Film Scene Analysis - Joe Hallucinating

Comment on how emotion is conveyed through music and sound

Scene: 1:31:09 - 1:34:00

In this scene, Joe is seen to be exhausted and on the verge of going crazy. He starts laughing manically and gets a song stuck in his head. The purpose of this scene is to allow the viewers to empathise with Joe and his tiring situation.

In the beginning, the feeling of loneliness is expressed through diegetic and asynchronous sound effects such as the loud wind in the background. The effect of this is that it shows how isolated Joe actually is, since the wind is the only background sound besides from his own voice.

Starting from 1:32:00, a more delirious feeling is being conveyed through diegetic and synchronous echoed laughing, muttering, and humming. In the background, there is high-pitched, non-diegetic, eerie background music to further emphasise how hysterical the situation is.

From 1:33:10, a muffled song from Boney M starts playing. The volume is very faint and then in 1:34:23, the song rewinds and replays multiple times to create a dizzy effect. This coordinates with how Joe is hallucinating. The song has a slow crescendo and by 1:34:37, the upbeat song is playing much louder. This rhythm is particularly interesting since it contrasts with the Joe's horrible situation which in turn makes everything even stranger.