Bela Belazs' Thoughts on Sound

I'm not sure I understand his description of silence including the quiet sounds that are unheard if "normal" sounds were occurring. He uses the example of hearing a fly when everything else is silent, almost sounding like the fly's noise is amplified. But doesn't that mean it's not silent? If you can hear a sound when it's "silent" is it really silent?

I agree that image tells us how to interpret sound, or vice versa. It made me think of the music in Halloween. In the scene when Laurie is walking down the street then waits for her friend, even though Michael Myers isn't in frame, isn't scary without the music. Without music it's just a girl walking down the street, smiling when watching the trick-or-treaters. The music adds so much stress and tension to a scene that is otherwise not frightening. (From 28:10-29:10 you can hear the difference with the sound on and with it on mute. I have no idea what the weird jump cut is about in the middle. https://youtu.be/1IOqkHdKyBs?t=28m10s)

I found the idea of sound being linked to space very interesting. I agree with the example about the band in a restaurant. If the characters are in that space, the sound of the band must be audible in some way. But what about sound effects? It is technically part of the diegesis of the film, but if the sound coloring is dependent on where the sound is heard, would it then be linked to the sound studio? Thinking about it now there are some sound effects that are easy to distinguish as ones that were recorded in a studio. Even some dialogue. I'm thinking about Mean Girls when Gretchen, whose face is off screen, says something about Regina's mom's boob job being, "hard as rocks." You can tell she didn't actually say it on the day on set. It sounds distinct from the previous dialogue in the scene. (About 17 seconds in. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEQV2OJVBx4)