Project 1- Drive diegetic analysis

Drive analysis (diegetic sound)

Diegetic sound is main elements within a clip or film that either build tension or sets the scene by using different back ground sounds.

In the very opening of the scene to ‘Drive’ the first immediate element that the audience hear is a piece of music (non-diegetic) with the sound of a police siren over lapping the music. This is used to give the audience an immediate reaction to the clip and decide for themselves the genre or scene that the sound is trying to create. As the police siren is played there is a long shot of a city in the dark which gives the viewer of an idea of where it is set and the mood of the scene.

At first, the diegetic sounds do not make the audience believe instantly that there is tension within the scene. The basketball game is on the radio and there is the sound of the driver (Ryan Gosling) driving the car which seems fairly normal to the atmosphere given. The driver watches two men walk behind the car and sets his watch hearing the ticking noise to exaggerate tension so that the viewer knows that he has a certain amount of time to complete the task that he is about to experience.

A siren starts going off when the two men break into the building almost breaking a quiet atmosphere which gives the audience a vivid idea that something bad is about to happen. The driver then turns on the police radio over the top of the cars radio and the siren in the background. This shows tension slowly building as each sound effect added makes the audience question the drivers fate becoming confused, relating to the confusion of sounds within the scene building tension. He turns up the volume of the radio (basketball game) which makes the viewer believe that the driver is a normal person listening to the game. This could also mean that the driver is worried but distracts himself from the atmosphere by turning the volume up focusing on something else until his task is complete.

The swing of the door opening grabs the drivers attention but he still stays calm within the scene. By the driver being calm whiles all these things are happening around him, it gives the audience a sense of tension and worry, asking themselves why he’s so calm.  The driver opens the back door for the robber and a high pitched slow beep lets the driver know that the door is open, almost reminding the driver and the viewers what is actually going on. The audience question : Why is he opening the door for him? The sound of a bag rustles as the robber gets into the car; you know that something bad has happened along side the costume choice of the robber. The basketball game is still playing in the background to remind everybody in the scene and the viewer that it is as close to reality as it gets. As the driver starts his car to go the engine becomes louder and clearer in contrast to the beginning when he was driving. This shows that he is in a rush for something but the viewer doesn’t know what yet, and just by the sound of the car it makes the viewer want to watch more.