SESSION 05 - MON 11.02.08

CRITICAL EVALUATION
Once Upon A Time In The West
- very sparse, especially in terms of dialogue - this is the case throughout the whole film
- sound of windmill throughout first scene
- sound of fly inside the gun
- scenes, tension, story and atmosphere are all built largely using sound
- harmonica line used as motif for the guy who steps off the train; heavy reverb; line blurred between diegetic and non-diegetic - you're half led to believe he's playing it, but it also becomes his signature for later in the film, where it is used at points where he is not shown playing it

Heat
- more sparse than a regular blockbuster film, which are saturated in sound effects
- gunshots sound exaggerated with heavy reverb, although gunshots/bomb explosions can sound hyperreal because they are so unexpected and so far removed from everyday life
- explosion of ambulance on final drum beat - use of musical score to emphasise visual elements - you are expecting the rhythm pattern to be completed and the ambulance to explode, as they happen at the same time there is resolution for both expectations

Finding Nemo
- audience has no point of reference for sound underwater, so sound designers are effectively creating a virtual world
- sound of submarine falling through water is like a 'dying dinosaur', similar to the sound used by Steven Spielberg in Duel and also in Jaws as the shark dies and falls through the water. Deep Blue Sea uses a similar sound for the sharks dying as a reference/homage to Jaws - Finding Nemo may be making a similar reference

Jarhead
- music seems to signify pounding heartbeat of soldiers
- loud dialogue to begin with, goes quiet as planes start to turn
- low frequency sounds used for impact - they resonate in cinemas; here they may have been panned through the 5.1 so that the audience felt the planes going over at the same time as seeing them
- very little sound after planes fly over - aftermath

Home Alone
- uses Klezmer (type of Jewish folk music) for the score - give the feel that no matter what's happening on screen, it's all a bit of fun.
- sound of furnace - bears, sound of a man shouting
- sounds and music are almost cartoon-like - heavily emphasised