- Art in Motion, AnimationAesthetics by Maureen Furniss
P85
One of the biggest differences between amateur and professional animation often lies in the way that sound is employed.
…most people will find that the secret success for many award-awarding films is the care with which aural elements- voices, sound effects and music – have been handled.
In Film Art, Bordwell and Thompson identify the acoustic properties of motion picture sound as loudness, pitch and timber.
P.86
Bordwell and Thompson write that:
… the harmonic components of a sound give a certain ‘color’ or tone quality – what musicians call timbre.
Side note – Look at ‘The Sound of the Early Warner Bros. Cartoons’ Scott Curtis
At the Fliescher Studio, a manual given to employees spelled out the technicalities of synchronising lip movement to record dialogue.
… in animating a bit of dialogue or singing, the mouth actions are really secondary.
…They must been the ‘nose’ (accurate) and convincing, but perfect mouth-actions mean nothing if the actions itself is not convincing.
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Sound Effects
Some of the most famous animated characters of studio animation- Tom and Jerry, the Pink Panther, the Roadrunner… – have had no voices at all )at least for most of their careers).
Sound effects in animation often are applied in an exaggerated manner, with no realistic congruity between an action and the noise created from it.
… a relatively simple mix of sounds can serve to heighten the drama or suspense of a scenario.
P 90
Musical scores
Of all the components of sound, music is the category that has attracted the most critical attention, perhaps because it is also the aspect that has most concerned major producers of motion pictures, both live-action and animated.
‘A Sound Idea: Music for Animated Films’ Jon Newsom
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Low pitches I relate to colour of low-light values, irrespective of hue and chroma; high pitches to high-light values, irrespective of hue and chroma. In other words, I let dark browns, olives, reds, purples, blues predominate on the screen during a low pitch passage, and use yellows, pale greens, pale oranges, very pale reds, purples, and blues during a high- pitched passage. (Norman Mclaren)
Side note: Look into people who can see colours and experiences one psychedelics.
He was intrigued by the idea that different shapes produce particular sounds when placed on an optical soundtrack – another aspect of his interest in synaesthesia. As a result he conducted experiments with ‘animated sound’, ti see how sound elements could be created by drawing (or otherwise fabricating) synthetic soundtracks.
‘Technical Notes on the Card Method of Optical Animated Sound’ and ‘Handmade Sound Track for Beginners’
‘Neighbours‘ film(1952)
… it would be a film that would marry animated images with classical symphonic works into a concert of visual music. A stereo-sound system, Fantasound, was even developed to create a dimensional sound environment, breaking new ground in the use of multiple audio tracks for film.
Music and the Animated Cartoon’1940s Chuck Jones
… all cartoons use music as an integral element in their format.
Steamboat Willie (1928)
In 1928, close synchronisation was an incredible novelty to be capitalised upon – so it is no wonder that sound is linked so closely with the film’s visuals.
After the coming of sound, the Disney Studio began producing both the character-driven ‘Mickey Mousing” shorts and music driven “Silly Symphony’ shorts.
‘Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf?’
P 95
The Fleischer Studios (and later the Famous Studios) employed a musical director named Sammy Timberg, who said reworked with the artists from the first drawings to the end.
‘The Ink and Paint of Music.’ 1997 article Amin Bhatia MIDI
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In animation the picture is usually the last to show up!
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Most of these productions employ a narrative structure; that is, they tell stories with a beginning, middle and end.
Gag structure
‘Narrative threat’
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Story mood chart image – Mr Bug Goes to Town story mood chart courtesy William Mortiz
Fleischer Studio created a ‘Story Mood Chart’ to illustrate the degree ‘degree of emotional pace’ in its feature,
A sort of rise and fall in emotion throughout the film,
Norman McLaren used a different kind of visual chart to illustrate the development of action and emotion in A Chairy Tale (1957)