Animation

The biggest difference I've heard in animation is that there is no spatialization.  All the dialogue is very dry and has no reverberation.  There is only reverb when the space is deliberately being portrayed.  For example, in the Futurama clip, the big brain has no reverb unless it yells and there is only a slight amount of delay. 

Animation

I think that the sound design for animation would be difficult . I noticed it is very minimal, which I think is good. You are already dealing with so many things the picture, color, voice over an over powering background noise or music I think would be very distracting.

Sound in Animation

My all-time favourite animated cartoon short is the 1953 film Duck Amuck directed by Chuck Jones. Similar in aesthetic significance to Porky in Wackyland (1938), Duck Amuck exploits the potential of animated cartoons in a rather extreme fashion. One of my favourite parts has everything to do with sound. About two minutes in, Daffy is completely erased, then asks ‘All right, wise guy: where am I?’ He is redrawn in a cowboy outfit and holding a guitar. He attempts to strum and sing, but gets no sound. After he holds up a sign requesting sound, we get sounds…all of them comically wrong: machine gun fire, a car horn, and a donkey. Daffy smashes the guitar and leaves the frame for a moment, then comes back without any costume. He attempts to say something, but instead of Daffy’s voice, we hear the cock-a-doodle-doo sound of a rooster, followed by other animal noises. Eventually, however, Daffy’s eyes glow red and he looses his temper, and he shouts that he has never been so humiliated in all his life. Sound is now back to normal. While this sort of extreme audiovisual dissonance can be found in non-animated film, it works particularly well in cartoons.

Another excellent example of a similar contradictory nature is found in Tex Avery’s Daffy Duck in Hollywood (1938). About two-thirds of the way through the short, Daffy gets loose in a film library and splices several film clips together. After he has replaced another film with his own, we are treated to a series of short clips which are funny, not in themselves, but because of the contradictions between sound and image. First there is mention of happy legionnaires, bathed in glorious California sunshine, passing in review — but we see a shot of the soldiers marching in heavy rain…with rather stoic faces. Among other such comical contradictions is a reference to swinging jitterbugs in a hot dance contest…but with an image of an elegant eighteenth century court dance. We also get a description of a very brutal fight, but the boxers we see in the shot just stand in the ring doing practically nothing.

Another one of my favourite cartoon shorts is Duck! Rabbit, Duck! (1953), the third of Chuck Jones’s celebrated ‘hunting trilogy’ featuring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd. After the opening credits, we see Daffy pulling down ‘Duck Season’ signs and burning them as firewood. At the same time, we hear pit-orchestra music accompanying while Daffy is singing/lisping ‘La Vie en rose’, but we are not given any crackling ember sound effects for the fire. Nor do we do ever get any territory sounds or elements of auditory setting. This absence of territory/environmental sounds, as well as a focus on Daffy’s singing rather than the fire, significantly contributes to the feeling that we are viewing a fictional animated world rather than the world we live in. Non-musical sound effects tend to be very sparse, and, in this film, largely limited to gunshots (though there are some others, such as when Daffy is pulling signs off of trees). Occasionally, there are amusing sound effects which line up with visual cues, such as the moment about two minutes into the short after Elmer informs Daffy that he ‘[hasn’t] got a wicence to shoot a fwicasseeing wabbit’: we hear a warm metallic boing as the black-dot points of Daffy’s eyes rapidly bounce back and forth (Daffy obviously is irritated to find Elmer so short on brains). After the boing has settled, we hear a bassoon on cue when Daffy shifts his eyes to one side. Since sound effects are sparse (for instance, there are no sounds of footsteps), music often takes over the role: when we see any character such as Daffy or Elmer walking, the music is rhythmically lined up with their steps. Music in this cartoon (like so many other cartoons) is also often used for its symbolic value. Earlier in the short (during the opening credits) we heard hunting horns, thus immediately telling us that this is a hunting picture and not a film about movie studios (such as Daffy Duck in Hollywood, which features tunes that are traditionally associated with Hollywood). This hunting horn motif significantly returns later on in the short. But all in due time… When Daffy has learned that Elmer hasn’t got a licence to shoot a fricasseeing rabbit, he sits down to write one out himself. However, Daffy has to ask Bugs how to spell fricasseeing. While Bugs innocently (or not so innocently) spells FRICASSEEINGDUCK, we hear the pit orchestra playing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’, thus conjuring the image of a diligent student answering a teacher’s question during a spelling lesson — or a spelling bee…in any case, Daffy is the one who gets stung. After getting his bill shot off and taking another look at the licence he gave Elmer, Daffy realises his error and acknowledges that he’s the ‘goat’. Thus starts a sequence (which returns later in the short) of several animal names cropping up, always to Daffy’s disadvantage. Every time Bugs holds up a sign showing us what season it is (Goat Season, Dirty Skunk Season, Pigeon Season, etc.) we hear the hunting horns again. Very quickly we become conditioned to this horn call as a trigger which inevitably precedes Daffy’s bill getting shot off into a hilarious position.

