Sherlock Holmes opening scene analysis.

The theme music at the beginning of the film is old fashioned piano music. As the action starts up, the music increases in speed and volume. The music goes with the overall tone of the opening scene as Sherlock Holmes is running through the street. There is also a lot of diegetic sound over the top of the theme music. You can hear horses, a gun loading, crows and heavy breathing.

The non-diegetic sound (background music) changes for certain people. All the time Holmes and Watson are on the screen the upbeat piano/drum music plays whereas, when the villain is shown, there is a kind of continuous, ominous sound. 

Also, the background music becomes very quiet when a conversation or voiceover is taking place but then builds up again just before a big fight so that the audience knows that action is coming. The drum beat becomes more prominent when a fight begins. 

When there's a big fight scene, the sounds are very exaggerated. For example, the punching sounds and the bones breaking.

At the end of the first scene there is a sound bridge. A picture is taken and the camera flash leads to the opening title. 

Glossary

Diegetic Sound: Sound or music that comes from something within a scene. For example: a piano sound coming from a piano.


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


Ambient: Sound that sets the scene


SFX: Special Effects


Mood: Sound that goes with the mood 


Tone: The overall quality of a musical or vocal sound


Theme Music: When an certain person has a particular soundtrack of their own


Voiceover: When a character or narrator talks over the action


Synchronous sound: Sound that matches what's going on in the scene 


Asynchronous sound: Sound that doesn't match what's going on


Selective sound: Used to emphasize key sound elements within a sequence


Sound Bridge: Adding to continuity through sound, by running sound (narration, dialogue or music) from one shot across a cut to another shot to make the action seem uninterrupted.


Contrapuntal sound: Contrapuntal sound occurs when the music and visual elements play against each other, and are in contrast.

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