Its diegetic and extradiegetic

With the cinema, one distinguishes:

  • the its diegetic : its belonging to the action, being able to be understood by the characters of film;
  • the its extradiegetic : its not forming part of the action, like the background music.

See also: Diégèse

History

At the beginning, the cinema was dumb, and frequently accompanied by a pianist. The music was obviously external with the action in the direction where the characters of films could not in general hear this music. However, the interpreter made sometimes sound effects in connection with the action, and there could be scenes in which there was music, for example a scene of ball. To this moment, the sound corresponded to the action.

In 1927 arrived the sound Cinéma. The sound can then be recorded on line on the plate in which case it forms obviously part of the action, or recorded in a separated studio, it can then belong to the action (Doublage postsynchronized, Bruitage) or not (for example addition of music).

A fuzzy border

One of the great principles of artistic creation is to play with conventions. In fact, the realizers voluntarily introduce ambiguous situations:

  • interior Voice: it is not a question of audible sounds by the characters, but they belong to the action making by representing the thoughts of a character; contrary, the voice '' off '' is extradiegetic;
  • passage diegetique-extradiegetic: one can have a extradiegetic music (background music accompanying a scene) which becomes diegetic (in the following scene, she is played by musicians or leaves an apparatus);
    the slip is sometimes highlighted by a variation of the quality of the sound: for example the extradiegetic background music has large a sound equality, whereas the diegetic music leaving it to it radio presents grésillements;
  • its of a scene not corresponding to what is filmed: for example, if two actions proceed in parallel but at different places, one can have sounds of a scene which are copied on the other scene;
    ou still, a person tells a scene, and one shows the images of the scene told with always the voice of the narrator; the voice is extradiegetic since it is external with the shown images (voice '' off ''), but it is diegetic since it corresponds to the scene lived by the characters who tell and listen to the scene (at the bottom, are not this the images which are extradiegetic?).

See too

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