Diegetic Vs. Non-Diegetic

Recently in class we have been looking at various sounds used in movies and adverts. Our main focus so far has been the difference between Diegetic and Non-diegetic.

• Diegetic: sound whose source can be seen on the screen, and is implied to be present by the action of the film. Examples include: voices of characters and object/prop sounds.
• Non-diegetic: sound whose source is neither visible on the screen or implied to be present in the action. Examples include: background music and commentators.

The example clip we looked at was from a James Bond movie.

The diegetic sound in this extract includes: dialogue, gun shots, glass smashing, footsteps etc.

The non-diegetic sound includes: background music, doors slamming, etc.

It is hard to list all of the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds as this is a very action packed scene which means the sound producer will have filled it with many of both types of sound.