By augmenting the visually created environment, sound assists the filmmaker in telling their story. As director Steven Spielberg said, “The eye sees better when the sound is great.” Sound in film operates on both a physical and psychological level, intimating context and foreshadowing events, or contributing to the viewer’s understanding of occurrences; its absence can be just as effective as its presence. When properly employed, either directly or indirectly, it can make the viewer mindful of spatial and temporal dimensions of a scene, advance characters, affect the cadence, and heighten anticipation.

Direct sounds, such as dialogue, narration and effects are utilized to bring attention – either a character’s or viewer’s – to either on or off screen events; while an indirect sound like a musical score can contribute to creating mood and assist the audience in subconsciously processing a scene. However, the sound that originates from within the universe of the film and is audible to those on screen, or diegetic sound, also helps in providing spatial and temporal awareness by providing texture and credibility to the artificial world.

Interestingly, these approaches to sound are not mutually exclusive and, in fact, virtually by definition, overlap. For example, a ringing doorbell or telephone, or knock on a door are clearly examples of diegetic sound, but they may very well be created in post-production by a Foley artist, also making them direct sounds. These elements can combine with indirect sound, such as a musical score, to create a complete environment. In the various Star Wars films, composer John Williams created distinct musical themes for several protagonists and antagonists, as well as certain situations, and used these in a recurring fashion to provide the viewer with a frame of reference – potentially even foreshadowing the outcome of the scene.

Sound, be it dialogue, music, or explosions, can provide as much expression as other cinematic or narrative components, and without its proper use in modern cinema, storytelling would be less successful.