Soundtrack Research

In this scene from "Taken", sound is used effectively to create tension in the audience. It begins with ambient noise, to set the scene and the conversation. The bass notes come in when the men start to take her friend. These resemble a heartbeat, creating a faster pace for the film. This heartbeat makes the audience start to get tense as they know something bad is going to happen. This makes their hearts beat faster too. There is also a repeated symbol screech throughout the phone call. This also makes us believe that something bad is going to happen as it is a cliche horror motif. Suspended notes are then added to create more tension. Deep piano drops are added followed by more bass notes. This creates a confused nature for the audience as there are so many sounds at once. This resembles the mindset of the female character at that moment. The sound gets quieter as the woman goes into the other room. As she starts to whisper the sound gets almost silent. The silence creates an atmosphere of calm for the audience before she starts to scream. This makes the scream even more effective. There is no sound whilst she is screaming to emphasise the fear and shock. The silence continues until a suspended note sequence is played throughout the male character's monologue through the phone. This is effective as it shows the dedication and care the man has to find his daughter. The use of heavy instruments with abrupt noises reflect the nature of the film. It reflects the danger of the situation and creates tension for the audience. 

In this scene from "Luther", sound is used effectively, also to create tension in the audience. The upbeat music playing as the car pulls us bridges across the cross-cuts from him to the man with the child. This helps to make the scene seem continuous and show that the two shots are connected. The loud sound of the glass smashing stops the music to almost silence. From this point on in the scene, we can hear suspended notes of string instruments. These are considered more gentle instruments yet create an enormous amount of tension. The strings get louder throughout and, with the addition of bass notes and increasing the pitch towards the end, it creates a sense of urgency about the scene. This is effective as it makes the audience panic and worry about the safety of the children. The music in the background as well as the men shouting add to this panic. However, these instruments are also quite sad, possibly to reflect how Luther is making the man feel about his actions.