Digetic and Non-Digetic Sounds

In our previous Media Lesson, we have been learning about Digetic and Non-Digetic sounds are.

• Digetic Sound: Sounds which exist within the film. A character in a film would be able to hear Digetic sounds. Digetic sounds could be a door slamming or footsteps along a hallway etc.
• Non-Digetic Sound: Sounds which no character inside the film can hear. These sounds could be music playing in the background or a voice over portraying a characters thought for example.

An example of Non-Digetic sounds can be heard in the Film hunger. When Bobby Sands dies sad music can be heard playing in the background. There are also examples of Digetic sounds in this film when the prison doors slam and there are footsteps in the hallway. Lastly, when Bobby Sands dies the audience can hear the faint sound of birds flying away from the tree, this is another example of a Non-Digetic sound.

I can use both Non-Digetic and Digetic sounds in my Film opening. As my Film Opening is a horror I can use Digetic sounds such as footsteps and loud crashes and bangs to amplify the fear of the the audience and to induce jump scares more efficiently. I could also use Non-Digetic sounds such a scary background music and a voice over to show the audience the characters fear.