Titanic was released December 19, 1997. It was directed by James Cameron. The main characters were Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Danny Nucci, David Warner, and Bill Paxton.
There are three basic categories of sound, dialogue, sound effects, and music. Dialogue is the talking in the films by the actors. The sound effects are the sounds that props make such as, bombs or guns, phones ringing, car racing, and anything along those lines. The music in the back ground of the film adds to the basic mood. You can change a whole mood scene just by changing the music.
The movie “Titanic” uses the dialogue from the early 1920’s. The way they speak sets the movie in the time frame of the ship, Titanic, that sunk. The sound effects while the ship is sinking, was very loud. They use bending metal sounds, electrical spark noises, and rushing water. The music in this film, for the most part, does not have words. It is used to enhance the dramatic scenes and soften up the romantic scenes.
The sound contributed to the entire mood of the movie. The movie is broken up into two parts. The first half is a love story the music is very soft with the exception of the fast music while they are running. In the second half of the movie the music gets intense. The ship is sinking and the music gives the end of the film a dramatic effect. The dialogue is charming and the language is very proper. The sound effects in the end gave the movie suspense as the ship is sinking. This was a romance film and many of the background music fit for a romantic scene, very soft classical music. Also the somewhat cheesy dialogue gave it the romantic feel. “I want you to draw me like one of your French girls, wearing this, wearing only this.” (Titanic, 1997). I would say that this film had very realistic and expected sounds. This was based on true events, so they had to use very realistic sounds.
Sounds in films play very important rolls. If one sound were to be removed the entire film would be affected. If the music were taken out, the drama, suspense, and romance of the film would be affected. If you were to take out the dialogue it’s possible you may misunderstand what is going on in the movie and in certain scenes. The sound effects help you notice what’s happening, for instance while the ship is sinking you hear dishes crashing and electrical sparks. Without these sounds you may not notice that these things were going wrong.
Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2011). Film: From watching to seeing. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.
This text is a Constellation™ course digital materials (CDM) title.
Titanic. James Cameron. Jon Landua, James Cameron.Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox
burd2005 