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.