The scene I choose to write about is the opening scene from “Get Out”. This is one of my favorite films. The movie is briefly about a man named Chris (the black man) who decides to visit his girlfriend’s parents for the weekend. He experiences different events along the way, that brings him nearly to trouble and panic. As more time goes on, Chris starts to realize her parents are opening up about their interracial relationship. They basically start to “scare him away” so they can break up. This particular scene starts with Chris walking on the sidewalk, while he is talking to his girlfriend on the phone. A white car is passing by and decides to make a U-turn when it realizes him walking. A person dressed as a knight decides to kidnap him and put him into the car trunk.
There are a ton of diegetic sounds throughout this scene. As he is walking he hears the crickets making noises, the dog barking, his own footsteps, we’re able to hear him put his phone away into his jacket pocket and the car passing by. Also when Chris is getting dragged by the man dressed as a knight we hear the sound of his shoes being “dragged”. In a way, the sound of him being dragged makes a type of dissonance (harsh sound). There was only one nondiegetic sound present, which is the music that is playing out the car constantly. It starts to get louder when Chris sees the car door open.
In regards to our discussion last week, the music from the car is a type of symbol. Usually, when someone gets kidnapped or taken away, there is spooky music playing with tension. Instead, there is happy and upbeat music playing that we would hear in a happy cartoon. The opening scene starts with suspense before Chris gets taken away. The crickets and his walk at night give a type of spooky and creepy vibe. It tells the audience that something will probably happen to Chris in the future since he gets kidnapped in the beginning. The dynamics within the film go from soft to loud once the music plays louder. The film creates a type of emotion in thinking something bad will happen but the upbeat music gives us the thought that things will get better, but it really means otherwise.
I like how you go into detail with the diegetic sounds. I didn’t even pick up the dog and cricket noises in the background. I agree that the film creates an emotion that something bad will happen. However, I don’t think the “upbeat music gives us the thought that things will get better.” The song is symbolic, but literally is about someone telling rabbits to run from being shot at by farmers. For this, I feel this song is foreshadowing a downward spiral instead of things getting better.
I never watched the movie, “Get Out”, but it sounds really good according to your summary in the post. I also chose the opening scene for my post. I didn’t even think about the sound of his shoes dragging but now that you mentioned it, it is dissonance! That was a very interesting point. I agree that the soft to loud music gives a spooky vibe to the scene. It definitely shows something bad will happen to the man, Chris, throughout the movie.