We always say that we watch movies.
"- Would you like to watch a movie?
- Let's go watch a movie.
- I'm just gonna go watch a movie."
- But have you ever listened to a movie?
"- Wow."
- Most sound design is intended to go unnoticed.
But it is often the unsung hero of filmmaking.
And today we are going to look at the two main categories of sound
and how they can be the secret weapon for any filmmaker.
This is "What is Diegetic Versus Non-Diegetic Sound".
But before we get started, subscribe and click the bell for more filmmaking videos.
Ready?
- In film, Diegetic is derived from 'diegesis'
which simply means the world of the film and everything in it.
Everything the characters can experience within their world is diegetic.
Everything that only the audience perceives is non-diegetic.
The concept of diegesis goes all the way back to the Greeks
like Aristotle and Plato.
For them, diegesis is the act of telling a story
and how the narrator presents it.
For films, you can think of the director as the narrator
and everything they include to create a world around the characters.
Some non-diegetic elements are visual.
These include title cards.
Or even non-diegetic inserts.
Shots taken from a source completely external from the main diegesis.
But when it comes to the study of diegetic versus non-diegetic
it usually refers to sound.
Theorist Michel Chion developed this visualization to mark the differences.
First, he divides all sound into three zones.
Two of these are acousmatic zones,
covering sounds we hear, but can't see the source.
These are either off-screen sounds that belong to the diegesis,
like unseen birds chirping in a forest scene.
Or they are non-diegetic sounds that the characters can't hear
because they exist outside the world of the film, like a musical score.
The final category covers the visualized zone
where the source of the sound is visible on screen.
All sound falls into one of these categories,
and some can even switch zones as we'll see in a minute.
So let's look at some examples of each and how they work.
Starting with diegetic sound.
"- Did you hear that?"
- If the characters can hear it, it's diegetic sound.
This includes atmospheric sounds like the weather.
Vehicles.
Weapons.
Music from inside the film.
Dialogue.
"- Can you hear me? Good."
- And some forms of voiceover.
"- I guess I just miss my friend."
- If the voiceover represents a character's thoughts,
it is labeled as internal diegetic sound.
So even though no other characters can hear it,
it is still part of the story world.
"- Tallahassee had a sick sense of humor when it came to zombies."
- The primary role of diegetic sound is to help
establish and create the world around the characters.
But more than just obligatory elements, diegetic sound
can have a massive impact on the overall storytelling.
For example, sounds we can hear off-screen can inform setting.
And they can expand the world beyond what we see in the frame.
When we hear something but can't see it, that's when real suspense can be made.
We often take diegetic sound for granted.
We assume it will always be there and that the sounds will match our expectations.
But breaking these rules can make for exciting cinema
like this shocking moment from "The Last Jedi"
when we expect a massive overload of sound, but instead...
...silence.
Or in this horrific scene when Alex's rendition of 'Singing in the Rain'
juxtaposes his actions.
Just like a POV shot, shows us what the character sees
diegetic sound can be manipulated to let us hear what they hear.
Or when the character's mental state is compromised,
sound can communicate this just as well as imagery.
Diegetic sound can easily be taken for granted by both the filmmaker and the audience.
But there are opportunities like these that bend the limits in creative ways.
"- All the Dude ever wanted was his rug back.
Really?
It tied the room together."
Now, let's look at the role of non-diegetic sound, Kelly.
"- Coming!"
- Everything the characters cannot hear is non-diegetic.
This includes sound effects.
The musical score.
And forms of narration.
"- This is a story of boy meets girl."
- If the narrator plays no role in the film, this is considered non-diegetic.
"- Barry's father had been bred, like many sons of genteel families...
...to the profession of the law.
This type of narration harkens back to the traditional idea of verbal storytelling.
Like Alec Baldwin's narration for "The Royal Tenenbaums"
which itself is framed as if we were reading from a novel.
"- Over the next decade he and his wife had three children, and then they separated."
- But there is the potential danger of breaking
the illusion with non-diegetic narration.
For example, Tarantino's omniscient commentary in "The Hateful Eight"...
"- Joe Gage volunteered to take Smithers' dead body outside.
Straws were drawn to see who'd help him."
- If you recognize his voice, it suddenly reminds you that this is a movie
and the director is essentially breaking the fourth wall.
"- Captain Chris Mannix donned the dead general's coat
and joined Oswaldo in lighting the candles and lanterns."
- Of course, this type of interruption in the diegesis
is done for creative purposes.
Something Tarantino does all the time.
"- Don't be a...
- Beatrix Kiddo - Here."
- Non-diegetic sound effects can enhance motion and movement.
Listen to how sound effects are added to increase the intensity.
