Sound and understanding how to use it.

My initial thoughts on using sound in film is it's just as important as all other factors in film, without it the audience has nothing to help create the mood. Sound is there to make the film more realistic, silent films don't have sound but you are able to follow it because they have what the characters say written on the screen.

In lesson we had to watch the opening of different films, we analysed psycho by Alfred Hitchcock, I am more aware of how important sound is......

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzkIaD6QGQw&feature=related

(Here is part one of the psycho from youtube, I had to make it a link.)

 The opening from 0:28 to 2:20 the film is only the title sequence introducing charaters and production etc, in my opinion it went on for so long that it became menotonous, to keep the interest of younger viewers openings need to be shorter. though this particular movie is aimed at the older generation due to it being an old film. However, the music used does create tension. The text moves so fast on screen that faster music seems appropriate for it to fit together. From 2:20 to 3:00 (the opening) the strings slow down as the camera pans the city where the characters live and then shows you the window of their apartment. Because all the scene shows is the city, a slow string section seems appropriate. It calms to audience down to get them ready for calm dialouge from the characters.
Psycho was remade by director  Gus Van Sant in 1998, I couldn't find the opening title for this film on youtube but I did find the trailer. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJsnaT5IfVY
I can't really compare together the trailer with the opening of the hitchcock film through sound, I'll try and find the 1998 movie somewhere else.