Planning the sound - Miss Miller

Planning the sound

The purpose of the group sound discussion was to decide which different types of sounds we wanted to use in our sequence and where they would appear.

Parallel

A parallel sound is one that the audience expect to hear with what they're watching. For example, when someone in a film gets shot, the audience will expect to hear the sound of the gun being fired or the bullet leaving the gun and then hitting an object or person. Our group has chosen to use a parellel sound when the antagonist is killing his mother during the dinner scene. The parallel sound of the the knife stabbing the mother and then the mother screaming will make the scene more realistic and will show the audience how violent the antagonist can be. This will be the first time in our sequence that the audience see the character as dangerous and the antagonist. We want this sound to emphasise how much pain the mother is feeling which will result in the audience sympathising with her and not wanting to be in her position. This will also create shock and the audience will fear the antagonist who was able to kill his mother is such a sudden and brutal way.

Non diegetic

A non diegetic sound is one that comes from outside of the narrative, for example, a VoiceOver is a non diegetic sound. Our group has planned to use a non diegetic sound of the song "tiptoe through the tulips" towards the middle of our opening sequence while our film title is being shown. The song is very childlike and joyful and follows the brutal death of the mother which we believe will create shock and unsettle the audience to hear such an unnerving and creepy piece of music.

Diegetic

A diegetic sound is one that is part of the narrative, for example, the sound of footsteps against the floor. We have planned to use a diegetic sound at the very beginning of our sequence when the audience see the antagonist dragging a chair through the school corridor. This diegetic sound will prolong the sequence and create antacipation within the audience as they have to wait longer to find out what happens. Although, the audience may already know what is going to happen due to the use of the iconography of a rope and chair in those frames. The audience will feel sympathetic towards his character due to him feeling as though his only option is to kill himself. We believe that if we keep the audience waiting longer for the inevitable to happen it will help our group to create suspense within our sequence. This will then create an enigma due to the audience not knowing why the character has killed himself.

Off screen
An off screen sound is one that can be heard but not seen. For example, the sound of a phone ringing from a room in a house that the characters are not in. The off screen sound that our group has planned on using in our sequence occurs when the antagonist is on the phone to his girlfriend; the audience will be able to hear his voice but they will not be able to see where he is. This scene follows the death of the antagonists mother which means the audience will now know what he is capable of but the other character will not. This will therefore create suspense in our sequence as the audience do not know what is going to happen to the antagonist's girlfriend

The audience will feel fearful for her and also fearful of the antagonist due to them already seeing how violent his character can be. Off screen sounds are conventional to the thriller genre as they can create tension due to both the audience can characters not being able to see where it is coming from or who is making the sound. For example, the sound of floor boards creaking is a typical way of creating tension and suspense as usually the character in the frame is home alone.

Discussing the sounds that we were going to use in our sequence made it easier to edit our footage as we already knew where the sound was going to appear and for how long. We could also choose the sounds before we had started filming which would result in a shorter time needed to edit the sequence.