Sound Analysis

THE MAGIC MILE.



When a deaf girl chances on an abandoned wheelchair, she discovers the incredible secret of the magic mile. Finding herself in a strange and unfamiliar world, she picks up on the trail of the wheelchair's owner who reveals that even miracles have their limits.

The film opens with an establishing shot of the beach, and a lady enters the screen from the left and proceeds to walk along the beach. The music is a non diagetic piano piece which seems to have a lot of ''feeling'' to it. It sets the tone and suggests that this  piece is going to make us sympathise with the character. The lady herself is dressed in a green sweater and black trousers, the scenery around her is very grey and monochromatic making her the most dominant part of her shots.
The lady is alone which makes us as the audience question why she is there, has something gone wrong? is she ill? are there relationship problems? The music becomes quieter and we can hear the waves in the background. Everything is still. 


The lady begins to walk through a set of planks before there is a loud screeching noise which puts us on edge. It isn't until we see a medium close up of the lady as she reveals her hearing aid that we begin to piece the footage together. The lady herself instantly falls to the floor and we feel sorry for her as she is alone. Everything becomes silent, we get to see life as she sees it.
This allows us to become her, the director put us in the characters shoes and we only hear what she does. Nothing. When the character enters the planks again she can hear things. As the audience we see her character change. She was, before, very quiet and insular. We see her change of character through a series of medium shots that show her being very inquisitive with the things around her. Her own laugh startles her her.


Without the sound we wouldn't sympathise with the character, the silence helps us connect with her and the loud screeching noise startles us just as much as it does her. The Non Diagetic music at the beginning helps set the tone, and open the film. Our film focuses on emotions quite a lot and a good opening piece of music will help to set the mood and put the audience in the right frame of mind. The audience need to connect with Sarah as soon as possible so that they see her full journey. Silence is also a good and effective way, as it helpf the audience focus on what you want them too. This would be another good technique for us to use.