The Importance of Sound in Animation

After looking at some modern examples of time-based narrative pieces, we considered it beneficial to look at some of the first examples of animation combined with synchronised sound. When dialogue was uncommon and rarely scene in animated films, the addition of soundtracks was ground-breaking and changed how animators would look at the principle of timing and spacing.

'Steamboat Willie- Walt Disney Animation Studios'

'Steamboat Willie' (1982) was the first cartoon to feature a fully post-produced soundtrack. The short is extremely character driven and delivers a surprisingly believable interaction between the characters through the use of music, even with the lack of dialogue. Walt Disney became apprehensive during the production of the short, concerned that the blend of music and animation would not be received well by an audience. After the first private audience viewing, Walt's response was "The effect on our little audience was nothing less than electric. They responded almost instinctively to this union of sound and motion." The studio's first attempt to synchronise the movement and music was a failure, and after raising extra funding, the studio used a recording of a bouncing ball as reference for a continuous beat and tempo which aided them to successfully synch the piece.


'Silly Symphony- Walt Disney Animation Studios'

The soundtrack to this later piece from 'Walt Disney Animation Studios' is an orchestral piece with simple vocals. The short is perfectly timed and extremely detailed- there are multiple characters within the shots whose movements are synced completely with the beats of the track. This short is part of the studio's 'Silly Symphonies' series which they used to trial new techniques and technologies to use in their upcoming full-length feature films. Their are key aspects of this short which you can see have been reproduced in later 'Disney' works, such as the classic feature and music-driven 'Fantasia'.

From these, I learnt to appreciate the effect that animation to music synchronisation has on a animated short. This technique improves the piece as a whole as it makes the animator consider every movement that the character makes so as to visually represent their idea successfully. This results in better animation and a better flow to the film.