Research-Task 16- why is sound important in film?

Sound is important in a film as it helps establish tone, atmosphere and it helps give the audience clues about the plot, characters or to identify the Genre of the film. It also helps in engaging the audience in the film and it helps to create realism for the viewer and heighten their experience of the film.             Sound also helps in adding depth to the images by design, ambient or layering sound/sound effects .

If the picture is bad, sound helps to disguise it. However if the sound is ‘bad’ it will make the image (even if the image is good) look bad.

Without sound the images being played seem boring and it can confuse viewers. While with music that confusion disappears and helps to make you feel more engaged and focuses on the details in the scene.

In films there are different types of sound terms used to create different effects. These terms also help us understand how sound is used or created in a film. Examples of these terms are:

-Diegetic- Sound from the music world e.g dialogue, wild sound, ambient sound and foley.
-Dialogue-A conversation between two or more people.
-Wild track- It is a audio recording (recorded separately) that is intended to go with the film.
-Ambient sound- Background sound that are present in a scene e.g wind and rain drops.
-Foley- Making the sound effects after shooting the film, this helps in adding realism to the film.

-Non-Diegetic- Sound that is not visible during a scene and is added during editing e.g score, voice over, dubbing and songs.
-Score- Originally music written specifically to accompany a film.
-Voice over- a piece of narration in a film
-Dubbing- Adding sound effect in the background of the film.
-Songs- a short poem or set of words meant to be set to  music.
 
-Sound bridge- sound carried over a visual transition of the film.
-Sound motif-A message, statement or idea given by the usage of sound. Can be used for a character or location.

George Lukas (the director of the Star Wars franchise), argues that 'sound is 50%'. in other words, without sound you only have half the product or a film that isn't as good as it could be.