discuss the sound techniques used in the first episode of Lost.

Discuss the sound techniques used in the first episode of Lost. What effect do they have on the audience?

In the first episode of ‘Lost’, many digetic and non-digetic sounds are used for a variety of different reasons. During the first scenes of this episode, the character Jack wakes up in a jungle on a tropical island. When the camera shows Jack lying on the ground looking up towards the sky and trees, many non-digetic sounds such as birds and trees rustling from the wind are added to create realism.

The main purpose of non-digetic sounds is to create realism and too add more of an effect on the object or person making the sound such as increase of volume. Also, the sounds make the viewer feel like they are actually there and can create imagery in their head. The scene where the turbine of the plane is spinning has been added a non-digetic sound to make the whirring of the turbine more realistic and louder, this makes the audiences believe this scene is real and intrigues them to watch more of the programme.

As well as non-digetic sounds being presented in this episode, digetic sounds are recorded too. These sounds also create realism as a scenario such as a door creak sounds perfectly normal and believable to the viewer, these sounds are also easier to record as they can originate from the actual source rather than added in. Scenes of dialogue between the characters Jack and Kate are digetic as this speech is coming directly from the characters which are clear to the viewer. 

Music has also been added in frequently this episode to set the mood for the audience. At the beginning of the episode where the character Jack notices the plane crash, tension music is played to simply create tension and confusion for the audience. This music makes the scenes more effective and can input emotions into the audience such as fear or sorrow. During the scene where the characters are startled by the unknown creature, loud music suddenly plays to make the characters jump such as the character Charlie startling Kate which also startles us. This technique is used frequently in thrillers and horrors to input fear into the audience which draws them into the programme more. Music is sub-consciously played in the background which doesn’t necessarily grabs the viewers attention as they are too busy focusing on the actual storyline, but it sets the mood for the reader. For e.g. A scene shows the characters Jack, Kate and Charlie examining a part of the plane, during this scene, jungle music with tribal drums are played to set the mood of tension for the audience and to support the fact that they are in the jungle, if this music wasn’t played, the scene would be plain and boring to the viewer as there is no ‘mood’.

Music, digetic and non-digetic sound is important in Lost as it creates realism and sets the mood for the viewer. These sounds are essential when trying to grab the viewer’s attention and make them hooked to the programme as without these elements, the scenes would be boring and non effective.