Film Scene Analysis

Comment on how emotion is conveyed through music and sound.

Scene: 1:31:10 - 1:34:10

The scene mentioned above is a scene from the movie Toughing the Void based upon the worldwide known book Touching the Void written by Joe Simpson based upon his actual real life experiences climbing the Siuela Grande. In this scene Joe seems to have become delirious and delusional as he is not in the correct state of mind. I will make 2 key points confirming that the director conveys this through the use of music and sound.

The first point I would like to make is the fact that the director uses non-diegetic sound to show to us, the viewers, that Joe is not in a correct state of mind and that he seems to be delirious and delusional. An example of how the director uses non-diegetic sound would be the fact that he uses echoes to show that Joe is in fact unstable at the given point in time.

The second point I would like to make is how the director uses music to convey to the viewers that Joe is in fact hysterical at the given moment. The director uses some form of droning music which echoes and the this gives the audience the idea that Joe is unhinged and not ok. Furthermore, the director uses a song from the band Boney M which is upbeat and a good-feel song which contradicts Joe's current situation showing us, the viewers, that Joe is really not ok.

To summarise, the director uses 2 key elements in this particular scene to show and emphasise that Joe is frantic and those 2 elements are use of diegetic sound and different music.