Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound

Hello,

People can be easily confused between Diegetic and Non-Diegetic sound. These are the differences between them, for reference purposes!!!

Diegetic sound

Sound that is implied to be evident in the film or the source of the sound is on screen.

Examples of these could be characters voices (a good example of this would be in musical films), objects making sound (jukeboxes, boombox, etc). Diegetic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame. Another term for diegetic sound is actual sound.

Non-Diegetic sound

Sound who's source isn't evident on screen or hasn't been implied to be present in the scene whatsoever.

Examples of this are narrators commentary, sound effects (drums, shrieking horror sounds, etc), and ambient sound (mood music.)

Using diegetic and non-diegetic conventions can be used to create ambiguity (horror, mystery) or to amuse the audience (comedy, slapstick)

References