Sound technique · used in 13 films
Making a sound, voice or call drive the story itself. A phone line, a mimicked noise or a spliced recording changes what characters do or believe.
Examples
Fritz Lang · 1933
Mabuse's plans reach his gang through a hidden channel. A voice, a loudspeaker or a note changes what people do.
Where to see it: The curtain room: Kent and Lilli are locked in a room where a curtain hides a loudspeaker and a time bomb.
François Truffaut · 1980
Lucas hears the rehearsals through a rigged heating vent in the cellar. The sound is his only link to his own theater. What he hears of Marion and Bernard shapes how he feels about both of them.
Where to see it: The heating vent. Lucas overhears the actors from the cellar, and the sound is all he has of the production.
John Carpenter · 1980
A voice from nowhere speaks through Stevie's cassette player and through her radio broadcasts. The message that 6 must die enters the story as sound. Her radio voice also guides the town through the attack.
Where to see it: The driftwood: at the lighthouse radio station, Stevie hears a man's voice on her cassette vowing revenge. The words 6 must die appear on the driftwood, which bursts into flames.
Sidney Lumet · 1982
The film ends on a phone ringing. Laura calls from her drink while Galvin sits with his coffee, and he lets it ring. The last sound is a choice not to answer.
Where to see it: The last scene: Laura, drunk, dials Galvin's office number. He moves to answer, changes his mind and lets the phone ring.
Andrei Tarkovsky · 1986
The jet noise and the news broadcast start the crisis. After that, Alexander's whole plot is built on what he heard. A sound changes what he believes and what he does.
Where to see it: The broadcast. A news report suggests a world war, and Alexander promises God he will give up everything.
James Cameron · 1989
Bud is alone more than 2 miles down, and Lindsey's voice is the only link to the surface. You hear how much it costs her to guide him toward what he expects to be his death. The scene runs on that voice.
Where to see it: Bud's dive: in an experimental liquid-breathing suit, Bud goes down to disarm the warhead, guided by Lindsey's voice.
Woody Allen · 1993
Ted records lines from a fake audition for a woman called Helen Moss and splices them into a phone call. It is meant to trick the neighbor Paul into incriminating himself. You hear the trick being assembled, so you know what is fake.
Where to see it: The phone call. Ted stages a fake audition for Helen and cuts the recording into a call meant to lure Paul.
Krzysztof Kieślowski · 1994
Dominique's cruelty arrives as a sound with no picture of her at all. Karol has to stand in a phone booth and listen, so you imagine the scene as he does. It shows that he has lost her without a single image of the new man.
Where to see it: The phone booth call: Karol calls Dominique from a Paris Metro station phone booth. She makes him listen to her having sex with another man, and he breaks down.
Wes Craven · 1996
The killer's calm, teasing voice on the phone is the first thing you meet. He could be calling from anywhere, including inside the house. It also makes anyone holding a phone a suspect.
Where to see it: Sidney's first attack. The killer calls Sidney at home and attacks her. Right after, her boyfriend Billy climbs in through her window and a phone falls out of his pocket.
Guillermo del Toro · 1997
The creatures talk by clicking, and the autistic boy Chuy has learned to click back. His imitation hides him from them. When the clicks are the only protection, every sound in the dark gets your full attention.
Where to see it: The tunnels: Manny finds Chuy, who has survived underground by imitating the insects' clicking.
Robert Zemeckis · 2007
The men party at full volume in the mead hall because the noise draws Grendel out. During the fight, Beowulf discovers Grendel's hearing is extremely sensitive and goes for his ear. The sound that made the monster dangerous becomes the way to hurt him.
Where to see it: The Heorot fight: The men celebrate loudly to lure Grendel. Beowulf strips naked, ruptures Grendel's eardrum and severs his arm.
John Krasinski · 2021
Regan changes her cochlear implant so it gives off a high-frequency signal that disrupts the creatures. A song on the radio also sends her toward the island where survivors might be. Sound is both the weapon and the map.
Where to see it: Radio signal: Marcus hears a song on a radio broadcast, and Regan reads it as a signal from survivors on the Norwalk Islands.
David Lowery · 2023
A simple lullaby changes the story. Wendy sings it to the Lost Children to comfort them, and the sound gives away their hideout to the pirates. A tender moment turns dangerous, and you feel how small kindnesses can have big costs.
Where to see it: Hideout lullaby: at Peter's hideout, Wendy sings the Lost Children a lullaby that accidentally reveals their location to the pirates. Hook's crew then captures the children.
Questions