Sound Effects in Be Kind Rewind

How does Be Kind Rewind effectively use sound effects to enhance the viewers experience?

In the film 'Be Kind Rewind' directed by Michel Gondry sound effects are widely used to naturalise the setting and allow us to be completely immersed in what is happening. Although these are pre-recorded, they give a sense of realism to what we are seeing. This is because they are predominately diegetic sounds, meaning they have a source from something we are seeing on the screen, "But sound effects appear unmanufactured, even accidental. This sense of naturalness is ironic because the sound texture of a film is so deliberately crafted..." (Corrigan and White, 201) An example of this in the film 'Be Kind Rewind' is when Jerry seeks to sabotage a power station and ends up heavily electrocuting himself. The sound effects in this scene consist of the sound of electricity as we see Jerry being suspended in the air also by the electricity. Although we know this is not possible we know that the cause of him being suspended is due to the electricity due to the sound effects. This is because we are hearing the sound that we would expect to hear while seeing someone be electrocuted, "...these effects generally conform to our expectations of movie sounds." (Corrigan and White, 201) We know that the scene in it's nature is unrealistic, however the sound effects naturalise what is happening. This works in unison with what we are seeing to fully draw us in and allow us to be more a part of the film, If the sound and what is happening is out of sync we would be focussing more on that that on what is happening and that would only serve to distance us from the film rather than include us further. Since sound effects are used to naturalise settings this would prove to be counter productive. "Sound effects, like visual effects, draw in viewers" (Corrigan and White, 202) Sound effects are not only limited to the extreme ones such as the sound of electricity, things such as footsteps, dogs barking, the rustle of clothing are all part of the sound effects and are not even recorded at the same time as dialogue in the film, they are added later by the foley artist. This is the case in all movies, these are the sound effects that we are less likely to notice as we associate with them so well, "A spaceship that blows up in outer space will usually produce a colossal bang even though in fact there is no sound in space." (Corrigan and White, 201) In Be Kind Rewind however, sound effects are most notable in the way that they make the most odd and far fetched situations appear almost normal. The key to sound effects presenting a more natural situation is predominantly all due to the synchronisation of the sound effects to what is happening.