musicandsoundformedia-blog

[musicandsoundformedia-blog]

Sound in films

Sounds are used in films, either diegetic sound, sounds the actors can hear as well as the audience and non-diegetic sound that only the audience can hear.

For example in the film Titanic, when the boat breaks in half there are diegetic sounds being used to set an atmosphere for what is happening;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep8a35G546Y

This shows you that the sound used in this scene play a big part in the atmosphere because you can hear the fear in the peoples voices making it feel that you are there with them experiencing this nightmare.

Watching the same video with no sound would be a completely different experience to watching it with sound.

In films sounds are not all real, these are called foley sounds which are sounds made using other items such as rain sounds being created by sizzling bacon because sometimes the sounds required for a certain film scene may occur rarely so making these foley sounds allows the film to further its progress.

In my opinion if sounds were not faked sometimes during the making of a film then I do not think that the film would turn out as good because sometimes creating your own sound can sound better than a natural one, for example rain is not consistent so creating a sound that is consistent will enhance the production of the film so having foley sounds included in film production is a very creditable feature and films would not be as good as they are today without them.

In films non-diegetic music is used as well as diegetic, for example;

in this scene the music is being played through the earphones but as an audience we can hear it too making it diegetic music. But as well as diegetic music being used, non diegetic is used too which is portrayed in this example;

In the lion king where the music is being played and only the audience being able to hear it. This technique as well as diegetic sounds and music is used a lot in the film industry without forgetting the use of these features in games, animations, adverts, apps and websites allowing the audience to have a more emotional attachment to the film or just a dramatic atmosphere when something exciting is about to happen.

In this scene of the lion king the two lions are creating a romantic setting which requires that the atmosphere should be quite emotional and the texture should flow accordingly which will then set the mood for the audience all through this non-diegetic music being played on top of the scene.

This scene has no sounds aside from the music allowing the music to be prominent through the scene which creates a better feel for what is happening in the scene because you would expect there to be sounds like water splashing or the lions paws hitting the floor as it runs through the jungle and there should also be a jungles ambience, however as a guess I would say that the film maker was trying to portray that the scene was to say that love can block out everything which is again saying that the music is controlling the scene.

The contrast in the two different clips (Spider man and The lion king) is very unalike because the atmospheres are divergent since the music being used. If the sound used in the clip of The lion king was used in the Spiderman scene the Spiderman scene will then have a more emotional atmospheric texture which will then change the scene entirely meaning that the music being used is influencing the audiences emotions which then means that without these different techniques of music and sound in films the films would be completely different, thus making the music being the key feature in every film in my opinion.

In these two scenes the tonality of music is unalike as the notes used in the lion king are minor chords mixed which major chords because the scene is not sad but not happy as such either whereas in the Spiderman scene the scene is clearly quite a depressing moment in the film.

Sound in games

in games sound is used to indicate that you have got an achievement or picked up an item.

for example 

This sound is when Mario, the main character from the game, walks over a coin or hits a block with a coin in it to tell the player that they have received something instead of having to rely heavily on the visual side of the game.

If this sound was not used in Mario, then the game would be impacted heavily and the game may not have been as popular as it is.

This sound is really important in a games gameplay which therefore notifies the player if they have done something good or bad which could be interpreted as an indicator to allow players to progress in through the game because they would hear a noise which could be a ‘happy’ sound, meaning that you have or are going the right direction which could be helpful to those that maybe don’t play video games as much. 

Music in games

As well as there being sounds, music is also used and is usually used when there is a battle scene or you get an achievement sometimes however the sound could also be a simple sound when an achievement pops up.

Music can also be used at the start of the game when loading in which can be described as getting the player ready for the game, so if it is like a horror game then there will be a more sinister tune being played to therefore scare the player before the game but make it more intriguing to the player. If the game is a more happy game there would be a more uplifting motif or in the game Mario kart where the same tune is repeated throughout the race;

As you can see in this clip the tune is repeated which makes this music so  generic to the Mario kart franchise so whenever people here this tune people will automatically think of this game.

music and sounds in games are both used to tell the player if what they are doing in the game is right or not but if the creators did not add this then the player would be lost on what to do, that's why in both Mario kart and Mario brothers there are sounds telling you where to go for example in Mario kart the music will slow down If you start going the wrong way and In Mario brothers the musics tonality will become very aggressive when there is a boss battle.

Sounds in animations

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-r-aykfaTI

This video shows all the sounds used in the animation ‘Looney Toons’ this shows that although it may only be an animation there is still a lot of sounds used to create the animation. For example the character road runner always makes the noise “meep meep” which allows the viewer to know who is on screen without watching the screen and just getting a visual image just from this one sound causing everyone to know what character is coming on.

