No Sound

We have decided to have no non-diegetic music in our film opening. The decision stems from the fact that we wanted the tension to be raw without any sound distracting the audience from the action, for example in the film "Back To The Future" (1985) a lot is revealed through the opening sequence of the character Doc Brown, even though it is not obvious that you are learning about the character it makes you want to watch the rest of the film. The diegetic ticking of all the clocks is all you need to be hooked into the film and intrigue you as the camera pans through the room.

We want our film to have a similar effect but in a different sense as we want it to be thrilling and intense and we wanted it all to be natural to add to to the eeriness and make it more relatable to the audience and resonate with them more, which is what we aiming for.

The Use of Sound in Film

The shower scene is one of the most famous scenes in this film, the sound used in the is high pitched music along with the woman's screams build up tension in the scene and makes the audience feel scared.  It also makes the scene gripping and unsettling.

Other films go for a score that is upbeat and make the audience feel happy and upbeat throughout the film, this may be using one song for example Everything is Awesome from The Lego Movie or using an entire soundtrack for example The Awesome Mix, Vol 1 from The Guardians of the Galaxy.

However it is not just film soundtracks that are used to establish a relationship with the audience but also TV shows. The opening credit music of a show can tell you a lot about what to expect for example the well known Friends theme tune tells the viewer that this show is upbeat and relaxed however music from the opening scene from Dexter is chilling and mysterious, this sets a darker tone for the rest of the show:

However it is not just music but maybe lack there of, and also sound effects may impact the audience than actual music. An example of this is in the film drive in which The Driver proceeds to beat up a man and then stomping his head in. First there is a slow quite crescendo of the background and then the cracking and crunching side effects add a chilling factor to the scene as it feels like you are there and makes the audience unsettled.