Close Analysis of Sound within 'The Red Wedding'

(2:42 - 5:02)

‘The Rains of Castamere’ is the ninth episode of the third season of ‘Game of Thrones’, directed by David Nutter, and aired on June 2nd 2013. I have chosen to analyse ‘The Red Wedding’ scene within the weekly instalment, which is effectively the climax to both the episode and season.

The clip opens with a sound-bridge of sad and melancholic music, diegetic in nature, played by a small musical ensemble from within the hall’s rafters. Whilst extremely brief, the music immediately establishes a sombre feeling to the scene before it is hastily silenced not seconds later by the diegetic dialogue of one of the characters. Within the newly created quiet, the pleonastic sound of wooden chairs being scraped across the floor and sat upon can be heard, as well as the drunken murmurs of some of the extras assembled within the hall.

As the speech progresses, the pleonastic sound of creaking wood and the ragged breaths of one of the primary characters as she begins to figure out what is going on occur, adding to the diegetic ambient effects of the scene. A non-diegetic composition also commences here, serving to intensify the tension and suspense that is gradually being created on screen; one starts to anticipate something sinister.

This is then followed by the diegetic, pleonastic sounds of chainmail rustling, the harsh, abrupt noise of a chair being pushed back, and the striking sound of a slap. The speech that was being executed comes to an end, and as one of the characters calls out to her son, the non-diegetic soundtrack begins to crescendo; this is then swiftly followed by the pleonastic sound of a knife being unsheathed.

The non-diegetic music becomes increasingly strident and the pleonastic sound of a dagger being plunged into a character’s stomach resonates on screen. The diegetic sound of a woman’s anguished screaming follows, as well as the pleonastic sound of arrows being fired.

The scene soon becomes a bloodbath, with the diegetic and pleonastic sounds of footsteps, groans, arrows firing, people being stabbed, tables collapsing, cutlery being knocked to the floor and people collapsing to the wooden ground sounding all over, all to the backdrop of a threatening non-diegetic bass being beaten in ritualistic, repetitive fashion, creating a very tense and dramatic atmosphere which then concludes in the form of the non-diegetic music serving to be a sound bridge into the next scene along which, in context, occurs just outside the hall in which ‘The Red Wedding’ is taking place.

In this new location, we immediately hear a horse whiney and then the pleonastic sounds of people’s breaths and running. The non-diegetic music comes to a silence, replaced instead by the diegetic sound of dialogue. In contrast to the previous scene, everything is a lot calmer and quieter… Or so one would think until once again the pleonastic sound of a dagger being un-sheathed and sliced into a man resonate onscreen. The non-diegetic music returns like before, and once again the scene turns into a bloodbath with the same diegetic and pleonastic sounds as heard in the earlier scene. Upon the non-diegetic music reaching its loudest point, it once again disparates, and instead the audience hears the pleonastic sound of men running past, their chainmail audibly heavy and clunky.

A dog moans out above the ambient noise of men talking and running, and a heavy bass noise is created by the diegetic sound of the dire-wolf beating against its kennel door. At this point, the none-diegetic music returns, not so much as dramatic as it was before, but sadder and slower. The pleonastic sound of chainmail clunking and men running returns, and as some soldiers surround the kennel, we hear the diegetic growl of the dire-wolf within, suggesting to us of his mistrust (and by extension our own) of what sinister scheme the soldiers are potentially about to execute.

The pleonastic sound of arrows flying sounds out, followed by the unmistakable and highly melancholic whimper of a dog being put down. The hints given to us in the few seconds of build up just moments previous were confirmed: the soldiers did commit something sinister. At this point the non-diegetic backing music immediately stops and is instead replaced by silence once more.

In conclusion, I think the sequence I have chosen is an effective use of sound, due to the fact that everything fits into place with the cinematography to create a very powerful and emotional scene. For example, the dialogue (whilst predominantly for the sake of the plot) contains lots of emotion and is very atmospheric when combined with the rest of the scene. Likewise, the vast amount of pleonastic sounds stress the physicality of the events and the violence that takes place within them. The ambient sounds set the scene, and the non-diegetic music creates both tension and suspense, causing us as the audience to anticipate whatever the approaching drama may be.