Quiz 2: Narration,Sound, and Genre

diegetic sound

Sound that has its source in the narrative world of the film, whose characters are presumed to be able to hear it.

nondiegetic sound

Sound (such as a musical score) that does not have an identifiable source in the characters’ world.

semidiegetic sound

Sound that is neither strictly diegetic nor nondiegetic, such as certain voiceovers that can be construed as the thoughts of a character and thus as arising from the story world; also called internal diegetic sound.

synchronous sound

Sound that is recorded during a scene or is synchronized with the filmed images and has a visible onscreen source; also referred to as onscreen sound.

asynchronous sound

Sound that does not have a visible onscreen source; also referred to as offscreen sound.

parallel sound

Sound that reinforces the image, such as synchronized dialogue or sound effects or a voiceover that is consistent with what is displayed onscreen.

contrapuntal sound

Sound that is unexpected considering the image that is displayed onscreen.

Sound bridge

Sound that is carried over a picture transition or that belongs to the coming scene but is played before the image changes.

ADR (automated dialogue replacement)

A process during which actors watch the film footage and rerecord their lines to be dubbed into the soundtrack.

Walla

A nonsense word spoken by extras in a film to approximate the sound of a crowd during sound dubbing.

room tone

the aural properties of a location that are recorded and then mixed in with dialogue and other tracks to achieve a more realistic sound.

Foley

live synchronized sound effects while watching the projected film; named after the inventor, Jack Foley.

Soundtrack

Audio recorded to synchronize with a moving image, including dialogue, music, and sound effects; the physical portion of the film used for recorded sound.

Score

Music composed to accompany a completed film.

Voiceover

A voice whose source is neither visible in the frame nor implied to be offscreen and typically narrates the film’s images, such as in a flashback or the commentary in a documentary film.

mickey-mousing

Overillustrating the action through the musical score, drawn from the conventions of composing for cartoons.

Stinger

Sound that forces the audience to notice the significance of something onscreen, such as the ominous chord struck when the villain’s presence is made known.

Narrative cueing

The ways that sound tells viewers what is happening in the plot.

Production

The industrial stages that contribute to the making of a finished movie, from the financing and scripting of a film to its final edit; more specifically, the actual shooting of a film after preproduction and before postproduction.

Preproduction

The phase when a film project is in development, involving preparing the script, financing the project, casting, hiring crew, and securing locations.

Postproduction

The period in the filmmaking process that occurs after principal photography has been completed; usually consists of editing, sound, and visual-effects work.

Auteur

The French term for “author”; the individual credited with the creative vision defining a film; implies a director whose unique style is apparent across his or her body of work.

release strategies

media convergence

The process by which formerly distinct media (such as cinema, television, the internet, and video games) and viewing platforms (such as television, computers, and cell phones) become interdependent.

wide release

The premiere of a movie at many locations simultaneously.

viral marketing

The process of advertising that relies on existing social networks to spread a marketing message by word of mouth, electronic messaging, or other means.

limited release

The practice of initially distributing a film only to major cities and expanding distribution according to its success or failure.

Trailer

A form of promotional advertising that previews edited images and scenes from a film in theaters before the main feature film or on a television commercial or website.

Platforming

The distribution strategy of releasing a film in gradually widening markets to build its reputation through reviews and word of mouth.

Blockbuster

A big-budget film, intended for wide release, whose large investment in stars, special effects, and advertising attracts large audiences and big profits.

exclusive release

A movie that premieres in restricted locations initially.

Narrative

A story with a particular plot and point of view told by a narrator or conveyed by a narrational point of view.

Story

The raw material of a narrative; fabula.

Plot

The narrative ordering of the events of the story as they appear in the actual work, selected and arranged according to particular temporal, spatial, generic, causal, or other patterns; in narratology, also known by the Russian word syuzhet.

the fourth wall

internal/external character development

three-act structure

progressive/regressive character development

stereotype archetype

A character type that simplifies and standardizes perceptions that one group holds about another, often less numerous, powerful, or privileged group.

narrative frequency

The number of times a plot element is repeated throughout a narrative.

first-person narration

Narration that is identified with a single individual, usually a character in the film.

third-person narration

A narration that assumes an objective and detached stance toward the plot and characters by describing events from outside the story.

restricted narration

A narrative in which our knowledge is limited to that of a particular character.

reflexive narration

A mode of narration that calls attention to the narrative point of view of the story in order to complicate or subvert its own narrative authority as an objective perspective on the world. 

unreliable narration

A type of narration that raises questions about the truth of the story being told; also called manipulative narration.