Kingsman Scene Sound Analysis

Kingsman: The Secret Service is a 2014 action film. There is a particular scene toward the end of the film where implants, put in certain peoples heads by the villain as a way to keep them safe from the cull that he wants to perform on humanity, are set to explode to help the Kingsman agents escape what would otherwise be certain death and to help save the world from the villain of the film. I will be focusing on the dialogue, sound FX and music of this scene in this analysis.

Dialogue
There is little dialogue in the scene and it is mainly used to explain to the audience what is about to happen in the scene. The rest of the dialogue is the reactions of the main villain 'Valentine' and the Kingsman agents to the events of the scene. The Kingsman agents having a good reaction as it has helped them in their mission to stop Valentine. One of the characters, called Merlin, went as far as to say 'fucking spectacular' after the implants had finished exploding . Valentine and his assistant Giselle having an adverse reaction as it has damaged his plan to keep the most 'useful' people alive whilst the rest of the world is culled. an example of this is Valentine screaming 'No' as he realises what is about to happen.

Sound FX
All of the sound effects in the scene are naturalistic as they are realistic to the scene and would actually be heard in that situation. They are also all diegetic as they all come from sources that are actually in the realm of the film as opposed to added in later for only the audience to hear. The sources of the sound effects are computers, a surface to air missile launcher, guns cocking, exploding implants and exploding heads. There are no ambient sounds in the scene. The sound effects are synchronised to the music in the scene to help with comedic effect as you can also see the heads exploding into clouds of colourful gas instead of gore because the antagonist is extremely squeamish.

Music
There are two separate pieces of music in the scene, both of them being non-diegetic. The first piece of music runs from the beginning of the scene until about 38s in and is used to build suspense as the two agents are trying to find ways out of seemingly inescapable situations that would almost certainly lead to their deaths. This piece is a sound bridge between the main shots of the main character Eggsy surrounded by soldiers in a hallway and another agent Merlin in a plane which is about to have missiles launched at it. The second piece of music starts at around 43s and runs until about 1:45s is used whilst the implants are exploding within peoples heads and is synchronised with the sound of the explosions. The first piece of music was an original score for the film but the second piece of music is a very well know composition by Sir Edward Elgar. It is called March No.1 and it is from the Pomp and Circumstance series of marches. This piece of music is probably most commonly associated with American college graduation ceremonies in modern times but it is actually a military march from 1901. This music choice could be used to represent the fight between the good force that is The Kingsman and the evil that is Valentine. The name of the series of marches also comes from an Othello quote describing how war is glorious in all of its ritual and ceremony. This may be representing the glory of stopping evil and saving the world and it's values from said evil. It is also seen as an unofficial national anthem for Britain by some people so it could also represent the agents fighting for their country. This music is also used as a sound bridge as we cut to different settings around the world to show the scope of implants exploding and the amount of people swayed by Valentine.

Children of Men Opening Scene Sound Analysis

Children of Men is a 2006 Sci-Fi film. The audio of the opening scene sets the mood and setting of the rest of the film. The audio of the film starts before the video to make sure that you are listening because the audio is very important. I will be focusing on the dialogue, sound FX and the music of the scene.

Dialogue

The scene starts out with only dialogue as it sets the scene for the film and explains the state of the world at the time of the film.The government is, for example, deporting all immigrants, Seattle is under siege for its 3rd year and the army has taken over all mosques. There is very little dialogue in the scene. It comes only from the newsreaders on the TV and from the main character ‘Theo’ ordering a coffee. The dialogue from Theo isn’t functional but the dialogue from the newsreaders is as it sets the scene and hints to us that the human race has become infertile because they explain that the youngest person in the world at the time was 18 years old. There are also multiple people crying in the background at the news of the death. Toward the end of the scene there is a bombing which results in lots of screaming from the victims and the witnesses.

Music

There is only one piece of music in the scene and it is most likely diegetic sound stemming from the news report on the death of the world’s youngest person. It could, however, be non-diegetic and playing only for the audience to hear to set the mood of the scene. This is something it would do either way though. The music seems to get a small amount quieter the further Theo gets away from the TV and then as he gets closer to the second TV at the back of the shop he is in it seems to get louder again. The quality of the music is also not very good which could point to it coming through the speakers of the TV rather than playing in the background and therefore it being diegetic sound.

Sound FX

There are multiple sound effects in the scene. Most of the sound effects are that of the cars, buses and motorised rickshaws driving through the street that Theo is on. There is also an explosion when the coffee shop that Theo had just left is bombed toward the end of the scene which sets of a synchronous ringing of an alarm and in the ears of Theo as he was very close to the shop when It happened. The ringing is a sound bridge to the next scene where it becomes the noise of a scanner at the entrance to the building in which Theo works. The sound effects of the scene are naturalistic because they are realistic sounds that would be happening in that situation.