Art of Entertainment

Art of entertainment
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Art of entertainment
Diegetic sound as a compositional element is utilized almost whenever someone is telling a story that is visual, be it on a small screen or big screen. The idiom diegetic sound basically originates from the sound design as well as the film techniques. Diegetic sounds in essence, are those type of sounds experienced by the off-screen and on-screen characters that emerge from the story, for instance, the sound of a car crashing on the street, the sound of wind as it blows outside, or the sound of the door slamming (Cabrini, 2010).
Diegetic sound in different mediums
Diegetic sound in film: Sound is an essential element of film production. It is of note that sound can be utilized to indicate action, time or mood; to contribute to character development; or to complement an image (Cox, 2011). In the opening scene of the film Jaws, when the young woman is in the water, and then the sharks or jaws start to attack her, a lot of splashing as well as the sound of water lapping at the shore could be clearly heard as seen in figure 1 below; that is diegetic sound.
Figure 1: Jaws, opening scene

Diegetic sound is also clearly heard in the film Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, at the scene where they are fighting using swords. All through the entire scene, the sounds of swords are heard many times since they are using swords to fight one another as shown in figure 2 below.
Figure 2: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – the scene where they are fighting for the key.


The sound made is diegetic since the sound is relating to the action that is happening on the screen and the swords would actually be producing those sounds in real life when being utilized in fighting, thus the sound enhance the narrative. Other sorts of diegetic sounds that are utilized include the sound of cutting through objects like rope and flesh, the bushes inside the forest, the sand on the beach, the metal beam striking Jack on the head, as well as the sound of creaking wood. All these are the sounds that appear in the film world and both the audience and the characters in the movie can hear them as they happen because of the things occurring on the screen; all of them are vital to audience engagement and storytelling (Manolas & Pauletto, 2012). Another example is heard in the film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, at the scene of Mine Cart Chase illustrated in figure 3 below.
Figure 3: Diegetic sound in the film Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom.


Diegetic sound is employed extensively during this particular scene in order to make the action appear more believable and realistic to the audience, thereby enhancing the narrative. The sound of car screeching on the track, the gun shots sounds, the sound of the mine cart speeding on the tracks, the sound of falling wood, and the sound of gushing wat...