Music and Soundscapes - Research Paper Example

Sound can make or break a scene within a film. Three examples can be used to show how sound affects a scene. The music from Jaws (1975) is iconic, the famous theme music for the shark lending to the fear and trepidation that is built. However, music from the barrel scene creates a complexity of emotions and conveys a series of narrative ideas about what the viewer is seeing. The sound within When Harry met Sally (1989) during the ‘Opposites do not Attract’ scene are constructed to reflect the reality of the environment using dialogue and natural environmental sound.

Finally, The Mask (1994) provides an example of how sound can enhance a scene using sound manipulation. The sound effects, sounds that are made outside of the scene and applied, are used in tandem with the scene (Klaus 136). In the clip from Jaws, the music has a duality, revealing both the joy of the chase and the seriousness of what they are about to accomplish. As the tension builds, so does the tension of the music. There is a playfulness, even within the music score that accompanies this scene.

As the captain goes to shoot the shark, the tension builds even higher. Once the first shot is in, it builds towards him taking the next shot, but then descends as the barrel descends into the water. The music is complex, reflecting the moment. This is in contrast to the simplicity of the theme music that is so well known about the shark. In this scene, the humans feel that they are in control and that they are working the shark towards their own ends. However, there is a sense that this is not true, thus the playfulness within the music reflects something of the self-delusion that they are experiencing (Movie Clips.

‘Barrels’ Jaws (1975). The sound in the ‘Opposites do not Attract’ in When Harry Met Sally is a series of sounds that are developed to reflect the situation. The two lead characters are riding in a car so the rush of the car as it travels underlies the sound. Different actions punctuate the scene. The center sound that creates this punctuation is the spitting of grapes that Billy Crystal, playing Harry, aims out the window. A rhythm is built within the scene as he talks, chews on grapes, then make a pointed, loud spit out the window, presumably as he gets rid of the grape seeds.

This scene is full of actual sound or diegetic sound, which can also be referred to as indigenous sound. Theses sounds are those that might be heard if the viewer were within the environment of the scene (Movie Clips. ‘Opposites do not Attract’. When Harry Met Sally (1989). The scene ‘Time to Get a New Clock’ from The Mask is framed in much the way that a cartoon scene would be given sound. Each action has an exaggerated correlating sound that is unrealistic. The clock is given a sense of personification as it is framed with a bouncing sound and giggles, its delight at jumping around and making noise made fearful by both the accompanying music that exaggerates the visual content.

In this scene, the context would have been completely lost without the cartoon style music, full of the frivolity of animation, and the sounds which create the exaggerations. After Jim Carrey plummets from the window to the ground, there is a distinct sucking sound as his eyeballs pop back into his head. This type of exaggeration creates the dynamic of the scene and the expectations of the audience are manifested through cultural understandings of how those sounds are to be translated. Sound effects are the sounds that are created outside of the environment to give the scene greater context.

Didactic music is used to distance and make an ironic commentary on this scene (Movie Clips. ‘Time to Get a New Clock’. The Mask (1994). Sound in film adds to the overall experience of seeing a movie. Dialogue, which is used only in the scene from When Harry met Sally, is direct communication, but the other sounds can provide diegetic context, sound effects that add to the genre of a film, or a music score that sets the emotional tone of a scene. Through the use of sound, these three scenes are elevated to an experience, rather than just a visual element.

Works Cited Jenson, Klaus. A Handbook of Media and Communication Research: Qualitative and Quantitative. New York: Routledge, 2002. Print. Movie Clips. ‘Barrels’ Jaws (1975). (2011). Web. 11 June 2011. Movie Clips. ‘Opposites do not Attract’. When Harry Met Sally (1989). (2011). Web. 11 June 2011. Movie Clips. ‘Time to Get a New Clock’. The Mask (1994). (2011). Web. 11 June 2011.