Distinguish between diegetic and non-diegetic sound with examples.

Distinguish between diegetic and non-diegetic sound with examples.

• A. Non-diegetic sounds are sounds the characters hear, such as dialogue.
• B. Diegetic sounds are sounds the characters hear, such as dialogue.
• C. Diegetic sounds are added in post and heard only by the audience.
• D. Non-diegetic sounds are always music from on-set.

Answer: (B)

Sounds are categorized by whether the characters in the story can hear them. Diegetic sounds are the ones that exist within the story world and can be heard by the characters, such as dialogue, footsteps, object noises, or ambient room sounds. Non-diegetic sounds come from outside the story world and are heard only by the audience, like the film’s musical score or a voiceover narration. So identifying diegetic sounds as those the characters hear, with dialogue as a clear example, perfectly matches this distinction.