Sound plays a big part in making a film good, and it helps towards setting the mood of a scene, adding punch to visuals, telling a story and putting the film in a certain era or timeframe.
In early cinema, silent films had music that was played live alongside the film, in order to make the visuals more entertaining and have context. In modern cinema not only music but a range of sound is used to tell a story. Compared to early cinema, modern films are a lot more effective in telling stories and portraying emotion because of the developments in technology allowing use of dialogue, sound effects and music timed with the visuals. (Not to mention advancement in cameras and editing). I am going to analyse this clip from stand by me and list how the sound is effective in setting the scene:
In this scene the sound helps towards creating an atmosphere and brings together the mise en scène. At the beginning of the scene only background ambience can be heard (birds, water and wind) along with the footsteps of a character, isolating them and bringing attention to them. It helps to connote the serenity but this calmness is juxtaposed by the first piece of dialogue heard; shouting.
The sound of the train is quiet but gets progressively louder as the tension of the scene increases. The ambient sound gets quieter to bring attention to the train and the action taking place. As the train is coming towards them, the shot changes between a close up and long shot, which contrasts between intensity and normality. The shouting and screaming boys contribute to the hectic mood and as they escape the train, the tension goes back down to normal and the scene gets quieter once again. Therefore in this scene the train acts as a dramatic device to adapt the tension, and the unpleasant loud noise it's making helps with this.
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