Movie Themes Flashcards
Diegetic
“This refers to any sound which comes from an on-screen source. A car screeching its brakes, a ‘cellist playing live. If you can see the source of the sound, it’s diegetic. ”
Excerpt From
Year 10
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Non diegetic
“This refers to any sound which comes from an off-screen source. This includes most of the music score, any underscoring (see below) or off-screen sound effects such as an off-screen helicopter arriving which you hear before you see, or someone calling from another room.
”
Excerpt From
Year 10
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What is background music called
“Background music is often referred to as underscoring. It adds to the mood of the scene, reinforcing dramatic developments and aspects of character.
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Excerpt From
Year 10
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What are the two types of non-diegetic
Parallel and contrapuntal sound
Parallel sound
“This is when the music and sound complements the on-screen action. e.g a children’s playground with the sounds of nursery style music, ice-cream vans, laughter and squealing.
”
Excerpt From
Year 10
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Contrapuntal sound
“This is when the music and sound contradict the on-screen action. e.g the music is dark and sinister like Jaws, while the images show children playing normally in the playground.
”
Excerpt From
Year 10
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What is Micky -mousing
“When the music is precisely synchronised with events on screen ” like “someone slipping on a banana skin could use a descending scale followed by a cymbal crash.”
What is a leitmotif
“a recurring musical idea (a melody, chord sequence, rhythm or a combination of these) which is associated with a particular idea, character or place.
Leitmotifs are manipulated to match the action and mood of a scene.
”
Excerpt From
Year 10
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What’s the composer
“creates all the music for the film. However, he is restricted by the timing of scenes, the amount of other dialogue and SFX in the scene and by the type of mood to be created.
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Excerpt From
Year 10
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What’s the sound producer
“is responsible for producing all the sound in the movie, from recording dialogue up close to filming scenes and recording the dialogue later. He reads the script and decides all the required sounds from speech to sfx.
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Excerpt From
Year 10
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What’s the sound editor
“ creates all the SFX and to put all the elements together; Music, dialogue and Sound effects.
”
Excerpt From
Year 10
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What are three types of sound we might hear on a sound track
-dialogue
-music
-sound effects
What do filmmakers use music to do
“create a mood, to tell us more about the time or place, or even to set the pace of the action. The suspense and speed of a car chase, for example, can be reinforced by music with a fast and urgent tempo.
”
Excerpt From
Year 10
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What three elements make up a sound track
Dialogue music and SFX
How does music help show the location of a movie
Using features of the countries music or music that is associated with that country shows the place where the action is happening
How can shock effects be created
Playing suddenly loud after a silence
What are three important careers in music
Composer, sound producer and sound editor
What is foley
The name given to the creation of SFX
