Research into sound - Miss Miller

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to a film is extremely important, without sound the whole film would collapse as sound is the best way to convey the mood the director is going for, for example for a horror you would have long high notes held for several seconds to increase tension within the scene, you would also have a sudden loud noise to make the audience jump in terror. I will be researching how sound can emphasize the what is happening on screen.

An example I will look at is the famous johnny scene from the shining.

As the scene starts we see Jack, played by Jack Nicholson, Walking up a few steps with some eerie music in the background whilst he holds an axe in his left hand, this is non-diegetic sound which means the characters on screen cannot not hear nor will they interact with it. This shows how out of place the characters are. Though we hear the suspenseful music, the characters can't, the audience relate to this as the characters don't know what is about to happen, this is conventional to a thriller as most of the time the characters do not know when they are going to die or not yet the audience will make the assumption based on the music alone.

Further into this scene we see Jack, again, trying to get into the bathroom but the door is locked when he attempts to open it. This is trying to portray that the situation is normal as the door lock sound is normal. The audience can relate to this as they know in the context of Jack holding an axe this situation isn't normal and contrasts with the characters on screen and tries to pretend nothing fearful will occur. This is conventional to a thriller as they always try to build up a full sense of security with the audience.

As the scene progresses, we see Jack is axing down the door slowly while we hear a woman screaming from the other side, this is parallel sound as the sound and the axe swings go together well in the context of the scene. This shows that Jack is a danger to the woman, or Wendy Torrance, is in danger. The audience then sympathize with the woman as the audience see what danger she is in. This is conventional to a thriller as they always let you see what the main threat is to another character.

There is also use of off screen sound when the camera goes into the bathroom with Wendy we hear the axe whacking the door but we don't see the axe itself yet. The reason this is off-screen sound is to remind the audience of the ever looming threat of death for our protagonist. The audience then feel sympathy for the woman as we seem to know her inevitable fate. This is conventional to a thriller as they show you who is in danger rather than the danger to make the audience feel more suspense.

In conclusion, the sound in this scene is essential as it built up suspense excellently, i have also learnt that off screen sound is useful to get confusion with the audience and make it them feel fear for the characters on screen.