House of Flying Daggers: Sound

Opening Sequence (00:00:00- 00:07:12)

During the opening credits of the film, a non-diegetic composed score plays. This score uses the sounds of bamboo and Chinese instruments to draw attention to the style and the setting of the film. This piece also sounds quite sharp at points, implying that the story that is about to be told has danger and conflict throughout. Furthermore, at the end of this sequence the women of the pavilion play traditional Chinese instruments (diegetic) to tell us that they are talented musically and sets the tone for the dance that Mei is about to perform.

While in the pavilion, all of the women sound very exaggerated in their excitement and they all sound pretty much exactly the same. This is done to showcase that this is a place where the guests are meant to feel special. Plus, Jin’s voice during this scene is dominant in the mix showing that he is the most important person there. This is reinforced later as Jin gets his sword out and that becomes the dominant sound in the mix and the sword acts as an extension of Jin himself.

Echo Game Sequence (00:10:33- 00:19:22)

During the set up for the game, the sounds of the drums and excited audience that has gathered all sound chaotic and dominates the mix. As soon as the drummers sit down, the scene goes quiet and then once the bowl of beans is placed down the scene goes completely silent. This large contrast in how loud the scene is tells us that something is about to happen very shortly and builds up suspense to the game truly beginning. The sounds of beans in the bowl and Mei’s tinkling headwear also adds to the building suspense of the scene.

The last part of the game involves Mei essentially hitting every drum as all of the beans in the bowl are thrown (as an extra point, this all sounds very overwhelming and emphasises how many there are). As Mei is hitting the drums, the drummers playing in the scene are playing at a very fast tempo which seems to get faster which suggests to us that there is going to be a big climax. Furthermore, Mei goes off beat while hitting the drums which makes this sequence feel very chaotic/ overwhelming and builds up anticipation to the hinted climax.

Bamboo Fight (01:03:03- 01:10:20)

This scene establishes the threat through the sounds of the action. As bamboo is thrown, it makes a ‘swoosh’ sound effect which makes it seem like it is travelling very fast through the air. When the bamboo goes through the bamboo trees, it makes an exaggerated loud sound to emphasise its power and impact. This makes it so that we understand that the bamboo being thrown is a dangerous threat and that Mei is in trouble here. There are also very sharp whistles right before the soldiers throw lots of bamboo which establishes that whenever we hear that noise that more bamboo is about to be thrown. This sound is uncomfortable and drives home that this sound represents danger.

A composed non-diegetic score is used a couple times during this sequence to give more impact to certain moments. First, a vocal score comes in right as Jin appears. The vocals have a holy aspect to them and emphasise that Jin has come to save the day and that Mei is now safer than she was just before. Once the two get trapped shortly after, the score comes in after Jin says “I came back, for you”. This is sound punctuation and makes it so that the moment has the impact which the director wants it to have as it is an important moment when it’s confirmed that Jin is truly in love with Mei.