Panic Room

Panic Room

Have you ever wondered what would life be without sound? If all things were just what they were and couldn't be told apart by the sounds they produced? Well, luckily movies have shied away from the silent form and has given us many of today's catchiest phrases. In this write-up I will attempt to explain the importance of sound in the movie Panic Room.

Panic room is a suspense thriller; and by that I mean that the nerves of the viewer are cued up by numerous affects. One of which happens to be sound. In this movie the sound sets the mood. The sound is our cue as to what things are going on and are going to happen throughout the movie. The main prop of the movie, an old house, is one that has many sounds. This movie is the movie of three robbers in search of a safe that has contents worth over 20 million dollars and in there quest they run into a mother and daughter that have looked themselves inside a state of the art protective room. I will attempt to portray a synopsis of the film and show how the sound plays very active roll in the development of the plot.

The movie starts off by the mother waking up in the middle of the night. The background is filled with silence her steps are slow and without knowing makes the old house creek by her footsteps. She then goes to the restroom and does her duty, followed by a flush of the toilet. This act alerts the crooks who have broken into the house. The water from the toilet slowly moves down the pipes and an ire melancholy type music begins to play. This is a main cue that something is going to happen. The robber then accidentally kicks a ball. The mother notices them and sprints to her sleeping daughter. This act is overlaid by a more rapid, urgent type of music suggesting that harm is near, or that someone is going to be hurt. The mother then screams at her daughter, wakes her up only to the sounds of screaming men and hurries to the Panic Room. The panic room is easily noticed as a place of sanctuary by the use of the sound. The music stops as soon as they enter suggesting that they are safe. This scene is one of many that sound and the sound effects play a vital part in portraying the story.