Sound Vocabulary

The entire soundtrack of a film is made of 3 elements: the human voice, sound effects, and music. Since my opening has one piece of score for its entire duration and music drives the mood and story, it was crucial that I picked the right sound. 

(Content and quotes from research: https://prezi.com/6s2sd_3rhjyc/film-sound/)

1. Diegetic Sound - sound that has an on-screen source and belongs to the world of the film 

2. Non-diegetic Sound - sound that does not have an on-screen source and the characters on-screen don't hear it

3. Synchronous Sound - sounds matching what is viewed

4. Asynchronous Sound - not matched with the visual source of sound on-screen

5. Sound Effects/Foley Artists - artificially created or enhanced sounds or sound processes used to emphasize artistic or other content of films, television shows,  live performance, animation, video, games, or other media; those who create foley, recording sound effects from either items and action thats are what they are meant to sound like or aren't (ex- punching steak for a person, breaking celery for bones)

6. Sound Motif - a sound effect or combination of sound effects that are associated with a particular character, setting, situation, or idea in the film. They condition the audience emotionally for the interventional, arrival, or actions of a particular character. 

7. Sound Bridge - built for continuity. The sound from one scene is carried into the next scene. 

8. Dialogue - authenticates the speaker as an individual or a real person rather than the imaginary creation of a storyteller. Serves to tell the story and expresses feelings and motivations of characters well. Often with film characterization the audience perceives little or no difference between the actor and character. 

9. Voice Over - (also known as off-camera or off-stage commentary) a production technique where a voice (non-diegetic) is used in a radio, television production, film etc. May be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere or by a specialist (voice actor). Pre-recorded and often placed on top of a film or video (commonly used in documentaries and news reports). 

10. Direct Address - When characters speak directly to camera/audience, acknowledging their presence (aka breaking the fourth wall)

11. Sound Perspective - The volume of a sound's position in space, manipulated by volume, timbre, pitch, and, in stereophonic reproduction systems, binaural information. Used to create a more realistic sense of space, with events happening (that is, coming from) closer or further away.

12. Sound Mixing - Done in post-production, a multitude of recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are commonly manipulated and effects such as reverberation might be added.  

13. Soundtrack - can be 1. recorded music accompanying and synchronized to images of a motion picture, 2. commercially released soundtrack album of music of music as feature din the soundtrack of a film or tv show. 3. the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized, recorded sounds. 

5 types of soundtrack recordings: musical film soundtracks, film scores, albums of pop songs in the background of non-musical films, video game soundtracks, albums that contain both music and dialogue from the film.

14. Score - Music written and played to go along with what happens in the film, not meant to stand alone away from the film. 

15. Incidental Music - often "background" music and adds atmosphere to the action. May take the form of something as simple as a low ominous tone etc. 

16. Theme - a work that represents the performance, often played at the beginning or end. Elements of the theme may be incorporated into other incidental music used during the performance. Often played during credit rolls. 

Examples of films with famous themes: 

17. Stings - a short musical phrase primarily used in broadcasting and film of punctuation. (Might be used to introduce a regular section of a show or at the end of a scene or as a dramatic climax is imminent. 

Another form of a sting, often misnamed "rimshot," is used only in comedy and and played just on percussion instruments as a payoff after the delivery of a punchline. 

Can be used in any genre, Is part of the director's lexicon. Often builds tension. 

18. Ambient Sound - the background sounds which are present in a scene or location. Common ambient sounds include wind, water, birds etc. 

19. Contrapuntal Sound - Music that goes against the mood in the scene (ex - happy music during a torture scene)

Sound helps create meaning by displaying underlying psychological refinements (unspoken thoughts or unseen implications of a situation), showing emotion, creating continuity, creating build-up or finality, setting period, parallel action, and character identification, serving as a neutral background filler, and establish genre.

Application to Novikof:

I will have non-diegetic sound as the score (Grunge x Alternative Rock Type Beat - Benzin (prod. Erlax)), which is considered a film score, plays over the scene. I will also have diegetic sounds like Novikof's foot falls, the murmuring in Russian of the crowds, the sounds of the elevator opening and closing, and the book jacket opening. The sounds of the attack dog barking and the screams and yells of the guards in the interrogation room during the flashbacks in a very distorted way aren't truly diegetic or non-diegetic, so that is interesting. They are, however, synchronous. 

I will add sound effects (the crowds murmuring in Russian) and foot falls while Garrett runs through the crowds outside the library to it. Since there is an aerial shot and long shots, I cannot capture the sound easily from far away, so it will be foley. The murmuring of the crowds and Garrett's breath while Novikof does some deep breathing is also considered ADR (additional dialogue recording). 

While Novikof's character does have a sound motif (Fooling Yourself by Styx) it is not part of the opening. 

I will be playing with sound perspective a lot, however, making the sound of the murmuring come from far away and surrounding Novikof as he runs through the library. 

I did perform some sound mixing when I made the score shorter and gave it a pause in the middle of the scene for Novikof's deep breath, adding to the tension of the scene. The movie does not yet have a theme, but it will when it is produced on a big budget.