Life on Mars - Sound & Editing analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rND6u6zo13A

Sound & Editing in Life on Mars (S1 E1)

This clip is from the first episode of Life on Mars. It uses narrative continuity editing that is typical of British TV Dramas. At the beginning of this clip, the audience can hear the digetic sound of a telephone ringing. There is then a phone conversation between the protagonist, Sam and a woman named Maya. Maya seems sceptical about something by the way she is talking in whispers and the connection starts breaking up, making it difficult for Sam to hear what she is saying. When Sam offers to send Maya backup, the audience can assume that she is in some sort of danger. This assumption is confirmed by the digetic sound of Maya screaming. At the end of this scene the audience can hear the build up of non-digetic percussion music, which adds tension.

There is a short sound bridge between the end of the previous scene and the beginning of the next. The percussion music is cut off by the sound of a car driving to a halt and digetic sound of screeching tyres (which is presumably a sound effect).  Non-digetic which sounds like classical string instruments starts to play and the audience hears the digetic sound of footsteps over the music.  The audience can then hear the digetic dialogue between Sam and another character, where they assume that Maya is dead and that the killer has taken her body away. Eye line-matching has been used when The director shows a low-angle mid-shot of Sam, then a shot of a shirt on the swing set, which the audience presumes belongs to Maya.

There is a sound-bridge as the non-digetic, background music carries on to the next scene where Sam is driving. The music seems mournful and allows the audience to feel empathy for Sam. The non-digetic sound is cut through y the digetic sound of a car horn and a car screeching to a halt.

Faint non-digetic music starts playing, which seems to be David Bowie’s ‘Life on Mars’. The audience can relate to the song and understand that it has been used due to the fact that the TV show is also called ‘Life on Mars’. The music seems to get slightly louder, and the audience learn that it is actually digetic sound when the director shows a close-up of Sam’s iPod in his car, which is playing the song by David Bowie.

The song stops playing as the audience hears the sound of a car’s tyres screeching and the digetic sound of glass smashing as Sam gets run over. There is then a shot of Sam laying on the ground and the non-digetic sound of a heartbeat, which signifies how his life is in danger.