Selective sound is used to emphasize key sound elements, while ambient sound helps create atmosphere. Sound bridges aid smooth transitions between sequences. Sound effects add realism or psychological impact, like a punch or gunshot carrying more weight. Diegetic sounds come from visible or implied sources within the story world, while non-diegetic sounds do not belong to the story world. Synchronous sounds match a technical event or action to reinforce an effect, while asynchronous sounds originate outside the story reality, like a musical soundtrack. Contrapuntal sounds do not match the visuals and can create alternative meanings through juxtaposition.

1. Sound
Selective soundisusedto emphasise keysoundelementswithinasequence
Ambientsound isusedto create a particularatmosphere ora sense of place
Othersoundsto lookoutfor:
Sound bridges- the use of soundto helptransitionsbetweensequences passmore fluidly
Sound effectsare usedto create a sense of realismorto create some psychological impactoreffect.
EG: A punch or gunshotto give itmore weighttothe sequence.
DiegeticSound/ Non diageticsound
Soundwhose source isvisible orwhose source isimpliedtobe presentbythe actionof a film
1: Voicesof characters
2: Soundsmade byobjectsinthe story
3: Music representedascomingfrominstrumentsinthe storyspace
Diagetic soundis anysoundpresentedasoriginatedfromsource withinthe filmsworld,doesn’t
belonginthe world
Diageticsoundcan be eitheronscreenor off screendependingonwhateverthe source iswithinthe
frame or outside the frame.Thistype of soundcan be usedto create manydifferentmeaningsforan
audience
Narrator or othervoice oversis non diageticsound.Punches,explosionsandgunshotsare alsonon
diageticsound,asitis a soundeffectthathas beenadded.
Synchronous sound- Thisis whenasoundeffectismatchedwithanothertechnical eventoraction-
thisreinforcesthe effect
Asynchronoussound- Thisiswhena soundoriginatesfromoutside of the diageticrealityof the film:
musical soundtrack
Contrapuntal- Noise or soundeffectwhichdoesn’tmatchthe visuals,oftenjuxtaposed tocreate
alternative meaning
Voiceover- Thisisthe ‘voice’of character.Thisvoice oftenguidesorinformsthe externalaudience
but can be usedto pushthemin wrongnarrative directions
Theme music- This isthe musicthat introduces developsthroughoutandendsthe film.Itoften
indicatesthe ‘personality’andmode of addressof the movie.Characterscanhave theirowntheme
music- thisisusedto indicate theirpresence or‘emotional journey’

2. Musical score is usedtocreate atmosphere,tolinkshotsorsequences,tohelpcreate the narrative
or to offerinformationaboutcharacters
Silence- Film/TVare veryrarelycompletelysilent,butthiseffectisoccasionallyusedtoprovoke a
reactionfromthe audience