post thirteen - sound in 13 reasons why

( POST THIRTEEN )

SOUND IN 13 REASONS WHY
original clip

Our task was to watch a short clip from a scene in the tv series '13 reasons why' and to look specifically into the sound, both diegetic and non diegetic so that we could then record our own sound to add to the original visuals and make our own versions of the same clip.

Diegetic sound is the sound that is created by the actors or objects that are within the frame, for example the character's voices and sounds made by objects in the story. It can be off screen or on screen whatever its source is with or within the frame. In this scene the diegetic sound was the footsteps of Clay as he walked down the school corridors and the school bell ringing at the end.

Non diegetic sound is sound that is not visible on the screen and is any sound that is not created within the frame, for example narrator's commentary, music and sound effects. It is sound that is from a source outside of the action happening within the story. In the '13 reasons why' clip the non diegetic sound is Hannah's narration and the music.

Non diegetic and diegetic sound is used in different genres to portray different moods, for example in movies both sounds are played to build suspense, for instance. In this clip there is very little diegetic sound, as most is non diegetic - like the music and the narration, this may be because there is no dialogue between any of the characters and the music gives it more atmosphere and we are more interested in Hannah's speech than Clay.

As we went through the clip, we noted down each piece of sound and we found examples of both diegetic and non diegetic sound. Hannah's monologue, the theme music, music, the school bell and Clay's footsteps. We watched the scene again to note down the timings as each sound occurred so that when we went to record and edit our own sounds, they would be in time with the original video. We were able to find and download each sound besides the narration so we had to find someone to do that part, and then all we would have to do was edit the video and it would be complete. We were limited on time so we recorded Beth as she read out the script, however when we downloaded the film and began to edit it, the quality wasn't particularly good because there was a lot of background noise. This could have been prevented if we recorded it in a studio, however this was not accessible to us at the time so we had to record it in an empty room and work with everything that we had. 

Although there were a few problems with the narration due to the location of the recording (this was the most difficult part), the outcome is good and is very similar to the original. We also managed to find both pieces of music used in the original and the other sounds were available on the editing software.

our finished clip