Planning Sound - Miss Miller

Brief plan of sound

Sound is very important in films as it is a combination of diegetic,non-diegetic etc. sounds that influence the affect of the film and how the audience feels about the characters.  Planning for my sound is important to do as it allows me to start thinking about what different types of sound techniques I will be using in my thriller opening, that'll help the audience engage, relate and feel towards the film. If I was to not plan or have an idea of what I'm going to include in my opening scene, when it comes to actually editing it, it will be very time consuming and chaotic as I will be deciding the shots on the spot and members of the group may differ with they're own opinions. Also this may affect my actual editing skills as I will be rushing and panicking on what sound techniques to include. This would be a lack of organisation and in order to create a successful finished thriller opening, I will need to know a structure that I'll be following.

Diegetic sound

Firstly the diegetic sound I will be using in my thriller will be of dialogue between the two girls who are talking throughout the parts where they are walking down the pavement. The use of this sound maintains the sense of normality in the scene, building tension within the audience as they start to think something sinister is about to take place. It also helps build a closer relationship with the characters as they are talking which shows reality and that the audience can relate to what they're doing. Dialogue is conventional to a thriller as it helps build the narrative as well as make it more interesting because it tells the story from the characters perspectives. If there was to be no dialogue in a film it'll be very strange and weird when action does happen because the audience would not understand the reason of it. The second diegetic sound would be when theres a phone conversation happening between one of the girls and the other person on the line. Again this shows the sense of normality in the scene but also creates curiosity and tension as the audience do not know who she is talking to.

Non-diegetic sound

A non-diegetic sound is simply the opposite of a diegetic sound and I'll use a soundtrack of an orchestra piece when the protagonist is running away from the antagonist in the forest. The music used will help build suspense and tension within the audience also a sense of foreboding because it'll mirror the chase scene happening. The use of this music will help build a relationship with the character as it makes the audience feel apprehensive about whether she survives and gets away from the antagonist. The use of this sound will represent the chase scene as it'll get quicker showing the closer that the antagonist is getting closer to his victim making the audience build a sympathetic relationship with the girl. Another non-diegetic sound I will use will be a sound that alerts the audience and makes them jump. This will happen when the antagonist wakes up from his flashback and it'll be heard the exact time his eyes open. We decided to do this as it'll exaggerate his wake and also make the audience feel on edge as it is no expected to occur. As the sound is alerting, it slightly threatens the viewers as well as shocks them because of its unexpected approach. This will suggest to the audience that the boy on the floor, is someone to be scared about as his wake was quite startling, creating a distant relationship to him as they need to be aware of what his going to do next. This particular sound is conventional to a thriller as it alerts the audience on what is happening and shocks them, also emphasises what is happening in the scene making the audience want to carry on watching. 

Parallel sound

We decided to include parallel sounds that the audience would expect to here, firstly we would use this when the two girls are the bus stop as the audience will here car noises in the back ground. The use of this gives the audience an idea of the surroundings that the girls are at and makes the scene more realistic and relatable. The sound helps create a closer relationship with the two girls as they can relate on what ever happens to them due to the normality of their destination. Another parallel sound I will include is the rustling of leaves and breaking of sticks in the forest, this will happen when the girl is running away from the antagonist in the forest. The purpose of this sound is to emphasise where she is located and also each stick that is broken could represent the time she's got left as she is being chased by the antagonist creating a closer relationship between her and the audience as they would want her to get away from him as far away as possible. The use of this sound is conventional to a thriller as it helps clarify where the character is as the sound is what the audience expect to hear in that kind of environment. 

Off Screen sound

A off screen sound is self explanatory in it name anyway, it simply means that a certain noise happens off screen where the audience doesn't see it. The off screen sound I will have in my opening thriller is when the girl is screaming as she gets killed by the antagonist. This would effect the audience because they wouldn't see the actual event happen it'll shock them as they do not know where the screaming is coming from making them jump when they suddenly hear it. The use of this off screen sound will alert the audience that something bad has happened to the girl as she is screaming, this will make them draw more attention to the scene as they'll want to figure out where the screaming is coming from. This is conventional to a thriller as screaming is always used to show that someone is in need of help or is being hurt by someone, this increases the audiences tension and suspense as they want to figure out who it is. In addition, the second off screen sound I will have in my scene will be dialogue in the flashback from a woman who is calling the boy who's on the swing. The use of this will make the audience think and wonder who the voice belonged to and what status she had to the boy creating suspense and tension as the viewers don't know where its coming from either. Also the sound helps give the audience an insight of the antagonist's childhood without them knowing, this will draw their attention and make them want to carry on watching to find out what has triggered the antagonist to be the way he is. Off scene dialogue is conventional to thriller as it creates suspense and tension due to the fact that the viewers do not know where it is coming from, also could suggest that the person who is talking is evil as they're not been shown on the screen. 


Planning the sound for our thriller opening helped us gather ideas that we thought would be effective creating emotions and reactions from the audience that'll make them want to carry on watching. I believe that the sound effects we have chosen will help make our thriller successful as they all do something to the audience, whether its making them jump, feel tenses or creating suspense, it all makes the actual scene more interesting to watch. When editing the scene I will look back on this post to help me understand more about the sounds I decided to include in the final piece.