What is the difference between diegetic and non-diegetic sound? Can they ever be confused? Discuss with reference to at least three recent films.
For this essay I shall be highlighting the differences between the two terms; diegetic and non-diegetic sound. I shall also discuss whether or not the terms and their meanings could ever be confused. To help highlight my arguments within this essay I shall reference to films such as "The Italian Job", "Romeo and Juliet" and "Entrapment". The final section will hopefully round off the essay with a critical conclusion of the given question and the evidence presented within the essay.
Yet sound is perhaps the hardest of all techniques to study... Our primary information about
the layout of our surroundings comes from sight, and so in ordinary life sound is often simply a background for our visual attention.
(Bordwell. D. & Thompson. K., 1947, Film art : An introduction, Fifth Edition, New York; London : McGraw-Hill.)
Mass-produced colour photolithography on paper for...
English: Title page of the second quarto edition (...
Charlotte and Susan Cushman (the Cushman sisters) ...Sound which can be implied or linked by a character or an action taking place within the context of a scene is often referred to as a diegetic sound. This can include music that is being performed within the 'film's world', such an example could be taken from the film Titanic. The particular scene I am referring to, is when the ship has just started to sink and the band decide to continue playing.
ON WALLACE HARTLEY raising his violin to play.
HARTLEY
Number 26. Ready and --
The band has reassembled just outside the First Class Entrance, port side, near where Lightoller is calling for the boats to be loaded. They strike up a waltz, lively and elegant. The music wafts all over the ship.
(Anon, Titanic Script, http://sites.inka.de/humpty/titanic/script.html)
Another prime example of music being used within a scene of...