Sound and Shot Analysis

Sound and Shot Analysis

Sound and Shot Analysis: Phone Booth

The psychological thriller "Phone Booth" (2002) begins very similarly to most films, the audience is presented with a plethora of visuals such as opening titles, cinematics etc. with an accompanying soundtrack. Usually this is diegetic sound as commonly the audience are shown who and where the music is coming from, however the introduction to Phone Booth is a little different. This starts with non-diegetic music of which does not have a close link to the narrative or what is being shown on screen. This promotes the idea of having to think harder and if there is a deeper meaning to the visuals or lyrics to the audience.

The film then cuts to multiple shots of a satellite before switching to the circuit boards and wires inside of what we expect to be a mobile phone. Buzzing and beeping and be heard playing over the top of this clip giving the impression of electricity and electrical currents travelling through the phone. This is a good use of sound motif in the opening to Phone Booth as it helps the audience figure out what is being shown on screen, as noises such as that are regularly associated with a phone. There is also no other sound being played at the time other than quiet music to emphasise the inner clockworks of a phone and how the process of using one takes place.

The audience can then begin to hear the distorted dialog of various people over the top of all the noise currently in place. Having it playing a long side the other sounds with a static style to it represents the idea that the dialog is not important, its the fact of everyone speaking at one time, creating the vision of a crowded area or place. Leaving the audience confused as to what they can actually hear and thus making them focus harder on the sound effects added in the editing stage of the film.

The camera then quickly jumps to a close up of a man in the streets using the mobile phone, and quickly zooming out to a long shot revealing the location and situation. As the camera zooms out we can then see the group of people singing, altering the non-diegetic sound of the music to make it diegetic as the audience can now pinpoint the centre of the sound. This clip is very significant as it removes any other noises associated with the location (a large city) and focuses on the key aspects such as the singing and the man talking on the phone. Keeping the audiences full attention on the subject and avoiding any other distractions such as traffic.



Roughly ten seconds later we begin to hear the car horns and engines of the traffic in the background as the camera jumps to a wide shot of the location. Potentially helping the audience relate to the situation by recreating a common scene seen by thousands every day. The diegetic sound of the traffic begins to drown out the dialog and music as it is used as a transition between one set of sounds to another creating a sound bridge. This makes the transition less obvious and maintains the flow of the movie.

Just before the main dialog from the protagonist begins the audience can start to hear multiple phones ringing whilst cutting back to shots of the busy sidewalk. Referring back to the main subject in the opening sequence and putting real emphasis on the mundane realism of the movie and narrative. Once again aiding the audience to relate to the situation shown on screen.

Title Analysis: Phone Booth

Throughout the opening sequence to the psychological thriller "Phone Booth" the titles very much fit in with the motion and angle of the camera, which typically fits in with the conventions of the genre. The first title of which is presented to the audience begins around 30 seconds into the opening sequence, during the render of clouds moving past the camera. The titles reads "Fox 2000 Pictures presents", this is an abbreviation of the hugely popular, American film studio 20th Century Fox. Which is one of the six big name studios in the USA. Showing this at the very beginning of the opening sequence is common for this genre and films in general, as it starts to create an general impression on the audience as to what is to be expected. This then sets the standards for the film and could potentially damage how they are represented and respected depending on the feedback. However 20th Century Fox are already a renowned film studio with many titles in this genre already under their belt. For example "The Silence of the Lambs" is a popular psychological thriller released initially in the early 1990's and has received a vast number of commendations for the gripping story line and in-depth characters. They also have released a greatly anticipated psychological thriller named "Gone Girl" available from October 2014 of which describes the secrets behind marriage and the psychological conflict involved in this. The design of the font I believe has been used to accompany the cinematics in such a way that it does not distract the audience from the cinematic, and having the smooth font aids the theme of technology and sets the mood for the rest of the film.

The titles then cut directly to the name of the film to introduce it to the audience as soon as possible. The white colour and font type has been used in this occasion to represent a modern and technologically advanced theme which links heavily to the story line of the film. However along with the style of film, it has not been used to represent a scary thriller, more of a thriller full of mind games and tricks. Having just the title of the film on an almost blank background creates the emphasis that the title is important and has a heavy influence on what will happen in the film, leaving the imagination of the audience to predict the story line. These are the only two titles in the opening sequence to "Phone Booth", which could have been done to directly get into the narrative of the movie, or potentially to let the cinematics and series of short clips introduce the film instead of littering the sequence with text. This creates a clean and modern style which links to the story line, and could be used to add suspense.