Symbol

Sound Worlds And Metaphors

A film only exists when it’s reflected in someone’s heart. That’s why I often sit in a cinema and watch some mindless thing on the screen and see people stare at it just as mindlessly, and I realize: this film does not even exist. It provokes no repercussions, no encounters.

It’s a waste, not only of time. But if a film leaves the space for the spectator to dream himself or herself into it, to read ‘between the lines,’ to fill it with his or her own experiences and thereby make it come to life, then and only then it exists.
–Wim Wenders

Sound worlds can be
- the domain of a character, group, time or place (wealthy elite, future, hell);
- a story theme (social structure, technology, religion);
- a side of a narrative conflict (rich vs poor, reality vs fantasy, life vs death).
Created with aesthetic qualities of sound
- pitch (low, high), rhythm (regular, irregular), timbre (bassy, bright), style (realist, hyperrealist, surrealist).

The previous example created a sound world.

The concept of a “sound world” in film sound design refers to creating distinct auditory environments and aesthetics to represent different aspects of the story, characters, settings, themes, etc. Some key points:

A sound world is a collection of signature sounds and auditory elements that immerse the audience in a specific mood, time period, location, or perspective.
Sound worlds establish a sense of place, time, culture, or viewpoint through intentional choices in sound palette and design.
They allow sound designers to stylize and shape the audience’s emotional experience through audio, complementing the visuals.
Effective sound worlds have cohesive internal logic and consistency even as they contrast with other worlds in the film.
For example, a sci-fi film may have one sound world for the pristine spaceship interior and another grittier, industrial world for the city slums.
Or, a historical drama could differentiate between the elegant sound world of the aristocracy and the lively, chaotic world of the streets.
Sound worlds help tell the story, communicate characters’ inner states, and allow the audience to inhabit the fictional reality more fully through immersive audio.

Qualities of sound

Quality	Values
Acoustic	dry, wet, clear, resonant
Artificiality	organic, synthetic
Asynchrony	synchronous, asynchronous, connected, disconnected
Density	silent, spare, dense
Depth	shallow, deep
Energy	static, lively, low, high
Envelope	slow decay, soft attack, hard attack, lingering release

Quality	Values
Extension	smaller, larger, tighter, wider, flatter, deeper
Harmoniousness	dissonant, harmonious, minor, major
Immersion	faraway, observational, immersive
Length	short, long
Level/volume	low, high, soft, loud
Musicality	noisy, tonal, broadband, narrowband

Quality	Values
Narrative style	realist, hyperreal, surreal
Narrative tone	light, dark, comedic
Pace	slow, fast
Perspective	far, close, observational, subjective
Pitch	low, high
Rhythm	regular, irregular, threes

Quality	Values
Technological feel	analogue, digital
Timbre	dull, bright, cold, warm
Transition	smooth, sharp, soft, hard
Width	narrow, wide

Lynch - Blue Velvet

Mulholland Drive (2001) - Scene: Club Silencio

Description: In one of the most famous scenes, Betty and Rita visit Club Silencio. A magician on stage announces that “there is no band” and that everything is an illusion. As the performer sings “Llorando,” the audience hears a powerful, emotionally charged voice, but the singer is merely lip-syncing to a recording. The music continues even after the singer collapses, highlighting the disconnection between sound and what’s visually presented.

Ambiguity and Uncertainty: The soundscape creates an eerie, surreal atmosphere. The disjunction between what you hear and what you see represents the collapse of reality, a key theme in the film. The artificiality of the sound hints at the illusory nature of everything the audience has seen so far.

Philosophical Themes: The sound design here suggests that perception is unreliable and that the boundaries between reality, memory, and dreams are fluid. The audience is left questioning what is real and what is imagined, with sound amplifying this uncertainty.

Scene: The Cowboy’s Appearance

Skippable if short on time — Club Silencio already makes the Lynch ambiguity point.

Description: In this scene, when Diane meets the Cowboy in a dark room, the sound is unsettlingly quiet, with only minimal ambient noise. The Cowboy’s calm, deliberate speech is unnerving in its simplicity, and the absence of background music or noise adds to the tension.

Ambiguity and Uncertainty: The stark, minimalist soundscape increases the ambiguity of the Cowboy’s role in the story. His voice, clear and distinct, contrasts with the eerie silence, making his words feel more like cryptic messages than direct communication. The sound here heightens the sense of foreboding and mystery.

Philosophical Themes: This scene reflects the film’s exploration of fate and control. The Cowboy’s words seem to carry hidden meaning, and the lack of sound around him creates an otherworldly presence, amplifying the feeling that something beyond human comprehension is at play.