Masha I Medved

This assignment was to blog about animated clip and sound used with it. Since I do not watch many animated shows, I thought would could be better than using one of the cartoons that my sister likes to watch. This cartoon is semi similar to the characters of Tom and Jerry ( cat and mouse) except its a little girl named Masha and a Bear.  Here is a youtube link if anyone would like to check it: Masha i Medved

In this clip I have noticed how bold the "direct sounds" use is. They are definitely overused, but I think in a sense of animated cartoon with not that much of conversation that really helps to make the cartoon come to life.  Also in this cartoon we notice the color change in orchestral music for each tune or character. For example, when we see a Bear on the screen, music is played by low brass instruments and it is slower than it is when we see Masha the little girl, music than becomes more cheery, abrupt, mischievous. Also when we see the new character a wolf introduced on the screen the orchestration again becomes different.  There is also quite a bit of punctuation used in the cartoon to represent the characteristic, personality of each character.  Also with the use of punctuation a lot of the times it is done through orchestration, yet there are also couple direct sounds that are used to punctuate the importance of gesture. Sometimes when the character speaks and we hear a delay in the sound brings more comic feel to the cartoon which is what cartoons are all about I guess.  I have also noticed in the cartoon that with use of reverb the perception of place becomes more present (example when wolf is howling), which does not match at all times with the rest of the story.  This is a cute little cartoon! Hope you all enjoy it!

PlanetES

As we saw in Futurama, sound design can be relatively simple when it comes to animation. In most animation the sound is directly subservient to the visual and is created on a what you see is what you hear basis, but for PlanetES, the hard Sci Fi anime about a group of space station workers, this is not the case. In fact, the sound designers for PlanetES seemed to take exactly the opposite route, by making the sound inside the space station extremely busy and convoluted. There are always the mechanical sounds of doors sliding open and shut while the life support status is being sounded over a muffled pa system, pausing only to give up the aural stage to the noticeably loud sound floor (presumably generated from the air filtration systems), as every sound is filtered through the thick reverberation caused by the harsh acoustics of a steel room. While this can be an exhausting listen, it serves as an effective way to immerse the audience. That is what it would sound like if you were on a space station. When humans reach a point where they are engineering space stations for long term use, the acoustic ecology of the created environment will most likely be at the bottom of the list of important concerns if it makes the list at all (just like early and even many current manufacturing plants). The sound designers knew that and went out of their way to make it an annoying reality for the characters and viewers of PlanetES.

Quick thought on Children of a Lesser God

In Children of a Lesser God, just about all of the sign language is translated verbally by a "speaking" character. I found this very helpful as I thought this movie would require using subtitles, when it almost eliminated any need for them. It also helped to smooth out the dialogue between two people, when one was using sign language, because the reiteration of what was just signed, and any gesture of emotion that is also expressed, is confirmed for the viewer by the "speaking" character.

10-30

I have been trying to pay more attention to how I watch movies and tv. I was watching a movie the other day and I thought was an interesting way to use music in the movie. The movie was about being honest with yourself and how these people are not being honest with themselves. Throughout the movie there is no music. When the characters start being honest with themselves all of a sudden they slowly start adding music. So I thought that was a cool touch. Also they tell a lot of stories in the movie and they use the story telling to take them different places by using the colleague* technique.

