Research - why sound is important

Sound in films is very important because it helps establish the tone and theme, it creates realism suspending disbelief, adds depth, assists understanding of the plot and characters to help determine the genre of the film. George Lukas, director of Star Wars, argues that sound makes up 50% of the film, I agree because without sound watching a film becomes very confusing, boring and disengages the audience as it is very hard to understand the plot, what is going on and who the characters are. As viewers we have developed familiarity with different sound motifs to help us understand what genre it is we are watching, for example fast paced and low pitched music is often associated with the genres thrillers or horrors.The connotations of that type of music are to emphasise that something bad is about to happen or what we as viewers are currently watching is intended to scare us as it creates/builds tension. Sound can also assist jarred, filming or bad editing as it can act as a cover-up because our other senses are all being used at once other than just our sight, which alone would pick up on any faults. So therefore the bad editing or filming it isn't as obvious. But sound can also make a very good shot or good piece of editing bad if it is not synchronous and therefore does not flow together, unless is has been done intentionally to create juxtaposition.