http://course1.winona.edu/pjohnson/images/piano2.jpg
The Piano is a film in which the character does not use words to speak. Instead the different film sounds of this film help the main character, Ada McGrath (Holly Hunter), express her words and feelings in a different way. Ada cannot speak, she has not been able to since she was six. But, in some cases you do hear her voice by sound over. When you hear Ada’s voiceover it shows the audience nondiegetic sound. The Piano also shows diegetic sound. Some diegetic sound you here in The Piano is the sound of the piano, which is a very important character in this film. (The Piano)
http://sexualityinart.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/the-piano-jane-campion-hunter-paquin.jpg
Ada cannot speak, she relies in her daughter Flora McGrath (Anna Paquin) and the piano to express her words and feelings. But in the rare cases in which you can her Ada’s voice it is heard in a sound over. A sound over is, “a production technique where a non-diegetic voice is used in a radio, television, film, theatre, or other presentation.[1] The voice-over may be spoken by someone who appears elsewhere in the production or by a specialist voice actor” ("Voice-over"). The Piano in some cases uses voice over. However these voice over’s are used when Ada is summing up her feelings that are important for the audience to hear. Voiceovers are words the “simple fact that characters within the diegesis cannot hear the latter” (Corrigan, Timothy 200). Just like in the beginning of the movie Ada explains her conditions and the feeling about her piano. “The voice you hear is not my speaking voice - -but my mind's voice. I have not spoken since I was six years old. No one knows why - -not even me. My father says it is a dark talent, and the day I take it into my head to stop breathing will be my last. Today he married me to a man I have not yet met. Soon my daughter and I shall join him in his own country. My husband writes that my muteness does not bother him - and hark this! He says, "God loves dumb creatures, so why not I?" 'Twere good he had God's patience, for silence affects everyone in the end. The strange thing is, I don't think myself silent. That is because of my piano. I shall miss it on the journey” ("The Piano (1993) - Memorable Quotes"). Voiceovers are also used to reflect back on the past, like in the past quote. “In works of fiction, the voice-over is often by a character reflecting back on his or her past, or by a person external to the story who usually has a more complete knowledge of the events in the film than the other characters” ("Voice-over"). She explains to the audience what has happened in the past in that way they are able to understand certain parts of the movie. But not all things are explained in Ada’s short voiceovers, which shows women’s pictures, which forces us to ask about her daughters birth. Women’s pictures in voiceovers means, “that it rarely carries through to closure” (Corrigan, Timothy 202). (The Piano)
http://www.oxonianreview.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/the-piano.jpg
Diegestic sound is, “sound that has its source in the narrative film, whose characters are presumed to be able to hear it.” (Corrigan, Timothy 546).One important diegestic sound is the piano, the sound of Ada’s piano is very important to the start of the relationship between George Banes (Harvey Keitel) and Ada. He makes a bargain to bring the piano back to his place after he hears her play it. It’s the music that lets her be able to express her emotions, and let the other characters her here emotions. Even though you might not be able to hear Ada’s full emotion, but, “dialogue and action fall short in their capacity to convey not only particular feelings but also the experience of feeling itself” (Corrigan, Timothy 206). When she expresses her emotion through music there is a better understanding of her feelings. Ada also creates loud noises when she does not get her way. She goes off and smashes glass tea cups. These is an example on diegestic sound, because the characters can hear it, and it is showing her feelings. (The Piano).
http://img5.allocine.fr/acmedia/rsz/434/x/x/x/medias/nmedia/18/36/37/72/18866322.jpg
While the film’s main character may have not used a lot of words you were able to hear some of the characters thoughts and sounds through different sound techniques. The director Jane Campion uses both diegetic sound and nondiegetic sound. When she uses diegetic sound she is using the piano as a character. However, when she uses nondiegetic sound she uses Ada’s narration. She also uses women’s pictures, which means not everything is told.
Works Cited
Corrigan, Timothy, and Patricia Barry. The Film Experience: an Introduction. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Print.
"The Piano (1993) - Memorable Quotes." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 28 Apr. 2010.
The Piano. Dir. Jane Campion. By Jane Campion. Perf. Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, and Sam Neill. [Roadside Distributors], 1993.
"Voice-over." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 27 Apr. 2010.
