Flikipedia A branching dictionary of the moving image

sound

/saʊnd/ noun

The recorded audio element of a motion picture, comprising dialogue, sound effects, and music, and the crafts of recording, editing, and mixing them.

Origin From Middle English soun, from Anglo-Norman and Old French son, from Latin sonus, "a noise or sound"; the final -d developed later in English.

  1. Cinema The audio component of a motion picture, reproduced in synchronization with the image.

  2. Recording Audio captured on set during photography, chiefly the actors' spoken lines and the ambient noise of the location; production sound. a boom microphone recording production dialogue

  3. Craft The combined craft of designing, recording, editing, and mixing all audio elements of a film; sound design.

Components

The sound of a motion picture is conventionally divided into three components. Dialogue is recorded speech, chiefly the lines delivered by performers; the audio captured on set during photography is called production sound. Sound effects are the non-verbal noises of a scene, from environmental ambience to specific actions; effects performed and recorded in synchronization with the picture in a studio are known as Foley, after the sound artist Jack Foley. Music, or the score, comprises the composed or selected music heard over the images. These elements may originate in a recording made during filming, be added afterward, or be constructed entirely in post-production.

The crafts of sound

Sound is built across several stages. Recording captures audio, whether on location alongside the image or later in a controlled studio. Editing selects, trims, and places the recorded elements against the picture, aligning them frame by frame. Mixing balances the relative levels and spatial placement of dialogue, effects, and music into the final soundtrack. The overall practice of planning and shaping a film’s audio is termed sound design. Because a scene’s audio is largely assembled rather than simply captured, sound is a constructed layer that runs parallel to the image.

From silent to synchronized

Early cinema had no recorded sound synchronized with the image; films were shown with live musical accompaniment or spoken narration. The transition to synchronized recorded sound arrived around 1927, when systems for locking audio to the projected picture became commercially viable. The feature The Jazz Singer (1927) is commonly cited as a landmark in this shift. The change reshaped film history: it altered acting, writing, and editing, ended the era of the silent film, and made recorded sound a standard element of the medium.

See also

  • motion picture— A work made of many still images shown in rapid succession, producing the impression of continuous movement.
  • film history— The chronological development of the moving image as a medium, from the optical toys that preceded projection through the silent, sound, color, and digital eras.
  • cinema— Motion pictures collectively — as an art form, a medium of expression, and an industry; also, chiefly in British use, a venue where films are shown.

Sources

  1. Oxford English Dictionary, "sound, n."
  2. David Bordwell & Kristin Thompson, Film Art: An Introduction
  3. Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE)

Last revised: September 18, 2026