sound within thrillers

Sound in Horror/Thriller Sequences

The first film I am going to analyse is the film Almost Famous, in the second scene of the movie. As Anita, played by Zooey Deschanel attempts to sneak in through the door, as the audience you are able to hear the diegetic sound of church bells ringing, this is so that the audience almost subconsciously relates the characters to religion. When the camera is on Anita outside, the audience are still able to hear the mother and the boy talking about the presidents of the United States. There is then the diegetic and pleonastic sound of Anita testing her breath, it is pleonastic for the audience to notice it and wonder why she has to test her breath just to talk to her family. Meanwhile the church bells are still ringing. Anita then goes up to the door and there is a diegetic sound of her saying “Please, please, please, please”, this causes the audience to believe Anita is trying to avoid her mother. As she turns the door knob, there is a diegetic and pleonastic sound of something falling off the door knob, to give the impression that someone had put it there on purpose so that they could hear when Anita came home. The mother then turns round and the diegetic sound of her voice saying “Anita?” is present within the scene. Anita then replies “Hey mom”, which is also diegetic. While the two characters are talking, the diegetic sound of birds tweeting is still playing in the background. Anita then enters the house as the diegetic sound of the door shutting happens in the background.

The second film I am going to analyse is the film Jaws. This clip begins with somebody talking to the chief (played by Roy Scheider) about some “problems at the house” this speech is diegetic but is soon overpowered by the scream of a girl in the water, this scream is pleonastic as well as diegetic. Straight after this, the chief’s wife begins to talk, saying “Honey, honey would you come here for a minute please.” These diegetic sounds are used to create an atmosphere of distraction around the chief because what he is really looking out for is another shark attack. As the chief and his wife talk, which is diegetic sound, the main focus of the sound switches from their conversation to the conversation of the boys in the background. This is to highlight the fact they are going to go swimming. The camera then cuts to a scene of all the boys in the water and the sound of them swimming is pleonastic as the water crashes around them, this use of pleonastic sound is done intentionally to scare the audience and make them feel on edge about what is about to occur.

More distractions of speech occur around chief Brody as he desperately tries to focus on the people in the water to keep an eye out for them. The scene then cuts to the children in the water and you hear pleonastic sounds of screaming and splashing, this is used to create a hectic scene for the audience, as if there is so much going on how could the chief possibly concentrate on all of the children at the same time. As a boy is searching for his dog, calling its name (diegetic sound) a little boy is singing “The Muffin Man” it could be argued that this is contrapuntal sound as the boy has lost his dog and it is becoming apparent that something bad has happened to the dog. The scene is then underwater and the famous Jaws music is being played as the camera pans around at children’s legs. This music is non-diegetic, creating mystery about where it came from and why it is there. The music speeds up as it gets closer to a boy’s legs and then it stops entirely. This is so that what just happened has an impact on the audience and it is all they are allowed to focus on. People begin to notice and the diegetic sound of speech is used. Children still play in the water, however the diegetic sound of their splashes is suppressed by the sound of the little boy being tumbled around in the water. There is then pleonastic and diegetic sounds of the boy’s muffled screams for help as he gets dragged under the water.