Sound is an important aspect to film as it helps us further understand what is going on in a scene. It can help to draw your attention to certain moments and to clarify aspects of the film.

A film I watched this week, called Room 1408, used sound and silence quite effectively to create a scary atmosphere. There is a moment after he enters the room where he goes deaf. The film is totally silent for a moment as he starts to panic. This lack of sound is very jarring as earlier you could hear things in the room, his voice and the ambience outside the hotel room. Suddenly, sound is sharply brought back as the radio ‘magically’ turns on in a shocking fashion.

It is evident that sound can be used to show and explain parts of the film, but the lack of sound can also help to portray things, especially the unsettling and the unnatural. It is also a great tool for the audience to understand space and distance in a scene. You can picture how far an object or a person is by the loudness of the sound and the direction it comes from offscreen or onscreen