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Film & Television vocabulary · Sound and Music

Diegetic sound

Meaning in film & television, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In film & television, diegetic sound means: Sound that comes from the world of the story and can be heard by the characters, such as speech, traffic, or a radio.

In Turkish: öykü içi ses

How it is used

Used in film analysis, sound design, and editing. It contrasts with non-diegetic elements like background score added only for the audience.

Example sentences

  1. The café music begins as diegetic sound from a jukebox, then the mix slowly lifts it to lead the transition.

    Here, the music starts as part of the scene’s reality, heard by the characters before gaining a larger editorial function.

  2. Her footsteps were kept loud as diegetic sound to emphasize how empty the school corridor felt after the meeting.

    In this sentence, the term refers to natural sounds inside the story world used to shape atmosphere and viewer perception.

Common collocations

  • diegetic sound effect
  • diegetic music
  • use diegetic sound
  • diegetic audio
  • soundtrackThe music used in a film or series, often released as an album. Technically it also means the whole recorded audio of a film: dialogue, effects and music.
  • scoreThe original music composed specially for a film or series to support its emotions, rhythm and story.

More terms: Sound and Music

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