Analysis of "Ender's Game" for Sound Elements

Since the initial idea of our thriller opening involves voice-over, I watched the opening to the movie "Ender's Game" and analysed the way voice-over is used to tell the story.

* The movie stars with quieter music that plays in the background throughout the opening. There is shouting that can faintly be heard within the action scenes the audience are seeing. The fact that these are quieter makes the voice-over more dominant and audible, with more clarity.

* The voice-over is loud and clear. As soon as this comes in, all faint voices within the scene are cut and the only other sound is the quiet music and the ambient sound. Again, this focuses your attention specifically to what the voice is saying without any other distracting voices or sounds.

* When the voice-over stops, the music seems to get more intense and louder, then calm down again just before the voice continues. This is effective as the audience are able to feel the elements of rising tension, but are still dominated by and absorbed in the voice-over.

*As the visual elements of the opening give more clarity and understanding to the film's plot, the voice-over becomes less dominating as diagetic sound is used underneath it. However, it is still not loud enough to overpower what the voice has to say.

The voice-over in this opening is very effective as there is little changes in scenes or angles until the voice-over becomes less necessary. It makes it easier to listen and take in what is being said instead of being overpowered other elements. When changes in scenes or the build up of tension within the opening are happening, there is no voice-over. This means that the audience's focus is on the visual events instead of the voice-over.