Twin Peaks

Stalker (1979) - Scene: Entering the Zone

Scene: Entering the Zone Description: As the characters enter the mysterious Zone, the soundscape shifts dramatically. The outside world is filled with industrial, mechanical noises and ambient background sound, but inside the Zone, these sounds fade, replaced by strange, almost unidentifiable noises—whispers, distant echoes, and subtle mechanical hums.

Ambiguity and Uncertainty: The silence and minimalistic sounds in the Zone evoke a sense of ambiguity. It’s unclear whether the sounds are real, imagined, or symbolic, and the environment itself feels alive, as if responding to the characters. This soundscape creates an atmosphere of tension, with uncertainty about the nature of the Zone itself.

Philosophical Themes: The Zone is often interpreted as a metaphor for human consciousness or desire. The ambiguous sound design reflects the uncertainty of the Zone’s power and its connection to the characters’ inner worlds, encouraging the audience to interpret its meaning through sound as much as through visuals.

Scene: The Room and the Sound of Water

Skippable if short on time — the Zone entry clip carries the Stalker argument.

Scene: The Room and the Sound of Water Description: In the final act, as the Stalker, Writer, and Professor approach the Room (where desires are supposedly granted), the sound of flowing water becomes more prominent. The consistent, ambient hum of water contrasts with the near silence around it. The sounds are subdued, yet they dominate the scene.

Ambiguity and Uncertainty: The flowing water, which could symbolize life or consciousness, adds a layer of uncertainty to the scene. Its constant presence is calming yet unnerving, as the significance of the Room and the consequences of entering it remain unknown. The water sound does not offer answers but deepens the mystery.

Philosophical Themes: The water could symbolize the fluid nature of reality and human desires, as well as the uncertainty that surrounds the Room’s power. The sound creates an atmosphere of contemplation, leaving the audience to ponder the Room’s true nature and the philosophical implications of desire and fulfillment.

Blade Runner 2049

Scene: Opening in the City (K’s Apartment)

Skippable if short on time — the featurette before this covers the 2049 sound world; play scenes only if the discussion wants them.

K’s apartment, and how Joi is built:

Theo Green anchored Joi physically through the whirring of the ceiling projector motors that track her around K’s apartment. Her body is a sound before it is an image.
In the rooftop rain scene, Green added “fizzy glitches as the rain goes through her, until it starts landing on her skin.”
Her voice was cleaned of lip smacks and mouth noise, so she sounds slightly too clean next to the human voices. The symbol is carried by fidelity itself.
Ask: which sounds tell you Joi is not real, and when do they stop telling you that?

Source: The Credits (Motion Picture Association), “Love & Other Illusions,” interview with Theo Green (Dec 2017). Quote verbatim.

Scene: K’s Journey to the Ruins of Las Vegas

Scene: K’s Confrontation with Deckard (Inside the Abandoned Casino)

Sound Worlds - Parasite

Hulu
- poor families home - start - 6:00
- Rich people’s home - 12:36 - onwards

Context for the clip: the Kims have just fled the Park house during the storm, and this is their walk home, downhill the whole way. The flood is the film’s two sound worlds colliding in one continuous descent. The same rain that is a pleasant patter uphill becomes a roar downhill.

The clip runs about seven minutes; the descent and the arrival at the flooded street carry the point, so a two or three minute stretch is enough in class. Track the rain itself: one source, two worlds. And note where the score enters relative to the water.

Background on the two sound worlds, from sound designer Ralph Tae-Young Choi:

The poor family’s home is subjected to aggressive outside noises - dogs, cars, neighbors. This represents their lack of barriers from the external world.
In the wealthy home, only gentle natural sounds like birdsong enter. Lavish reverb gives interior sounds a sense of openness and scale.
Doors and gates were emphasized in the sound design. Their sounds represent the division between haves and have-nots.
The contrasting use of invasive versus expansive sounds provides auditory metaphors for inequality and the boundaries between rich and poor.

Sound Worlds - Sinners

Sound World Interaction - Force Majeure

Here is a bullet point summary of the key points:

Sound worlds in a story must provide tension but ultimately be reconcilable. They can’t be too similar or too
Parasite fuses its contrasting social worlds within the same space, providing an inventive resolution.
Force Majeure uses contrasting sounds of the resort interior (soft, predictable) and exterior storms (bassy, angular) to depict conflicting worlds.
A striking intercutting scene has the family innocently brushing teeth, interspersed with shots of an explosive snowstorm.
This audible contrast builds dramatic irony and a sense of two worlds about to collide that only the audience understands.
Overall, the film uses contrasting sound worlds to reveal the brittle foundations beneath the family’s facade of perfection.
The aesthetic collisions create tension and lead to pivotal revelations.