The Creation and Use of Sound in Media

Theme music

Theme music is an important element of film. It is created and utilised to situate an understanding for viewers of a specific character's entrance, and can distinguish a type pair/group of characters known to viewers that enter a scene. An example of this is shown in the movie La La Land when the two characters Mia and Sebastian are together:

This theme enforces a correlation for viewers to the characters and the theme, therefore allowing viewers of the film to connect the two together which, in this example, enhances the awareness of the presence of the two characters when together and create a change in atmosphere within a scene, as theme music tends to act as a hook and create deeper levels of emotion for viewers to feel. 

Sound effects

Sound effects within media are both recorded within production and post production, adding dynamics and detail, and overall more understanding of what’s happening within a scene. Sound effects allow a viewer to gain a sense of direction. For example if a specific character is running, walking, out of breath, throwing or sitting. Furthermore, sound effects set an environment and its atmosphere, such as if the environment is a forest, there will be leaves, gravel, animals, falling branches etc. When recorded post production, this may be due to time constraints, limiting how to create suitable sound effects within production, and further, post production sound effects are typically done within gameplay to suit the created scenes. Sound effects can be heard within the game Little Nightmares. 

Sound effects hereby set, in this example, an eerie atmosphere for the players as the character is silent, crouching and when needed running. The silence enhances the sound effects of chairs creaking, the teacher writing with chalk, the teacher slow walking, and the teachers neck enlarging, adding to the creepy ambience of the game. This example can then be applied to varying media such as film, games and shows as sound effects add ambience within scenes and details viewers may have missed without, being an important aspect of any media production. 

Atmospheric sounds

Atmospheric sounds are utilised within scenes to emphasise a specific mood and tone for a scene. Media productions typically incorporate atmospheric sounds to enhance an environment and make consumers feel more immersed within a scene and additionally add depth to a scene. Atmospheric sounds can be seen within The Haunting of Hill House. 

Atmospheric sounds such as rain and thunder add an additional ambience to the scene as it allows for viewers to understand the setting further beyond what the camera/image may be capturing. This can be applied to media products as being able to capture an environment sets the scene and sets a basis of tone and mood. Furthermore, sounds such as the house creaking adds an element of eeriness, which can be applied greater to media products as an element of emotion for a consumer is implemented which adds to the depth of media productions, which is most important to any media product. 

Dialogue

Dialogue is an important component to a lot of media productions whether that be within film, show or game. It allows for an emotional delivery to be manipulated depending on the directors creative choice, further being impactful as it showcases a productions detail and acuity to the tone of a scene dependent on a conversation and its delivery. An example of this can be seen within The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 

Within this scene viewers can witness the comedic undertones laced within their conversation while also understanding there’s a level of solemness from Daisy, the women, and mixed emotions of anxiety and joy via Benjamin, the man, that coincides the topics of conversation of age and pregnancy. This can be applied to varying elements of film and overall media products as dialogue and its delivery can greatly affect the mood of a scene and an overall setting of a scene and/or movie as a whole. 

Incidental music

Incidental music is when there’s typically background music within a scene which can reflect the setting and its mood/tone or the emotions a character is feeling. It’s noticeably different to film music such as a theme song as it's not necessarily musical, rather typically used to create depth within a scene or even mare ambience. Within film for example, the director can creatively dictate whether they would want incidental music to be noticeable or not via viewers, both adding different elements to scenes. An example of this can be heard within interstellar. 

The use of subtle strings within this scene allows for the dialogue and its emotional integrity to be valued and felt by viewers while also adding subtle depth and feeling to the scene that viewers may not be focused upon but rather unconsciously registering and feeding into this emotional value to the scene. Incidental music therefore can be understood to be vastly influential within scenes whether that be film or game as it can be artistically used to create tension and/or build up, or on the contrary elevate silence and/or create a calming atmosphere.