Movies- Categories and Functions of Sound in Schindlers List

Movies- Categories and Functions of Sound in Schindlers List

A movie without sound might have a critical problem with relaying the theme and message to the audience. By this, it means that sound plays a crucial role in movies and films. It is even more essential in production. Diverse aspects of sound bolster the story and the characters, which in turn makes the movie an entirely complete experience. Various sound factors, including music, dialogue, and sound effects, play a vital role in improving the movie’s experience.

Music is essential in a movie. A Film score is played at the film’s start during the rolling of credits and sets the atmosphere. At specific points in the film, music is played to evoke emotion in the audience. Dialogue, on the other hand, is the discourse between two or more persons in a movie. A monologue is also possible, in that a character can be seen talking aloud as they ponder on a decision they have made or the rights and wrongs (Reich, 2017). In Schindler’s List, Schindler is in a monologue towards the end of the film, where he questions the German soldiers whether they will do the right thing or go ahead and still kill the Jews. Voice-over narration is a situation whereby a character provides explanations for the events in the movie and why. By so doing, the story in the film progresses. Sound effects include other sounds, apart from speech, that are reproduced artificially to develop an impact. For instance, sound effects are often added after the production of a movie with intense gunfire to make the effects louder. In Schindler’s List, there is plenty of shouting, gunfire, and what seems like kids singing in a certain scene where there is a little girl in red. The uproar bolsters the fact that an intensive firing of weapons is taking place. As such, sound in this film has been put to the audience to make events more realistic and believable. The theme is established because those sounds of pain, fear, and sheer terror help people realize the effects of those events on the people being affected. In the scene involving the girl in red, the mood is made somber with the singing of the children, which serves to prepare the audience for a sadder imminent event. Sound is essential because it “…engages audiences…it evokes emotional responses… to indicate mood” (“The Importance of Sound Effects | TopLine Film,” 2020). In Schindler’s List, the scene with the girl in red has various sounds, including gun firing, screaming, and singing, which refer to terror, war, and history. In this case, Schindler’s List falls under the Epic history genre.

Lastly, the sound effects in Schindler’s List are entirely realistic because the cries of fear and gunfire are natural and not exaggerated. With this, the audience can relate to the film and not dissociate themselves. Without a doubt, removing one essential category of sound in the movie will inevitably affect the movie’s intention because it would be essentially difficult to relay the theme and message to the audience efficiently. By removing sound effects, for example, there will not be an engagement with the audience, information will be difficult to relay, and even decrease production value. Besides, it would not be easy to evoke the emotions of the audience.

References

Reich, J. (2017). Exploring Movie Construction and Production: What’s So Exciting about Movies?

The Importance of Sound Effects | TopLine Film. TopLine Film. (2020). https://toplinefilm.com/blog/the-importance-of-sound-effects.

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Construct a discussion post of at least 200 words, and using specific examples from your chosen film,

Describe each of the three basic categories of sound (dialogue, sound effects, and music).
Explain how the different categories of sound are used in your chosen film.
Assess the impact of sound in establishing the theme.

How does the use of sound inform the mood of the scene or the film overall?
Can you identify specific sounds in your film that allow you to infer a particular genre?
Since each category of sound may produce a range of effects, how might you characterize the effects in your film? For example, realistic and expected sound effects may have a different effect on a viewer than exaggerated or unexpected ones.
Assess how the scene or sequence would play differently if you changed or removed a key category of sound.
You must use at least two outside sources in any combination of embedded video clips, still photos, or scholarly sources. All sources should be documented in APA style as outlined by the University of Arizona Global Campus Writing Center (Links to an external site.). Please view the video Posting in a Discussion in Canvas (Links to an external site.) for guidance on how to integrate multimedia with your response.