
difficult to evaluate their opinion

14. SCREENING NOTES
SCREENING NOTES consist of your
initial impressions, opinions, and
observations about the film and all its
various elements; narrative structure,
cinematography, editing, sound, and
mise-en-scène

15. SCREENING NOTES
Your ultimate goal in this kind of writing
is to record observations from which you
can later develop a thesis and gather
evidence to support whatever argument
you’re going to make

16. Looking for PATTERNS
By “PATTERN” we mean a
REPEATED FORM that, in the arts,
are referred to as MOTIFS
If an element occurs only once,
we’re likely to overlook it but when it
occurs more than once it draws our
attention and that can lead to the
thesis in a CRITICAL ESSAY
SCREENING NOTES

17. ACADEMIC WRITING
The Film Writing Film Students are most
often asked to write is known as the
CRITICAL ESSAY
It does not focus on whether a film is “good” or
“bad” but rather looks for basic FILM THEORY
techniques as covered in class; for instance,
the redemption theme in ON THE
WATERFRONT or the recurring motif of water
in THE GRADUATE and how it’s used to
create “meaning” via film language

18. ACADEMIC WRITING
Begins with screening notes
What did you take notice of?
Brainstorming a Thesis
A thesis is not a fact but rather an
opinion which you intend to prove
over the course of your essay by
supporting it with evidence

19. ACADEMIC WRITING
For instance, fences and/or
cages appear over and over
again in ON THE
WATERFRONT and serve as a
motif that an observant student
might notice in their screening
notes…

20. OTW FENCES/CAGES

21. ACADEMIC WRITING
But what does this motif of fences
and/or cages in ON THE
WATERFRONT “mean”?
In other words, what could the
fences and/or cages symbolize?

22. ACADEMIC WRITING
You can use the motif of fences/cages to
formulate a plausible interpretation by
asking yourself some relevant questions
like
What is the purpose of a fence/cage?
How does that purpose relate to the film’s
characters?
Which characters appear in scenes with
fences/cages?
Where are they positioned in relation to
these fences/cages?

23. WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF
A FENCE/CAGE?
Fences/cages are either meant to
enclose and imprison or to keep
out – either way, separation is the
goal

24. HOW DOES THAT PURPOSE
RELATE TO THE FILM’S
CHARACTERS?
OTW is a film about characters
who are trapped and/or
imprisoned by social and
economic circumstances

25. WHICH CHARACTER(S)
APPEAR IN SCENES WITH
FENCES?
Mainly it’s Terry Malloy

26. WHERE ARE THEY
POSITIONED IN RELATION
TO THESE FENCES?
Terry is usually behind and/or
hemmed in by the fence/cage
which is often separating him from
other characters

27. WHERE ARE THEY
POSITIONED IN RELATION
TO THESE FENCES?

28. DEVELOPING A THESIS
Once a pattern/motif has been
established, any variation/change in
that pattern/motif can be significant
Near the end of the OTW, there’s a
pivotal scene where Terry starts out
in a cage and Edie outside it but she
enters it with him and he ends up
leaving the cage

29. THE GRADUATE: WATER

30. DEVELOPING A THESIS
Other Visual Motifs in ON THE
WATERFRONT and THE
GRADUATE could include animal
imagery (the pigeons in OTW) and
costume motifs (Mrs. Robinson
wears a lot of animal prints)

31. DEVELOPING A THESIS
A FILM’S MOTIFS and MISE EN
SCÈNE are often interpreted
through this lens of SYMBOLISM,
giving the work a deeper meaning
and leading to various theses
SYMBOLISM IN FILM

32. ACADEMIC WRITING
Remember that “What it means” is
an interpretation that is always a
matter of opinion so there is no
“right” or “wrong” interpretation
But there are, however, plausible
and implausible interpretations
Interpretations with insufficient or
just plain silly “evidence” are
implausible and not taken seriously

33. DEVELOPING A THESIS
MOONLIGHT EXPLAINED

34. For the Love of Movies:
The Story of American Film Criticism
2009 documentary film dramatizing a
hundred years of American film criticism
through film clips, historic photographs, and
on-camera interviews with many of today’s
important reviewers, mostly print but also
Internet.
IN-CLASS SCREENING