Solaris by Tarkovsky

This past thursday I watched Solaris by Tarkovsky. First of all this movie was awesome and I recommend it to EVERYONE! The translations were excellent, which I have not seen that done that well in any foreign films I have watched. There were so many examples in the film that go well with al the things we have talked about in class. For example there was a use of the same sci-fi sound that was used everytime the Solaris cloud itself were shown and than there was one more time when this sound came in when Kris Kelvin was on Solaris for the first time. I also thought there was a good use of leight motive through out the film. There were also excellent examples of non diajected sound, for example when at the begining of the film there was an episode where on tv they were showing a group of people that were disscusing the first trip ever to Solaris, there was also this Sci-Fi sound that I thought would play a good example of non diajetic sound. Also this movie was really big with internal sounds, where narration would fall in to both the on screen and off screen. Also another awesome thing I have noticed in the film is about sound that are familiar to us, were used in something that is unfamiliar which totally fell perfectly with the film itself talking about Solaris being this discovered, yet completely undiscovered planet.  I also thought that Tarkovsky was excellent with use of sounds for internal logic.
What an awesome film!

Some thoughts and observations provoked by Children of a Lesser God

Being hard of hearing myself, watching Children of a Lesser God (1986) was an interesting experience. It is probably the best film I have seen which focuses on the issues of deafness and hearing impairment. The sound design, in particular, serves to emphasize these issues quite well.

Internal logic, I think, is very appropriate for the sound design in a film about deaf people, especially from a philosophical point of view. Deaf people may not be able to hear sound, but they can still make sounds, they can influence the sounds others make, and they can also influence the way hearing people experience sound. While the film is approached from the perspective of a hearing person (James Leeds), for much of the film he is trying to get inside the head of a deaf person. Because it is impossible for anyone to actually see inside a person’s mind, it is absolutely essential for the filmmakers to show this through sound (I speak not specifically about the inside of the mind of a deaf person, but simply the inside of the mind of anyone). This is why the internal logic in Children of a Lesser God works so well.

Children of a Lesser God, I think, gives a very good depiction of the fears and frustrations which can be caused by deafness — or by even just relatively slight hearing impediments. I, fortunately, am by no means as bad off as any of the deaf/hard-of-hearing characters depicted in the film. Since I was very young I have experienced difficulties with hearing, which have, over the years, caused me to develop certain fears and inhibitions. For much of my life I have had a terrible time trying to understand what people say (unless it is quiet and I am only a few feet away from the person). Often, this has led to me simply guessing what people are saying, which sometimes produces awkward situations if I guess incorrectly (the equally unsavory alternative is for me to ask someone repeat what they said, sometimes three or four or five times before I hear it correctly). Because of this, I have conditioned myself to avoid situations where I might have to carry out a conversation with someone. It is largely because of this that, although I consider myself a hearing member of the community, I have grown accustomed to distancing myself from people socially. I’ve developed a total inhibition against speaking in a public area or in a group or class (whether it is quiet or not), and this inhibition is very difficult to overcome after so many years of conditioning (even though I have absolutely no difficulty speaking). I suppose I’m afraid of hearing incorrectly what others say, and am hesitant to speak because of this (too often in the past I have said the wrong thing because I misheard). Even with my hearing aid, I still sometimes have a difficult time being able to understand what other people are saying, particularly if there is a lot of background noise — my hearing aid helps me hear what people are saying, but it also picks up many other noises, and since I spent a large part of my life not hearing such noises, they pose a major distraction to me (consequently, I am sometimes just as bad off with a hearing aid as I am without one). This paragraph might be misconstrued as a divagation from a discussion of the sonic elements in Children of a Lesser God, but I think it perfectly sets up the final point I wish to make about internal logic:

With many of the examples of internal logic in the film, the background noises went away, removing sonic distractions from what the filmmaker intended us to concentrate on. Sound tends to either focus or clutter our attention capabilities. Similarly, whether I wear my hearing aid or not generally depends on the situation in which I find myself at any given moment. It all depends on what you want to concentrate on (do I really want/need to listen to the high frequencies made by the ventilation system when I’m trying to write?). I’m reminded of the British poet Philip Larkin, who, while Head Librarian at the University of Hull, would always turn his hearing aid off whenever he attended required meetings…so he could read Tolstoy’s War and Peace and ignore the meeting…

Children of a lesser God

I thought the angle of a hearing persons perspective made for an interesting soundscape. It was a little distracting every once and a while that the background noise was so loud, but maybe that was the point. I liked how they made the Bach a recurring motive throughout the movie. It's kind of hard to focus in on the specific sounds other then the music.

