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,

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).