Glossary

Diegetic - Sound or music that comes from something within a scene, such as a piano sound coming from a piano.


Non Diegetic - Sounds, such as music or a narrator’s voices that come from outside the space of the narrative.


Ambient - A style of instrumental music with no persistent beat, used to create or enhance a mood or atmosphere.


SFX - Sound effects are artificially created or enhanced sound.


Mood - Music which changes the mood to fit with the narrative such as sad, calming or happy. 


Tone - The quality of the music or vocals such as a piano tone appearing monochrome. 


Genre - A category such as indie, pop, rock or pop rock and so on.   


Selective sound - This means to emphasize key sounds.


Sound bridges - This is the use of sound to get from one scene to the next. 


Theme music - Theme music introduces the programme or film. 


Musical score - Creates the atmosphere in the scene. 


Silence - Mostly used for suspense but not often used. 


Voiceovers - Voice of a character outside of the shot. 


Synchronous sound - Sound matched with what's going on in the scene. 


Asynchronous sound - Sound that originates from outside the scene. 


Contrapuntal - Sound that doesn't match the visuals, what's going on in the scene.