Ba boom a rang rang rang

I thought the end of the Children of a Lesser God was done well with how the audio synchronized with the different emotional changes between Sarah and James.  Starting with the loud dance music fading away as they get closer to each other about to talk, followed by the crickets fading in to enhance the tension.  Then after they both say they're sorry to each other, the music comes in to add sincereness.  After they apologize and start walking away, noise from a group of boys messing around in the background fades in and the camera shot shows only the guys for a few seconds to break the tension.  It then cuts to Sarah and James walking away while you can still hear the boys from a distance.  I think the overall sequence of sounds fading in and out from each other augments the emotions of the two characters greatly.

Children of a Lesser God

Before we started watching children of a lesser god, we talked about how the sound designers were telling the story strictly from a hearing persons point of view because they never exploited the possibility of having complete silence. While this is true from in a literal sense, I do believe they did show what it might be like to be deaf in a different sense. I am talking about in particular the scene where James goes to an (almost) all deaf party with Sara. This scene was unnerving to me because of how quiet it was and how different that is from any party I've ever been to. Sure there were plates rattling together as they were set in the sink and beer fizzing after recently being opened, but it still seemed awkwardly silent for a hearing person. Having a scene where silence underscores people moving their mouths would have been trivial and more likely represented the experience of being behind glass, or wearing headphones while someone is talking, but this scene reverses the poles and makes the hearing person (James) the odd one out. Forcing him to watch hand gestures fly from every direction as he stands in silence, just like everyone else.

Football game and Life as we Know it

So we watched that movie in class and we are suppose to blog about it, but the thing is it was so hard for me to watch that movie because it took all my focus on the sine language and trying to link it all together, that I couldn't focus my attention on sound/music with visual. I think I was mostly focused on the visual part. On that note I can not give specific examples of sound use in that film, so I will focus this blog on a recent footbal game and Life as we know it, movie that I watched this week. Just now while watching some footbal game with my client, I have noticed all over examples of  audiovisual dissonance, in particular the commentators were disscussing a figure/buildness of one of the players ( the shot for couple seconds was of that player) and than they still continued disscussing his physical features, when the shot has shifted towards the field and both teams, getting ready for deffense.  In the movie Life as we Know it there were many elements of sonic flow, inparticular internal and external logic.  For example the scene where Holly was reading a book to Sofy and it was the quite scene, where they were both sitting on the bad, and all you could hear is clock ticking, pages turning and Holly's voice, this scene in the movie before it actually happened symbolized that something big will happen, because the change of pace, scenery and overall lighting/mood, and it did because  little Sofy called Holly mom even though she wasn't her mom. I felt like this could be a good example of both external and internal logic.

Coming To America

While watching Coming To America, there are a few non-diegetic, element of auditory setting sounds added to portray the quality of the apartment building they are being shown.  When the landlord shows the tenants that there's only one bathroom that everyone shares, he opens the door and you can hear the sound of flies swarming in the bathroom, but they don't show any.  When the landlord shows them the actual apartment, you can hear police sirens in the background to enhance how bad the neighborhood is.  The clip I'm explaining starts at 1:15, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjjoVAgqp4s

The Show Must Go On

The Show Must Go On is a Korean film about a gangster who has trouble balancing his brutal life at work and his family life at home. Throughout the movie, there is a polka theme that gets played often, and it is always juxtaposed against a tragic scene for the main character. For most of the film, this music serves to exemplify the silliness of a scene, like a scene where he gets into a knife fight in a convenience store but he doesn't have a knife so he is forced to throw boxes of cookies at his offenders. The music helps the audience focus on the fact that he used a snack as a weapon and not that he ended up with a rather severe stab wound.

At the end of the movie, the main character ends up staying with the mob to fiscally support his son and daughter as they study abroad in Canada. The stress of being married to a mobster causes his wife to leave him to stay with their offspring as they study, leaving him alone in Korea. In the final scene, he receives a home movie from his family in Canada. As he watches it, his attitude goes from excited and happy to get news from his family, to sad and angry about the fact that he will never join them in Canada. He throws his bowl of noodles to the floor, he knocks over a speaker, but the tape plays on without any concern for his tragic obligation. He realizes this, calms down, and proceeds to clean up the mess he made. As he does this the polka music starts to play.

This musical theme functions with eternal logic, though not with the main character or any character for that matter. It serves as a representation of the jubilant indifference to his suffering of ultimately life itself. But what can he do but clean up the noodles he spilled and get back to work at the job he hates. After all the show must go on.

The final scene I wrote about:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdO1rqkjvBs&t=103m16s