On-the-air
On-the-air (CHION 2009, 482-483) is said of diegetic sounds (music, voices, noise) that are transmitted through mechanical and electrical devices: the telephone, CD player, television, radio, intercom, loudspeakers, etc). Such sounds also tend to propagate easily in space(s).
In this excerpt from Augusto Genina's Prix de beauté (1930, France), an acousmatic voice makes an announcement during what seems to be a rush hour in the city, through a loudspeaker.
That the source of an on-the-air music is diegetic may not be obvious from the beginning. Some cases explicitly fool the perception, whether from us, the audience, or from the diegetic characters, who realize that what they've been listening to is a recording. An example of the latter is shown in the excerpt from René Clair's À nous la liberté (1931, France). Only after a few seconds the man realizes that the song he's listening to comes from a gramophone, and is not being sung "live."
In Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut (1999, USA), it is us, audience, who are being fooled by the source of the music, not the diegetic characters. That the music starts during the black screen of the opening credits reinforces our impression that this is a nondiegetic music.
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