Diegetic And Non-Diegetic In Films
Sound is hugely significant in films and is used extensively to enhance presentation. The importance of sound in film was recognised in the early days of cinema, music was to accompany a silent film in theatres. Sound in film has obviously evolved since then, but its purpose has remained roughly unchanged: to enhance the emotiveness of a movie. Sound in cinema can be summed up with two key terms, diegetic and non-diegetic.
The term diegetic derives from the Greek word diegesis, which refers to the actions taking place in the narrative “space”, events on screen or off screen. In simple terms, the world of the characters. The audience accepts that the narrative is just the edge of a bigger world created by the film; this is the diegetic world. Therefore, aspects in a film can be diegetic or non-diegetic. These different terms also apply to sound in films; such as production music, dialogue and sound effects.
By now this all should be pretty self-explanatory. Diegetic sound is sound which happens within the world of that particularly film. A diegetic sound is heard by both the audience and the character, this can be referred to as “actual sound”, this can be voices of characters, sound or music from a source in the scene (e.g. music coming from a car stereo or the clattering of pots and pans in the scene). Conversely, non-diegetic sound occurs from a source outside the world of the movie, this can be narration, mood music, the soundtrack, or a sound effect added for dramatic reasons. Non-diegetic sound plays a key role in creating the drama and mood of the film and directly attempts to interact with the audience. For example, some type of jazz production music could be played over the top of a scene to represent it is set in the 1930s or 1940s.