Audio in Film + Technicolor

Diegetic vs. Non-Diegetic

For this post on audio in film, I wanted to focus on the pros and cons of diegetic vs. Non-diegetic

I first want to define the two:

Diegetic: Sound whose source is visible on the screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film: 

• voices of characters 
• sounds made by objects in the story 
• music represented as coming from instruments in the story space ( = source music)

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from source within the film's world Digetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame.

Non-Diegetic: Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor has been implied to be present in the action: 

• narrator's commentary
• sound effects which is added for the dramatic effect
• mood music

Non-diegetic sound is represented as coming from the a source outside story space. The distinction between diegetic or non-diegetic sound depends on our understanding of the conventions of film viewing and listening.  We know of that certain sounds are represented as coming from the story world, while others are  represented as coming from outside the space of the story events.  A play with diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror), or to surprise the audience (comedy). 
Another term for non-diegetic sound is commentary sound. 

(source: http://filmsound.org/terminology/diegetic.htm)

Putting it Together

While yes, non-diegetic is very powerful in the terms of mood setting, I do prefer diegetic. I think lots of times, if you are to take out the non-diegetic sounds, the film can certainly feel less effective -- be it simply added sound effects or a soaring soundtrack.

Another powerful non-diegetic tool is the use of themes for a character. This goes back to Wagner's Tristan and Isolde, when a small portion of Tristan's theme would play whenever he was on-stage. This is still used in films today. It helps set not only the mood, but help define the character themselves. Are they stoic? Are they depressed? Are the frail? Take superheroes for example. In movies, they have theme songs specifically written for them. This often plays as the heroes saves the day. 

The Jaws theme that plays each time the shark is about to attack is a good example of a GOOD use of non-diegetic. In fact many horror movies do this, most likely taking a cue from psycho. It gives a feeling of dred as the audience hears the themes begin (particularlly Jaws escalting song) The audience can hear it and no what's going to happen, but the characters have no idea of what is about to hit them.

I do believe sometimes the use of film soundtracks can be abused. It becomes all about the soundtrack and less about the subtleties of the films soundscape. Crescendos do not a film make (Looking at you Hans Zimmer...)

Solely diegetic sounds have their own effect as well, and can at times be just as harmful. It depends on what effect the director is looking for. Sofia Copolla tends to use mostly diegetic sound in her film. It certainly aids in the realms of realness, but can tend to make the film feel slower. However, this is often Copolla's aim. In this scene, we hear all the sounds of the bar, including a softly playing piano, coming from the bar itself.

Technicolor

Despite the fact that Wizard of Oz is one of my favorite films, I had not previously known how they managed to make such a colorful world.

It's pretty remarkable the effect it had, by using a relatively simple technique. However, just because the idea was simple, does not mean it was as simple to execute. In fact technicolor was expensive and the process overall was cumbersome. Adding to it's cost inefficency was how many lights it required for it to work properly.