A Clockwork Orange
As soon as the clip begins, we hear a dramatic piece of what initially appears to be non diegetic classical music in the background but then a voice-over begins and we can assume it's Alex, the character leading the group in the clip and during his voice-over he mentions how he can hear a piece of music from a stereo in someone's window, leading us to wonder whether the piece of music we can hear is diegetic or not. I think this particular piece of music becomes more and more contrapuntal the further we get into the clip and not the kind of music you would expect to hear for such a violent scene. I think Stanley Kubrick chose to use this piece of music because it accentuates Alex's insanity in that the music has connotations of triumph and and optimism so it implies that Alex feels triumphant about the fact that he is afflicting injury on his "Droogs". Furthermore, the fact that we can't hear the violence; all we can hear is the music suggests that this was Stanley Kubrick's way of essentially softening the scene and making it easier for the audience to handle, whereas if we were to hear the violence, especially the first thing Alex does, I think a large proportion of the audience would have found it extremely hard to watch, especially since it's in slow motion. Also, when the violence starts, the volume of the music increases which heightens the dramatic nature of the scene, drawing the audience's attention to the action.
Once Upon A Time In The West
During this scene, all the sounds we hear are diegetic and they are all sounds that emphasise how desolate and empty the characters' surroundings are. For example, we hear sounds like knuckle cracking, water dripping, footsteps, a fly buzzing and a windmill creaking. All these sounds have deliberately been intensified and they are sounds that would otherwise go unnoticed, yet they are the only sounds we hear and I think the director's intention behind this was to express how barren and quiet the setting is. The collection of sounds appear to build up as the scene progresses and eventually there are many noises happening at once and this builds tension as the audience would naturally expect a climax from all the noise building up, so then we feel relief when one of the men disconnects the tape recorder and all the sounds appear to stop.
There are a number of sound bridges in this clip; the most noticeable one is probably right at the end when we hear the sound of the train approaching but we are still looking at the man with the fly trapped in his gun. The sound of the train might not be immediately recognised as a train and so the effect this has on the audience is that they begin to wonder what the sound is, and then they are shocked by the sudden image of the train going over the camera. The sound of the train is then massively intensified and is very loud and so a strong contrast is created between that and the quiet, calm scenes beforehand, potentially making the audience jump.
Once Upon A Time In America
There are many sounds that feature in this clip, both diegetic and non-diegetic. Examples of diegetic sounds include: the quiet background music at the beginning that appears to be playing outside the house, the rustling of newspaper, the voice of the man giving soup to the injured man, the fire, the fire hoses, the panicked voices of people, the clipping of the name tags on the dead men, the music during the men's funerals, a man making at telephone call. The continuous sound of a phone ringing is also diegetic but not until right at the end and there are times in which we think it applies to different parts of the narrative. Initially we think it is a phone ringing in the house the injured man is in but no one appears to answer it so we know it's not there. Then we think it could be a phone ringing in the scene of the fire but then it moves on to the funeral scene, then it moves onto the image of a phone and so we are certain that it's this phone that's ringing but then when the man picks it up, the sound continues so we are even more confused. Then we see an image of another phone which is the phone ringing so this is a diegetic sound because whoever else is in the room would be able to hear it, but no one picks it up so from this we are able to deduce that it's the phone of the injured man.
As soon as the clip begins, we hear a dramatic piece of what initially appears to be non diegetic classical music in the background but then a voice-over begins and we can assume it's Alex, the character leading the group in the clip and during his voice-over he mentions how he can hear a piece of music from a stereo in someone's window, leading us to wonder whether the piece of music we can hear is diegetic or not. I think this particular piece of music becomes more and more contrapuntal the further we get into the clip and not the kind of music you would expect to hear for such a violent scene. I think Stanley Kubrick chose to use this piece of music because it accentuates Alex's insanity in that the music has connotations of triumph and and optimism so it implies that Alex feels triumphant about the fact that he is afflicting injury on his "Droogs". Furthermore, the fact that we can't hear the violence; all we can hear is the music suggests that this was Stanley Kubrick's way of essentially softening the scene and making it easier for the audience to handle, whereas if we were to hear the violence, especially the first thing Alex does, I think a large proportion of the audience would have found it extremely hard to watch, especially since it's in slow motion. Also, when the violence starts, the volume of the music increases which heightens the dramatic nature of the scene, drawing the audience's attention to the action.
Once Upon A Time In The West
During this scene, all the sounds we hear are diegetic and they are all sounds that emphasise how desolate and empty the characters' surroundings are. For example, we hear sounds like knuckle cracking, water dripping, footsteps, a fly buzzing and a windmill creaking. All these sounds have deliberately been intensified and they are sounds that would otherwise go unnoticed, yet they are the only sounds we hear and I think the director's intention behind this was to express how barren and quiet the setting is. The collection of sounds appear to build up as the scene progresses and eventually there are many noises happening at once and this builds tension as the audience would naturally expect a climax from all the noise building up, so then we feel relief when one of the men disconnects the tape recorder and all the sounds appear to stop.
There are a number of sound bridges in this clip; the most noticeable one is probably right at the end when we hear the sound of the train approaching but we are still looking at the man with the fly trapped in his gun. The sound of the train might not be immediately recognised as a train and so the effect this has on the audience is that they begin to wonder what the sound is, and then they are shocked by the sudden image of the train going over the camera. The sound of the train is then massively intensified and is very loud and so a strong contrast is created between that and the quiet, calm scenes beforehand, potentially making the audience jump.
Once Upon A Time In America
There are many sounds that feature in this clip, both diegetic and non-diegetic. Examples of diegetic sounds include: the quiet background music at the beginning that appears to be playing outside the house, the rustling of newspaper, the voice of the man giving soup to the injured man, the fire, the fire hoses, the panicked voices of people, the clipping of the name tags on the dead men, the music during the men's funerals, a man making at telephone call. The continuous sound of a phone ringing is also diegetic but not until right at the end and there are times in which we think it applies to different parts of the narrative. Initially we think it is a phone ringing in the house the injured man is in but no one appears to answer it so we know it's not there. Then we think it could be a phone ringing in the scene of the fire but then it moves on to the funeral scene, then it moves onto the image of a phone and so we are certain that it's this phone that's ringing but then when the man picks it up, the sound continues so we are even more confused. Then we see an image of another phone which is the phone ringing so this is a diegetic sound because whoever else is in the room would be able to hear it, but no one picks it up so from this we are able to deduce that it's the phone of the injured man.
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