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“Diegetic: (of sound in a movie, television program, etc.) occurring
within the context of the story and able to be heard by the characters."
Oxford Languages
Music, in a film, typically serves a few purposes. Most of the time, it seeks to expand a soundscape, to add into the growing narrative presented to a viewer. Cinematic media as we currently view it has the standard of privileged viewing: we see each necessary element of the known story from the point of view of a character or cast who grant us the privilege of watching events as they occur. Lights and music are–for the most part–not diegetic, and we as viewers are so used to this Hollywood standard of creation that it isn’t defamiliarizing. So what happens when a piece of media doesn’t have that manufactured element? When everything the audience sees is barely enough for the full picture? When the world is too big to capture? EverymanHYBRID, a found-footage ARG that took place between 2010-2018, challenges these assumptions and more with its innovative use of diegetic music for storytelling, puzzle-crafting, and, at times, intense foreshadowing.
