Glossary
Diegetic - Sound whose source is visible on the
screen or whose source is implied to be present by the action of the film
Non-diagetic - Sound whose source is neither visible on the screen nor
has been implied to be present in the action
Ambient - Ambient sound or ambient audio means the
background sounds which are present in a scene or location. Common ambient
sounds include wind, water, birds, crowds, office noises, traffic, etc.
SFX - The
illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries
to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects (often abbreviated as SFX
Mood – music to enhance the mood in the film
Tone – use sound to set the tone of the scene
Genre - is the term for any category of literature or other forms
of art or culture, e.g. music, films, audial or visual, based on some set of
stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as
new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works
fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions
Theme music- usually a piece of music written purposely for a tv series,
film, radio program, video game etc. usually used in the title sequence.
Voiceover – also known as an off-stage or off camera comentry. The
voice-over may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production or
by a specialist voice actor.
Musical score - usually
used in films, a specially written piece of music which accompanies the film,
forming a sound track.
Synchronous sounds – referring to the sound recorded at the time of
filming the movie
Asynchronous sound – sounds that the source cannot be seen on the screen
added to the film to create realism e.g. the background sound of an ambulance.
Contrapuntal - the playing of one melody against another
but which harmonizes with the original melody - it's like 2-part harmony
Selective sound – the removal of some sounds to make other more
important sounds more audible e.g. it may make us aware of a bomb or watch
ticking.
Sound bridges – refers to an audible sound (dialog or sound effects)
that carry on into another scene or shot.
