Diegetic And Non-Diegetic Sound

Chapter Three:

"We all steal, but if we're smart we steal from great directors. Then, we can call it influence."

Diegetic And Non-Diegetic Sound

The difference between diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound is that if a sound is diegetic it can be heard by the characters. If a character is on a beach, the sound of the waves will be diegetic because the character can also hear them. A Good example of this is in the film 'Jaws'. Diegetic sound can be described by the waves, or the children laughing. But the Jaws 'theme' they use to signify the shark approaching is non-diegetic because it is not heard by the onscreen characters (e.g. film soundtrack). Diegetic and non-diegetic sound can both be added in post-production if necessary. 

 

Synchronous sound is sound that will match an event on screen because it is caused by it.

Asynchronous sound is separate from visuals so it could be a voice over or dialogue from another scene.

Sound Bridge - will connect two scenes so it carries on from one scene to another. This can start off diegetic and the become non-diegetic or visa versa.

                            

In this 'Kill Bill Vol.II' scene the non diegetic sound gives away the genre of the film and the diegetic sound builds a lot of tension. The silences create suspense and make us hold our breathe in anticipation. All the sound in this scene makes it the incredible scene it is because it tells the story and describes the character without using speech, voice-over or dialogue.