Sound

Sound

Diegetic refers to the world of the text

Examples: dialogue, sound effects, music with a source within the text e.g a radio

Non-diegetic refers to everything outside the world of the text

Examples: voiceover, soundtrack, captions, tiles, subtitles

Sound: On/Off-screen

On-screen sound - the audience can see the source of the sound

Off-screen sound - the audience can't see the source of the sound

Diegetic sound in the video above: the dialogue of many characters
Non-diegetic sound in the video above: soundtrack music




Diegetic sound in the video above: the dialogue of the singer
Non-diegetic sound in the video above: music with a source



Sound: Parallel/Contrapuntal 


Parallel sound matches the action.
(example, children playing = happy music)

Contrapuntal sound does not match the action.
(example, horror film = funny music)


Sound: Sound Bridge

A sound bridge helps to create a smooth transition between one scene to another.

The sound bridges two scenes.








The clip from jaws below shows parallel sound because the music matches the action.







The video below demonstrates contrapuntal sound because the music does not match the vents of what is happening.