They can be used for comedy to put a punchline on a joke.
And of course, the most consistently used non-diegetic sound is the score.
It might seem counterintuitive to make a fictional world for us to lose ourselves in
only then to apply such an invasive element as music on top of it.
It should ruin the illusion.
But we've long been accustomed to it.
"- Whoa."
- Non-diegetic music plays a massive role in the film experience.
Without it, "Interstellar" would be less transcendent.
"Up" wouldn't be as heartbreaking.
And "Black Panther" wouldn't feel so triumphant.
Next, let's see what happens when sound switches between these two modes
also known as trans-diegetic sound.
Some of the most interesting storytelling happens when our expectations are subverted.
Like when what we assumed was non-diegetic
suddenly appears to be diegetic.
"- Could you please stop playing Beethoven?
Take your hands off the harp."
- Mel Brooks does this a lot with music.
By playing with our expectations, Brooks brings a meta quality to his films
that allows us to be in on the joke.
We might hear non-diegetic score that suddenly becomes diegetic
playing on a character's radio.
Or diegetic music might become non-diegetic
while playing over a montage.
"- So they know we're coming."
To help smooth over the time jumps.
This also works for sound effects.
Listen closely to this scene in "Raising Arizona".
As Ed is distraught with news that she can't bear children
notice how the wind carries over to the next scene.
"- I'm barren!
At first, I didn't believe it.
That this woman, who looked as fertile as the Tennessee valley,
could not bear children.
The wind began as diegetic but then switched to non-diegetic
to comically reinforce her infertility.
In "The Big Lebowski", we begin with the narration of the stranger,
which we assume is non-diegetic.
"- Way out West, there was this fella.
Fella l wanna tell you about."
- Until he appears in the final scene.
"- Hey, man!
- How do you do, Dude? - l wondered if I'd see you again."
- Switching between diegetic and non-diegetic can be a nuanced way
to blur the lines between fantasy and reality.
"- Harold just counted brush strokes.
- All right who just said, 'Harold just counted brush strokes'?"
- Throughout "Birdman", we hear drums on the soundtrack.
And in a few key moments, the camera reveals the drummer in the scene
as a way to illustrate Riggan's unstable mental state.
In "George of the Jungle", the division between diegetic and non-diegetic
breaks down completely as the narrator argues with characters.
"- Oh, No!
- "Oh, No" was right, for the exhausted ape-nappers --
- Hey! Why don't you say something constructive for a change,
like what we should do now.
- Because I don't like you. - Well, I hate you, you snotty son of a--"
- There are endless ways to switch between diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.
Let's end with some creative exceptions that don't play by the rules.
"- Hear the music."
- There are other examples of sound that don't fit neatly into any of these categories.
How might we categorize American Beauty's narration,
which is delivered from Lester's disembodied spirit?
"- In less than a year, I'll be dead.
Of course, I don't know that yet.
- As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster."
- The narration in "Goodfellas" is constant
until the last two minutes when this happens.
"- I'd bet 20, 30 grand over a weekend,
and then I'd either blow the winnings in a week
or go to the sharks to pay back the bookies.
Didn't matter.
Didn't mean anything when I was broke."
- Now we assume the narration was actually testimony.
But because Henry seems to break through the
diegesis as if time stops in the courtroom,
we're uncertain whether it really was narration, testimony, or something in between.
"- And now it's all over. And that's the hardest part."
At the end of "Psycho", we hear Norman's internal monologue
speaking in his mother's voice as a completely separate personality.
"- They're probably watching me.
Well, let them. Let them see what kind of a person I am.
I'm not even gonna sweat that fly.
I hope they are watching.
They'll see.
They'll see and they'll know and they'll say,
'Why she wouldn't even harm a fly.
How should we classify this moment in "Joker"?
Arthur quietly sings along to the music we assumed was non-diegetic.
Is the music in his own head?
We get a similar moment in "La La Land".
The external diegetic background music in the restaurant
switches to internal music in her head
inspiring her to make a romantic leap.
"- I'm sorry."
- "Magnolia" breaks down these divisions
by having the ensemble sing along to what is otherwise a non-diegetic song.
This unique example seems to occupy both realms equally.
As you can see, these two types of sound can be just as useful as cinematography
and editing in telling a story.
Even though we typically watch movies, there's plenty of
reason we should be listening to movies just as closely.
"- What is that?"
For more on sound design and storytelling,
you'll find links to these videos in the description.
And check out StudioBinder's pre-production software
to give yourself every opportunity to plan how
sound will play a part in your next project.
Sounds like this video is over.
Time to get back to your own diegetic worlds.
See you in the next one.