Making Better Movies with Moviestorm Vol 3: Sound and Light

USING SOUND TO BRIDGE A SCENE
Technique
When cutting between two scenes, use a sound to provide continuity, even when the scenes
are disconnected in the narrative.
You can make two scenes flow together effectively by carrying a sound across from one scene to the next. You can
do this in several ways; you can establish the sound of an object, and then have that same object in the next scene,
even if it’s in a different location. For example, we hear the hero clicking his pen as he walks. As we cut to the next
scene, the pen clicking continues.
If the object is in the same location, you can use sound to bridge a passage of time. We hear a grandfather clock
ticking. It continues to tick as we cut from summer to winter. You can use different objects that make the same
sound to form the bridge; you can cut from the sound of one car engine to a different car in the next scene.
If you’re skilful, you can use similar sounds from very different objects to bridge between two scenes: for example an
air raid siren and a baby’s scream. You need to know before you start shooting how this bridge will work so that you
know to film the right things: they need not be part of the narrative or even in the script.
End one scene on a shot of a woman crying in a park, and have the bird squawking as it flies off. The next
scene starts with more birds squawking, and we look down into a street. We can then cut to a closer shot on
the man in the street. The shot on the bird is optional, though it does help to provide additional continuity.
Take any two consecutive scenes from a screenplay. They can be in different
locations or the same location.
19