Sound

Types of Sound

Studio sound - Sound recorded in the studio to improve the sound quality, eliminating unwanted background noise ('ambient sound'), e.g. dubbed dialogue. This may be then mixed with live environmental sound.

Selective sound - The removal of some sounds and the retention of others to make significant sounds more recognizable, or for dramatic effect - to create atmosphere, meaning and emotional nuance. Selective sound (and amplification) may make us aware of a watch or a bomb ticking. This can sometimes be a subjective device, leading us to identify with a character: to hear what he or she hears. Sound may be so selective that the lack of ambient sound can make it seem artificial or expressionistic.

Live Sound - May sound 'fresher' in that it includes natural background noise (e.g. including cars and birdsong in an outside shot)

Sound perspective/aural perspective - The impression of distance in sound, usually created through the use of selective sound. Note that even in live television a microphone is deliberately positioned, just as the camera is, and therefore may privilege certain participants.

Parallel (synchronous) sound - Sound 'caused' by some event on screen, and which matches the action.

Commentary/voice-over - Commentary spoken off-screen over the shots shown. The voice-over can be used to: introduce; add extra information not evidence; to interpret the images for the audience from a particular point of view; to link parts of a sequence or programme together. A commentary confers authority on a particular interpretatio. It may be the voice of one of the characters, unheard by the others.

Sound effects - Dubbed-in sound effects can add to the illusion of reality: a stage- set door may gain from the addition of the sound of a heavy door slamming or creaking.

Music - Music helps to establish a sense of the pace of the accompanying scene. The rhythm of music usually dictates the rhythm of the cuts. The emotional colouring of the music also reinforces the mood although it is not normally intended to be noticeable. Through repetition it can also link shots, scenes and sequences. Foreground music is often synchronous music which finds its source within the screen events. It may be a more credible and dramatically plausible way of bringing music into a programme than background music (a string orchestra would probably be bizarre in a teen drama).

Silence - The juxtaposition of an image and silence can frustrate expectations, provoke odd, self-conscious responses, intensify our attention, make us apprehensive, or make us feel dissociated from reality.