Sound Effect Analysis - Drive

The purpose of the diegetic in the clip is to create/build tension, making the audience feel suspense  and think something bad is going to happen. In the clip it builds tension by giving subtle noises such as a ticking watch, this makes the audience become more focused because they are eager to know why this tension is being built by a loud watch and they want to know the result of this, whether it will end good or bad. Everything happening obviously isn't for a good reason as of the police sirens and talk in the background but by Ryan's reactions and anxiousness it helps build this suspense.

We can kind of grasp bits of information from the story line in the clip, but it doesn't make full sense, all we know is that Ryan Gosling's character is a get away driver who is awaiting two criminals to complete a burglary. He has a strict rule which gives anyone who hires a 5 minute window to commit their crime and get to the car or otherwise he will leave them. The background music beat gets louder when you want to feel tension, for example when the burglars go in the building, it gets louder because it wants you to think, are they going to make it in time before the police get there, which we know are out on look out because he turns the police scanner radio up to listen in. This clip allows you to establish it is a crime thriller because of the police issues and burglary.

The Ticking Watch

For suspense to be built, the watch volume is low but loud enough to be hard, this is to maintain it's importance in the scene, if you were unable to hear it, you wouldn't know that it was there to time something. The volume of the watch increases when the camera is directly on it, this is to show its significant to the scene, then when the timer is being set, it is louder, this is so you are able to identify what is being done and so you can see he's setting a timer. This creates tension because it makes you wonder why it's being set, possibly making you think its for a bomb or anything of sort. The watch helps you understand the storyline a bit, as it's about a get away driver who gives only 5 minutes, hence the watch is being timed for 5 minutes because if any longer, he will leave without the burglars. The tone of the watch is very distinctive, repetitive and low, this is so you can easy tell that it's a watch, because if you heard it tick once, you wouldn't understand what it was, so it has to repeat to understand its the watch.

The Radio

The reason why tension is brought into the scene when the radio is being turned up is because it's a commentary on a baseball game thats going on. Tension is built because you don't know why he has put that on since he's literally just turned on the police radio scanner. The volume of it starts off quiet but then as he increase the radio volume  it gets louder so the commantary chat has become more clear and you can hear it better. When it is first turned up the radio is quite muffled until he sets it at a volume number. The tone is quite dull and boring but the words which are said are interesting because it helps you work out what is being said which allows you to understand its about a sporting game. When the camera is directly facing the radio, it appears to be quite loud and the dominate sound but once the camera moves away it begins to get quieter and the police radio scanner is drowned out.

The Police Radio Scanner

The police scanner radio is a little muffled whiles he's trying to tune it to the police talking. The fact he is using a police scanner creates suspense as it allows you to understand what's happening with the police situation. The tone of it is just deep policemen voices, but very clear so they are able to hear each other across the radios. The volume of it is quite low, but not too quiet and not too loud, this is until the volume is increased on the radio allowing you to hear it better. Like the radio, it is louder when the camera is on it, and quieter when its out of shot, this is so you can identify where noises are coming from. The police radio scanner is a helper of understand the storyline and surroundings.

Environmental Sounds (Alarm, traffic, car engine, police siren)

The idea behind the environmental sounds is to make you realise it's not good, and that they are committing a crime. Behind the music is a constant alarm helping you sense trouble, this is also to make you feel tense because you don't know if the police will get them after they've acknowledged an alarm. When they are waiting for the second burglar to get back in the car, just as he's running, the police siren noise increases, almost dominating the original background music, this is so you can tell it's a close call and the police are becoming closer to them. When he's pulling out, the engine becomes loud, this is so you can identify that he is speeding off to avoid being caught. All of these elements increase in volume when they are part of the scene, this is to give you an insight on whats going on and make you realise it's bad. All these sounds are meant to make you feel on edge.



Sounds blend together to create suspense and tension. In the background there is a constant beat which occasionally increase when it wants you to feel like something bad is coming up. The background beat is always there even when other noises are played too, for example when the radio is on, the music is still there but become quieter, so the sounds have been blended. When there is more than 1 or 2 sounds, this builds suspense because it's like so much is going on it makes you feel edgy. Sometimes the second sound, for example the radio, will dominate the sound of the music so that you can focus on that one thing and not get confused. These sounds allow you to become more engaged in what's happening.