Sunday, 19 October 2014

Music Analysis


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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