EastEnders Analysis - Sound

ÇThis is my second analysis blog, in which I'll be focusing on the sound of EastEnders.

The first sound in the show is the sound of a telephone, this alert sound immediately grabs the audiences attention, as we get a brief amount of dialogue from Kat, making the audience aware of who is on the phone through her dialogue.

The audience is then alerted of movement behind her through diegetic atmospheric sounds like the door opening and someone moving around, we first hear the arrival of Alfie before we see him, with the diegetic sounds being the initial alert for the audience. Dialogue then continues between the husband and wife. We are then shown a shot of Kat, as Alfie walks of shot, the dialogue between the two suggest to the audience that Alfie has a gift for his wife, diegetic sounds from within the scene suggest to us Alfie's off camera actions, as he's rummaging through things and finding his hidden gift. The use of sound to accompany off screen actions is effective for the audience to fill in the actions they can't see.

The conversation between the two characters carries on as cuts between the two characters show reactions and the character speaking. The use of the cuts during the uninterrupted constant flow of Alfie's sentence makes the audience more hooked into the scene, without the abrupt cuts drawing them away from it, they also help to establish how its Alfie who is talking and that it is Kat reacting to his speech.

The personalities of the two characters are shown effectively through their sound, with Alfie dominating the speech within this scene, showing he is dominant at the time and a talkative character, whereas Kat is feeling guilty and is letting Alfie dominate the speech, as well as this all her sections of dialogue are kept short and quieter than Alfie, this shows how she is feeling down and taking a back step to Alfie.

As the conversation continues and Kat's spirits are lifted her tone starts to get louder and her speech starts to get longer, this is reflective of her change in mood. During Alfie's phone call, his personality is shown through his comedic impersonations, whilst prior to his phone call the silence is used to build suspense within the audience as to whether or not he's found out the truth about his wife.

Towards the end of the scene a faint car engine can be heard, this sound is then carried on as the shot cuts to the next scene within Christian and Syed's flat, this use of sound as a sound bridge helps the audience to ease into the cut and change in scene and story, while also giving the audience a sense of how the enter show is set within close proximity to each other, with each segment of story carrying on in real world time with the last section.

In general within this episode of EastEnders, the majority of sound is cut between dialogue and atmospheric noises, setting the scene and making it more believable for the audience, with noise like footsteps being used for dramatic effect to give the audience a sense of whats happening without needing to look. None of this episodes sound is non-diegetic, a common trait for EastEnders, as it makes the world more believable as we only hear what the characters themselves can hear.