Influence and meaning of sound in a media product

Introduction

In this blog post, I am going to explain the influence of sound in media products and what generic meanings it portrays when used in the appropriate situations.

Where and how sound is being used in media products? (plus examples)

Sound is used continuously throughout media products to help explain the what is happening in the situation using auditory senses. some examples in where sound is used and how it is being portrayed are;

- Sound is based on the emotions being shown within the context. It enhances the audience's emotional experience as it provides focus on the emotions that is being shown by the characters. For example, in a sad and upsetting mood, the sound around the character(s) expressing that emotion will be quite dull, slow and depressing to help the audience realize it.

- Sound is used in contexts where there are unseen implications or to realise the unspoken thoughts of a character. This is called "underlining psychological refinements" which means that it provides information to the audience on matters which are not shown visually, but picked up mentally. For example sound jingles in adverts. Customers don't have to see the company product/service/logo, but by listening to the jingle, they may realize what it is if they are familiar to it.

- Sound also builds a sense on continuity. This means that when scenes are changing over or scenes are "bridging" (moving in and out), the music helps the audience to become familiar with the context in the next scenes/story.

- Finally sound underpins the theatrical build-up of a scene and rounds it of with a sense of finality. This means that when the media product is reaching a state of equilibrium or a action/dramatic scene, the music and sounds in the background tenses and becomes stronger to help the audience feel the tension. Also sound helps set a sense of finality, meaning that it rounds off the story by providing a auditory incentive of finishing to the audience,so they know the story is complete.


What meanings does the use of sound portray?

Sound can portray meaning to a element in a media product, for example to a character, setting, emotion, context, etc. so a few examples of how sound shows meaning to the audience to inform them on what they are seeing are;

- Character representation/identification; sound helps represent the persona of a character. e.g. a villain has evil and dramatic music, and a hero has strong and uplifting sounds.

- Setting the location; sound helps to set the location by using diegetic sounds to help set the scene. e.g. a farm, but a audience may not realise it is a farm, until they hear cows mooing or sheep baaing.

- Setting the period/time; sound helps to set the time era by providing music or ambient sounds which relate back to a period. E.g. in the time of the 60's, music such as swing and jive were very popular, and this can be used to set the era.

- Paralleling the action; Sound can "parallel the action" which means that sound can follow different contexts to help create more emotion or tension to help enhance the message to the audience.

- Creating a more convincing atmosphere of space and time; sound such as diegetic and ambient sounds can be used to help create a more realist view on the surroundings to help the audience feel involved using auditory sounds.

- Serving as a kind of neutral background filler; sound can just help fill in as a element to help ease awkward moments or moments where no speech is needed to help give the audience auditory relief.

Key sound terminology

Soundtrack - A soundtrack is recorded music or sounds to fit the scenes of a product.

Theme music/tune - Theme music is the signature tune made to represent the media product or character.

Sound effects - Sound effects are created and input/edited sounds to help enhance the noise of a action or voice.

Ambient sound - Ambient sounds are the surrounding sounds that help set the setting or environment.

Dialogue - Dialogue is the speech or script within a production.

Voice-over - Voice-over is when a voice is narrating the production and there is no visible body to match the sound.

Direct address - Direct address is when the characters talk 'directly' at the audience/camera.

Diegetic sound - Diegetic sound is natural sounds which fit the scene and are not artificially edited.

Non-diegetic sound - Non-diegetic sounds are sounds which have been edited and put into a scene, which does not fit there naturally (e.g. a sound track, or a dog mooing instead of barking).

Sound bridges - Sound bridges are when sound moves over scenes smoothly without interruptions and it helps the scenes change over easily through continuity.

Parallel sound  - Parallel sound is music or sound tracks that match the mood of the scene. It helps set the correct emotion and tension to the appropriate scenes

Contrapuntal sound - The opposite to parallel sounds. The music does not fit in with the scene and does not complement the message trying to be portrayed.


Bibliography

http://www.slideshare.net/reigatemedia/sound-lesson (08/11/2012)