Art Video As: Film Forms: Keywords - Sound

Sound Keywords

Art Video

Sound is our second strongest sense. Its role in film is therefore extremely important in evoking atmosphere and a sense of place. Sound can also be used to direct our attention. Sound can also be used in an experimental sense to play with the conventions of cinema.

 Sound cue - Like framing, focus, colour, lighting etc,

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sound can direct our focus within the frame or create an overall ambience or mood. Sound cues can anticipate visual events e.g. footsteps. Off screen sound – Convey information beyond the on screen image. Loudness/Volume – Loudness is also related to perceived distance; often the louder the sound, the closer we take it to be. Pitch – Pitch plays a useful role in picking out distinct sounds in a film. It helps distinguish music and speech from noise or ambient sound Timbre –The harmonic components of sound give it a certain colour, or tone quality – what musicians call timbre. Rhythm - Sound occupies a duration and has a rhythm. For example the sound of footsteps, train movement even speech have a distinct rhythm. Fidelity - the extent to which the sound is faithful to the source. Diegetic – sounds that take place in the story world – words spoken by characters, sounds made by objects and music coming from objects in the story. Non-diegetic – sounds that come from outside the film world. Musical soundtrack. The omniscient narrator. Synchronous sounds - are those sounds which are synchronized or matched with what is viewed. For example: Dialogue. Asynchronous sound - effects are not matched with a visible source of the sound on screen. Such sounds are included so as to provide an appropriate emotional

nuance, and they may also add to the realism of the film.  Sound-Design – The mixing, creation and sculpting of a film’s soundtrack (Music, dialogue, sound effects).