LA 1 Understand the purpose of diegetic and non-diegetic sound 1.1

 Diegetic sound

Diegetic sound is a type of sound that exists 'inside' the story and can be heard by the characters. For example gunshots, talking etc.

Non- diegetic sounds

Non diegetic sound is a sound that the characters cannot hear as it is 'outside' the story. Examples of this are narrations, soundtracks and canned laughter.

This scene from Sinister (2012) is a good example of non diegetic and diegetic sound combined. Ellison and Deputy so-and-so talking over the phone would be classed as diegetic sounds as they can both hear the conversation that is going on between them and the audience can hear it too. Also the background sounds such as Ellison putting the cup down, him turning the phone off, the pen on the paper etc would fall under diegetic. The noises that are accompanied by Bughool moving his head is a representation of non-diegetic sound, as no one in the scene reacts to this sound so it is clear this audio was intended for only the audience to hear to draw attention to Bughool and create tension. Because the characters in this scene only respond to the conversation and the background noises, it accentuates that the sounds that accompanied Bughool isn't heard by Ellison. Another way this is accentuated is how Ellison only seems to look back at the screen when Bughool's movement catches his eye, not him hearing the sounds.

The audio from this scene in Sinister 2 falls under diegetic. This is because there is no audio that is unheard to the characters. They both respond to any noise, whether the radio, or just a basic conversation simultaneously. This is effective, as it puts the audience at the same level as the characters, so both experience the same things audibly. This helps the audio jump scare (2:47) involving the radio later on in the scene to be more effective.