BordwellThompson/Sound (Discussion)

Diegetic and nondiegetic sound

1. First, a review question, from the chapter on narrative form: what is a diegesis?
   • So, what is diegetic sound?
2. Bordwell/Thompson's Table 7.2 "Temporal Relations of Sound Cinema" (p. 289, 8th edition) divides film sound into diegetic and nondiegetic categories. Then it divides the diegetic/nondiegetic categories into different uses of time (hence, "temporal"). This results in six different ways in which time, diegetic space and sound interact (listed below). Provide an example from a film we've seen (or just make up an example) for each.
   1. Diegetic nonsimultaneous, sound earlier than image.
   2. Diegetic simultaneous.
   3. Diegetic nonsimultaneous, sound later than image.
   4. Nondiegetic nonsimultaneous, sound earlier than image.
   5. Nondiegetic simultaneous.
   6. Nondiegetic nonsimultaneous, sound later than image.
3. Considering the categories above, what types of sound are in the Traffic example?

Bibliography

1. David Bordwell and Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction, 8th ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2007).

External links

1. Classical Hollywood sound examples
2. Film Art examples
   • Traffic example
   • A Man Escaped example