Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Sound is important within films as it creates an emotional atmosphere within the scene. The sound of a sequence gives depth to what is going on and allows people to understand what sort of film they are watching. In thrillers, the producers tend to use sounds that create shock, surprise and suspense. They use sounds such as

• Diegetic sound
• Non-diegetic sound
• Off screen sound
• On screen sound
• Parallel sound

In our thriller opening sequence we have used all 5 of these sounds. We will use mostly use on screen sounds as we want to make our thriller as realistic as possible as this will engage the audience and create more fear throughout the audience.

The first piece of sound we use is some off screen sound of the mans wife on the phone. We put this at the start as it creates an everyday atmosphere for the audience as the man is just arriving home from work on his anniversary when his wife phones to find out if he's almost home. This happens on a day to day basis in every married couples life, the audience will then relate to the sequence which will engage them and get them more focused n the scene. This is off-screen sound as we cannot see the wife but we can hear her although its not non-diegetic as its not added in the editing stage and is happening when were actually filming. This is conventional to the thriller genre as many directors use a phone call to create a realistic scenario just like I did. They do this to get the audience engaged into the scene, lead them into a full sense of security and then twist the scene and scare them.

We then use some on-screen sound when the wife is walking down the corridor we hear her footsteps. We did this because this creates suspense as everything is silent and we are waiting for some loud noise to occur and scare the audience. This puts them on the edge of their seat, waiting for the killer to attack the women which will then throw them into the back off their seat. In addition this will also engage the audience as when you are home alone and you walk across the landing, you hear your own footsteps. This will bring them closer to the characters as hearing your own footsteps is realistic and allows the audience to put themselves in her shoes. This will then frighten them more when she is killed because they can relate to it and think it could happen to them. This Is on-screen sound because we can see the source of the sound which is the woman's feet and its not diegetic because it isn't added in the editing stage. 

Another piece of sound we use is non-diegetic sound in which we use as a soundtrack. We will use this to create surprise, shock and suspense throughout our piece. We will use this as the music sets the scene and i believe if we get the right track it will make the sequence more intense and scar for the audience. In addition it also creates suspense for the audience as they cannot hear whats going on in the scene so they will not know what is going to happen which allows use to bring something scary into shot without them having a clue its going to happen. This will bring the characters closer to the audience as they do not know what is going on so they empathise with the fact that the characters may also not know whats going on. This is conventional to the thriller genre as all opening sequences have a soundtrack which creates suspense, shock and surprise for the audience. 

We will be using sound techniques such as parallel when the girl is in the kitchen listening to music, as we want to make her be portrayed as vulnerable and innocent, that she is is actually oblivious to the consquences and the situations that are about to happen. this also creates suspense as the girl wont be able to hear whats going on around the house so she will be oblivious to any noise of somebody trying to kill her. This creates a relationship between the characters and the audience as they sympathise with the fact she cant hear anything and also to the fact most people listen to the radio so they are engaged into the sequence and make them more on the edge of their seat. This is conventional to the thriller genre as most thriller directors use parallel sounds to create shock suspense and surprise for the audience.