Silent Hill
In the opening of the film ‘Silent Hill’, there is no music
at all, only sounds such as the distant calling of someone’s name or the cars
driving over the bridge. As the scene plays out there are more diegetic sounds:
the sound of the water flowing rapidly in the river, the honking of cars, every
branch or twigs breaking beneath the woman’s heavy footsteps slamming against
the forest floor, and so on. These are all put into place to create suspense
and tension among the audience as they try to understand what is occurring.
Additionally, as the woman is shouting out for ‘Sharon’, we assume that something
bad has happened, this is reinforced by the sounds of the rushing water and
driving cars as they are a connotation of danger as your mind wanders on, believing that the child may have been run over, may be drowning or about to jump off the cliff.
However, after a few minutes of only diegetic sounds, a
voice is introduced into the background of someone nearly wailing, as if they
were chanting a spell or conjuring something from a different world, and then
the sound of someone’s deep and elongated exhale is also heard, giving the
audience the impression that something immoral is going to happen.
The Sixth Sense
Violins, piano, cello and drums all play a part in the
opening scene of ‘The Sixth Sense’. When we hear the music at the beginning it
creates an atmosphere of suspense by dragging out the violin sounds and having
stings makes the audience jumpy. This plays throughout the title sequence then fades
out as the light from the first scene comes into focus, creating a sound
bridge. However the sounds have completely faded out by the time the first
character is presented, leaving the viewers extra aware of the protagonist’s
actions and expecting anything to happen at any moment.
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