In a scene, the creak of a floorboard as a character steps on it is an example of what type of sound?

• A. Diegetic sound
• B. Foley sound separate from scene
• C. Ambient sound not tied to any source
• D. Non-diegetic sound

Answer: (A)

Sound that originates within the film’s world and is heard by the characters is diegetic. The creak comes from the character’s own action in the scene—stepping on a floorboard—which means it exists in the story world and is part of what the characters and the audience experience together. It’s not ambient background noise, which would be unrelated to a specific source, and it’s not non-diegetic, which would be sound outside the characters’ reality (like a musical score). The Foley idea is about how such sounds can be created or enhanced in post-production, but the important point is that the creak belongs to the scene’s world, making it diegetic.