Y13 & Y12 IB Film

At the start of the clip of The Conversation (1974, d. Francis Ford Coppola), we hear, what seems to be, diagetic sound which is quite quiet. The reason for doing this is to create a Point-of-audition sound, where it seems as if we are intruding on the park and the scene. This is further emphasized with the jarring sound effect of the electronic static sound that is heard when the focus of the shot changes, which causes the audience to immediately pay attention to this sound. The purpose of this sound effect (Marwin K Kerner's Classification of film sound effects) is done to simulate reality. The sound effect here is called a hyper-real sound. This would also be linked in with the Point-of-audition sound, which gives the audience the impression that they are intruding on the park, similar to what the "protagonists" of this film are doing. The location sound of the scene (i.e. the talking and the shuffling of the feet) is done to create Walla or simply background noise. However, this walla not only has a role of creating verisimilitude, but to also block out the conversation between the two "antagonists," or the soundtrack shifts to the other conversations. This is shown at the start of the clip where the dialogue that we do hear constantly shifts until we hear the conversation between the antagonists (another example of hyper-real sound and point-of-audition sound). Furthermore, the music that we hear that is diagetic, or music from the park also adds to the sense of realism. This is shown when the heavy percussion based music of an african band blocks out the conversation between the antagonists, furthering the feeling of verisimilitude. 

Another area where the soundtrack is important is at the end of the clip, where the location sounds fade out, and a non-diagetic soundtrack starts to fade in. This classical piece has a slow tempo, which causes the audience to question what is going to happen next. Furthermore, the sudden rise in the loudness of this piece also foreshadows that an event is going to take place (linking it to the role of sound as a narrative device).