Sight and sound

The Strangers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JURfOQ51Ec
My first choice of film is The Strangers, "The Strangers is a 2008 American horror
film written and directed by Bryan Bertino and starring Liv Tyler and Scott
Speedman as a young couple who are terrorized by three masked assailants,
who break into the remote summer home and destroy all means of escape or
calling for help by destroying their car, cell phones, and phone line."
As soon as the section of the film starts you can her this loud ambient humming
sound that has been added in to the film to create a effect of making the
audience unsettled and an eerie atmosphere, these sounds are non-diegetic,
non-diegetic noises are sounds added in while doing post production to add more
effect to the scene - for ex ( In a film a guy pulls out a gun and it makes loads of
different noises but in real life it would just be silent but it is added in to notify
you that there is a gun). The woman breathing is really loud showing that she is
panicking/scared and is having a hard time keeping her breathing under control.
You then hear a pole like sound being drop on the floor twice which is very loud
this was probably recorded by dropping a pole on the floor by a mic and
recording it and adding it in while doing post production, the character in this
film would not of hear this sound but is directed to act as if there was a noise of a
pole hitting the floor outside. This makes you feel scared as you know
somethings not right, this ambient sound has been added in to let the audience
know that there is someone outside it is also a hyper real sound which means
over exaggerated noise to direct your attention to that certain location . The pole
is louder than what the character would of heard but is edited to sound louder to
us because this diverts our attention to the sound outside where something is
happening. You can't hear any other sounds besides the noise the character is
making and the noise out side, all these sounds are really harsh and loud. By
making these the only sounds you can hear gives off the feeling of emptiness
and being alone pushing forward the fact that she is alone to the audience. The
ambient humming noise keeps a consistent pitch while she approaches the
window leaving room to add more sounds from outside, you the hear the metal
poles again but they now sound like wind chimes but they sound as if they are
being hit and not blown by the wind, this is a diegetic sound ( diegetic sound is
sound that the actors would be acting to hear in the film unlike non-diegetic
sound where that is there for effect) . This tells us without actually seeing
anything that there maybe someone outside while still having the thought
maybe it is the wind. There is a dragging sound coming from outside yet again
hinting towards the fact that there maybe someone outside this sound and the
wind chimes are Foley sounds, Foley sound is noise made by Foley artist, "Foley
effects are sound effects added to the film during post production (after the
shooting stops). They include sounds such as footsteps, clothes rustling, crockery
clinking, paper folding, doors opening and slamming, punches hitting, glass
breaking, etc. etc." As she gets closer to the curtains and puts the knife between
the two and goes to open them the dragging noise gets much louder very quickly
and then stops all of a sudden and so does the ambient humming noise making
the audience feel as if something was about to happen but then the sound died
off leaving the audience wanting to know what is going to happen next. Then as

she opens the curtains a sound of a blade happens signalling as a warning sound
which also acts to frighten the audience because the sound is so high pitch from
a low sounding background noise "They say that distorted and jarring music
reminds us of the calls made by animals in distress. This brings out the animal in
us by putting us on high alert for threats such as predators. In the modern world,
this could take the form of moving to the edge of the cinema seat or feeling a
tingling in the spine."

The woman then screams really loud making us fear for her creating a
unsettling/scared atmosphere for the audience the ambient humming noise
starts to pick up the pace as there is action happening which helps to tell the
audience of what's going on. The chairs get knocked over as the woman is
walking backwards and again the sound of the chairs falling over is really loud
and hyper real to add the intensity of the scene, then the vinyl recorder
randomly starts to play some music. In horror films generally play horror music
but this is a very unique song that gives the feeling of fear/off-putting feeling
that makes the audience feel uncomfortable.

Buried
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea6hLudoGaQ
My second choice of film Buried is a 2010 American thriller film directed by
Rodrigo Corts. It stars Ryan Reynolds and was written by Chris Sparling. The
story is about Iraq-based American civilian truck driver Paul Conroy (played by
Reynolds), who, after being attacked, finds himself buried alive in a wooden
coffin, with only a lighter, flask, flashlight, knife, glow sticks, pen, pencil, and a
mobile phone.
As the scene starts you see Paul led down in a coffin, you can hear sand pouring
through the cracks of the coffin playing on a sound loop(A continuous loop of
recorded sound, designed to prove background sound throughout a scene, often
in semi-sync manner) . This sets the scene along with the visual image to tell the
audience what is currently happening in the narrative. And the only other thing
you can hear is his phone ringing and no other sounds, these diegetic sounds
tells us how isolated he is from the outside world by minimising the sound to a
selected few it conveys the message of how separated he is and creates the
rooms presence and both phone and sand create an establishing sound. Paul
answers the phone and we are flooded by a lot of loud sound coming from the
outside world, again to emphasize his location. Also at the same time as the
person on the phone talks the sound of the sand gets really loud also ( Hyper
Sound ) this makes the scene more tense and helps to build the tension. The
background music starts to build as Paul gets the news they are going to rescue
him, he then calls he's wife to tell her the good news the music turns into a
triumphant tone to tell the narrative of the story through sound. The sound
designer decided to do this to add the intensity to the scene without any visual

images because of where the film is set. The music then changes from a
triumphant tone to a more low slower sadden tone to show the affection he has
for his wife, the love that they share together and the tragic situation they are in.
The U.S army connect back the call with Paul and on their side of the phone you
can hear them digging for Paul trying to save him and at the same time the
music gets louder and louder the speed picks up creating the tension. His voice
becomes muffled because he is drowning in sand and by making him sound
distorted tells us again by sound what his situation, the sound would have been
done by pouring sand or sugar in to a big container that gives the effect of sand
entering a coffin. All these noise added and added on top of each other creates
this loud and energetic sound track to tell the narrative. You can start to hear
banning from the people on top of the coffin trying to save Paul, he then starts to
scream and the music builds again everything in ( Hyper Sound ) then the music
reaches the climax as you think Paul is going to be saved right at the last minute
and the sound dies out,, all the build up of sound created all this tension then a
sudden stop leaves us wanting to know what's going to happen next. The sand
gets louder as the person on the other side of the phone tells Paul that they
cannot save him, the music gets deeper, darker and louder the sand fills the box
as he takes his last deep breaths. Then again the music cuts out because you
know what has happened and then to leave you in silence to comprehend what
just happened.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strangers_%282008_film%29
http://www.sound-ideas.com/what-is-foley.html
http://www.filmsound.org/terminology/loop.htm