A needle drop reffers to when a popular song is played during a scene.

Eg. Thor Ragnarock, Baby Driver or Guardians of the Galaxy

Diegetic:

Dialogue, The Breaking News report, Door opening/Door Locking

Non-Diegetic:

Sound Track, Sound Effects of camera movement

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A leitmotif is when the same soundtrack plays multiple times in a film to introduce the same idea or movie.

In THOR RAGNAROK the same soundtrack was played at the beginning of the movie when Thor was at the peak of his abilities and his power was unmatchable and through the film we get to see Thor’s powers fall; towards the end however, the same soundtrack starts playing when his powers rise and grow again indicating a sense of power and confidence making him seem unstoppable.

Leitmotif: associated melodic phrase or music that accompanies the reappearance of an idea, person, or situation.

Example- John Williams’ shark leitmotif in Jaws

A Foley artist adds in sound effects to the movie in post-production. It is the reproduction of everyday sound effects that are added to films, videos, and other media to enhance audio quality. For example, they could recreate footsteps, the flipping of pages or animals walking.

A match cut is an edit in cinematography that uses elements of one scene in the transition to the next scene. The purpose is to create a visual match for different scenes that are not inherently linked.

Examples:

Graphic Match Cuts — shapes, colours, compositions.

Match on Action Cuts — action, movement.

Sound Bridge — sound effects, dialogue, music

My favourite film soundtrack is from the movie Interstellar.

The soundtrack in this film is by Hans Zimmer. Hans Zimmer in my opinion is the most talented composer. He uses techniques such as ‘The Shepherd Tone’ in order to connect the action happening on screen with the audience. It also evokes sub meanings and create realities which wouldn’t have been created without his music.

Hans Zimmer also puts so much thought and effort into all of his songs and makes sure that they truly connect with the scene that they are over. This is especially shown in the scene where the characters land on the Water Planet. While this scene is being shown the music created by Hans Zimmer begins to play over the action and in the soundtrack there is a ticking sound that plays. This was meant to signify that with every prominent ticking sound a day on earth has past showing the space and time continuum. Without the music we as an audience would have no idea about this.

These are just some of the reasons why the Interstellar soundtrack is my favourite.

Examples:

• Thin sticks and dowel rods produce excellent whooshing SFX
• Old chairs and stools are perfect for controlled creaking
• Heavy-duty stapleguns serve for excellent gun noises
• Roll up a large phonebook for realistic body punches
• Twist and snap sticks of celery for convincing bone breaks
• Corn starch inside a leather pouch makes the sound of snow crunching
• Cut a coconut in half and line them with a soft material for a horse walking
• Ball up and walk over old audio tape for the sound of grass footsteps
• Locate an old car door to produce metal and car crash sounds
• Flap a pair of cleaning gloves for the sound of realistic bird wings

A needle drop is when a movie uses a song that wasn’t written for the soundtrack. They are often used to set a specific tone for the scene or the complete opposite as a contrast.

Usually most original sounds from movie scenes are removed as their quality is very poor, which is why they are later completely recreated by a Foley artist.

Some of the sounds that a Foley Artist can make on a films soundtrack could be: footsteps, falling, clothes rustling, paper folding, doors closing/ slamming, glass breaking, punching etc.