Even though they are only animations the sounds and music are the main things of this as it gives the game atmosphere and an actual feel which draws you to watch the cartoon/animation. 

In looney toons, sounds such as when the character runs fast and you can hear the sound of the character running away thus telling the viewer that the atmosphere of the scene is changing which can then be portrayed that sound in animations create the atmosphere of the scene in animations however if these sounds were not included then the animation would have no atmosphere.

The sounds used are foley meaning they have been created by making a noise using different things like rain sounds being made from sizzling bacon.

Music in animations

The music used in animations is usually real music which gives controversy from the animation to the realistic music, in looney toons one of the songs used is The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II (1866).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CTYymbbEL4

Having this controversy therefore enhances the atmosphere and texture of the cartoon, because the realistic music therefore clashes with the stupidity of the  cartoon because people wouldn't expect an actual song to be played in a children's show.

In animations music is used to describe the atmosphere of the scene for example if the scene is sad, it is represented using more depressing music not mainly through the visual of the animation.

the tonality of the music in a cartoon, such as looney toons, can be extremely happy or quite sad depending on what happens which is shown using music so a sad scene will have depressing music therefore indicating to the viewer that it is sad whereas if it is a happy scene then the viewer will know this as the tonality of the music will therefore change.

Sound in adverts 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDj8QYigFnw

As you can see in this video, someone is showing all sound affects when advertising Coca Cola which therefore shows how the sound effects can cause people to therefore buy the product shown, in this case Coca Cola. 

If the advert promoting a drink did not have the sound of it opening, people will not remember the sound of when the last time they had one, so therefore the sound would then trigger them to want one making the advert successful in its promoting abilities as it has therefore put into people minds that they want Coca Cola.

Normally adverts like these come out in the summer time therefore the sounds are to do with summer and the sounds are bright instead of being dull which therefore appears to be more appealing to younger people on school holidays or something like that.

Music in adverts 

Adverts have distinct jingles so that when you hear that jingle you know exactly what the advert is about. 

For example McDonalds has the catchy slogan of ‘I'm loving it’ which is played on every advert they have;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBlD2N_AwgI

This slogan has that distinct piece of music/chords played when the advert is played so when this is played or seen the viewer will then think about McDonalds. When music is used like this it is to increase sales because if something is catchy it will stay in your head whereas music used in other media is normally used to display the atmosphere/texture of the programme.

sounds in adverts are for sales purposes because major companies usually have a jingle or sound at the end of their advert which is related to their products. 

Sounds in apps

apps are similar to games in the way that they are games, obviously there are apps that aren't games however the sounds used in games are to guide the player through the game or to alert them that there is something happening.

For example;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoiU2vfJxhA

In this clip it shows the different sounds from the game clash of clans.

The sounds can be used as a troop being killed or a trap going off which shows that a lot of sounds are used to actually create the game.

Music in apps

Music in apps is an app like Spotify which allows you to stream music for a fee each month.

Music is constantly being added to this app allowing people to listen to new music therefore making it easier for people to listen to music on the go.

music is also used in apps like clash of clans for example when you are in a battle which means an aggressive-style of music will be played;

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=2ahUKEwjW9oiXyJ_fAhUbQRUIHWWlCZAQ3ywwAHoECAMQAw&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DTBVGQ_QXgF0&usg=AOvVaw3k83-H_pmAtbA7-wy9ozXo

In this clip it plays the music from a battle scene in clash of clans and this tells the player that a battle is starting/going on therefore the music is helpful to the player because it therefore guides them through.

Music in websites

When you open youtube now a video automatically starts playing thus playing sound through the website, this happens without your permission this will therefore get you interested in what starts playing.

https://www.youtube.com/?gl=GB&hl=en-GB

Having this feature allows more advertisement to be displayed therefore engaging the viewer whereas if website had no automatic sound playing then the website may appear to be boring and will not appeal to younger generations such as Wikipedia which many students use for research but is an extremely boring website; 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

this contrasts the two websites because of the different atmospheres they give because on youtube the site itself Is more calm whereas when you hear the word Wikipedia and go on the site it is very dry and boring so if Wikipedia had music playing as you entered the site the atmosphere would be so much more exciting.

Sounds in websites

https://www.costanavarino.com

This website is about holidays and it plays the sounds of the resort that it is advertising showing that the area they are displaying is quite quiet being a good sales pitch because when on holiday you want to be left alone or just with your family so showing how quiet it is allows for better sales.

In this case the sounds are used in order to increase sales whereas on other websites that sell holidays do not have the sounds of the area they are trying to sell so they may lose custom.