The most identifiable sound within a majority of films is simply the dialogue. Unless someone is watching a silent film with no sort of subtitles, dialogue is an instrumental element within a film. Likewise, there are also sound effects that are embedded within the movie which give vibrant sounds to scenes filled with actions that are hardly comparable with real-world action yet, they are sounds we often attribute to particular actions and movements within a scene. Lastly, music is often used within a film to help in setting the mood of the film and many music scores have been created for sole use within a film. Famous scores such as the intro to Star Wars or Indiana Jones are easily recognizable and instantly create a mental connection to the film.
These three elements of sound can be extracted within the following clips taken from the movie Finding Nemo (Stanton, 2003). Within the following movie clip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Zk1nd_dY8), each element of sound is perceivable as supporting each other in presentation starting with a musical entry to the clip, followed by dialogue, and sound-effects meant to mimic the sound of water within an aquatic environment.
Dialogue
The dialogue within the scene falls in-line with the context of the story. The lead characters in the film have run into a scary fellow named Bruce who is a great white shark in rehabilitation from an addiction to eating fish. Closely paired to what many might relate with real-world Alcoholics Anonymous, the dialogue within the scene would most often be considered comedic in value. The dialogue is meant to relieve the audience who are rooting for the protagonist in the film: Marlin, voiced by Albert Brooks (IMDB, 2014).
Sound Effects
The main sound effects that can be heard within this clip is water as might be heard from an aquarium inside a bedroom at night or in a pet-shop. Unless one has never been exposed to such a sound, it has a bubbly sound mixed with a slightly perceivable echo which gives the impression of something submerged within a body of water. This is the sound throughout the second part of this clip in conjunction with the fish traveling in the depths of the ocean. Though it can be vaguely heard, the scenes wouldn’t have had the same feel if done without this sound effect.
Another sound effect used within the clip is a bell which was sounded at the beginning of the meeting within the storyline. This simple sound effect is something many attribute to a starting or ending of an event such as boxing. In the scene, this sound-effect is used as an audio-queue to the beginning of the meeting.
Music
The different music scores being played within this clip would definitely be considered non-diegetic as they aren’t supposed to be perceivable sounds to the characters in the scene. This type of music is meant to set mood and oftentimes appeal to the emotion of the audience. The start of the clip has the soothing sound of a harp playing a series of three or four notes which was utilized to create a dreamy effect for the viewers. It is almost as if the creators of the film wanted the audience to wonder about this world underneath the ocean. The intro score could easily be tied to the single word: Wonder. Behind the sounds of the harp are wind-instruments playing an almost middle-eastern type of music which one might attribute to distance or far away. For me, this music does indeed make me wonder about the distant and deep ocean. It was probably to these ends that the creators of the scores designed their music.
Another music score used within the film happens when the fish are traveling to a sunken ship surrounded by explosive mines. The sounds within this particular set of scenes has long bow draws from violins playing slightly sharp notes to create a mood of suspense. This goes hand and hand with mise en scene, that being the potentially explosive mines that are so numerous, there would be little doubt of the demise for each character, if they were accidentally set off. This particular score might be easily compared with films in the Horror genre which also wish to appeal to the suspense of their particular audiences.
Conclusion
Paying particular attention to sound can give viewers of a film a deeper understanding of what a particular scene is trying to convey. Such recognition of sound is often accomplished within the subconscious minds of the audience anyway. Being aware of the sounds, how they are used, and why they are used can give much more enjoyment to the audience.
References
Finding Nemo. (n.d.). IMDb. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266543/
Finding Nemo. (n.d.). soezooscope. Retrieved July 23, 2014, from http://soezooscope.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/nemo-1.jpg
Stanton, A. (Director). (2003). Finding Nemo [Motion picture]. United States of America: Disney.
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