What is sounds relationship with animated narrative and
direction?
In order to establish and develop understanding about this
relationship we must look it’s birth. Without trying to open the can of worms
centred on the question of which was the first fully synchronised animation and sound audio-visual, the popular –
and very much disputed idea – is that Disney’s Steamboat Willie was the first.
To illustrate the passion the topic can produce, I have
found a conversation spreading from a book over to the Internet between Stephen
Cavalier, Rodney Baker and Mark Mayerson. Initially the conversation begins
when Mayerson commented on the errors found in Cavaliers’ book The World History of Animation. The blog
post commented:
‘On page 97, Cavalier says that Steamboat Willie was half finished before Disney made the
decision to make it a sound cartoon. This is wrong. The synchronization that is Steamboat Willie's great advance was due to planning the
musical beats in advance of animation.’ (Mayerson 2012)
This instigated a response from Baker via his blog that
questioned the validity of Mayersons’ comments on this particular subject.
Baker says:
‘The most compelling
evidence to suggest Cavalier is at least mostly correct is the storyboard for
‘Steamboat Willie’. Note how right after the “-Main Title” there are very
specific instructions for a live orchestra. The way it is written cannot be
instructions for and orchestra enlisted to record a sound movie because of its
suggestion to create various arrangements coupled with its emphasis to hit
certain cues. I must say it certainly reads as written for a live performing
orchestra. If the film was not intented [Intended] for live orchestra
accompaniment then this document’s origin should be considered suspect.
…My
thought: Since at this time not all theaters [theatres] were likely equipped to
play sound in sync with moving pictures, Disney probably targeted theaters [theatres]
both with and without the technology. Given that cartoons were often held onto
and reworked until they fit into proper scheduling, I think it reasonable to
say Walt Disney originally did not plan the movie to be gifted with sound but
saw the opportunity and took advantage of it. (I seem to recall the
xsheets/draft indicate several strategic additions to allow Mickey some
breathing space…. I’m willing to guess it was for sound).
At
a minimum, the storyboard suggests the author’s assertion of the film being
half way done before shifting to sound may require further thought. Knowing
Cavalier’s reference would certainly shed some more light on the subject.’
(Baker 2012)
Baker goes on to question Mayersons ability to spot
mistakes. Mayerson responded:
‘…I need to say that
not everything I note ends up being an error. Many times I question things that
turn out to be right. Rodney, my system is dead simple. When I'm reading, if I find anything
that might be wrong, I write the page number down on my bookmark. Once I'm
done, I return to the pages I've selected and then compare the information with
other books on my shelf or with information that's online…I need to say that
not everything I note ends up being an error. Many times I question things that
turn out to be right.’ (Mayerson 2012)
Cavalier accepts and lists the reasons for many of the
errors highlighted by Mayerson and says they will be amended for the new
addition of the book. With regard to Steamboat Willie, Cavalier says:
‘Steamboat Willie- In
the accounts I've read (ie Charles Solomon's Enchanted Drawings, Leonard
Maltin's Of Mice and Men), a test screening was arranged with the film, in
Disney’s words, 'half finished'. The silent film was projected and the sound
effects were produced live in another room. The audience reaction was very
positive and they then went ahead with the production. As this was a test as to
whether the sound worked with an audience, then it seems to me that the
decision about viability of sound hadn't been fully made at that point.’
(Mayerson 2012)
Finally, Mayerson responded with:
‘No one disputes that
Steamboat Willie had a proof of concept screening when it was half finished to
see if the idea of synchronized sound would work with animation. However, on
page 97 you wrote, "The movie was already finished as a silent short
before Disney had the idea to make it a synchronized sound film." The
decision to make Steamboat Willie with sound was made before the short was
started, as everything in the film is animated to a musical beat.’ (Mayerson
2012)
The significance of the subject and the way people define the different areas of audio present in animation could be
causing the confusion. Mayersons last comment doesn’t expend on what type of sound was decided on, though he
hints that it was a musical score [albeit through tempo] rather than a sound
effect. This is important for a number of reasons; a live orchestra could play
a musical score. Sound effects, one would assume, would be more difficult, as a
musical score playing at a certain tempo could keep in time with the animation
if it, and Kaufman (1997) confirms this. Meaning the music may not have been
pre-determined in its finished form, but merely a foundation for a score to be
produced from. In his book Animators
Survival Kit Richard Williams describes the process of sound
synchronisation development in two phases:
The first - ‘The Felix cartoons led straight to the
arrival of Walk Disney, and in 1928, Micky Mouse took off with his appearance
in Steamboat Willie – the first
cartoon with synchronised sound.’
[Emphasis added on the latter]
The second - ‘Disney followed Steamboat Willie with
The Skeleton Dance. For the first time, action was co-ordinated with a proper
musical score.’ (Williams 2009 p.18)
Steve Roberts talks about the relationship between sound and
animation and also makes the assertion that Steamboat Willie was somehow the
first animated production.
‘Ever since the very first animated productions, Disneys
steamboat Mickey and Fischinger’s abstract film Brahm’s Hungarian Dances, it
was clear that there is a strong relationship between animation and music. This
relationship can be explained on two accounts. First both elements have a basic
mathematical foundation and move at a determined speed. Second, since animation
is created manually frame-by-frame, it can be fitted to music in a very exact
manner. It is further able to capture its rhythm, its mood and hit the beat
right to the frame. Most animation makes good use of this advantage.’ (Halas and Whittaker 1981 p.130)
Where Roberts uses the term production, it’s difficult to
establish if he means a production with sound or production in general. If it’s
the latter this is incredibly hard to believe considering Felix the Cat and
Ko-Ko the Clown had been produced since 1924, whereas Steamboat Willie was
produced in 1928 (McLaughlin 2001). J.B. Kaufman highlights the ambiguous
nature of the topic further. In the paper, The
Transcontinental making of the barn dance, he states:
‘It is an unbroken rule in film history: for every
film that has achieved recognition as a classic or milestone, other equally
noteworthy films lie forgotten in the shadows. The early “Mickey Mouse”
cartoons of Walt Disney are a case in point.’ (Kaufman 1997 p.36)
Steamboat Willie did have two predecessors, Plane Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho, but these were not released until after Steamboat
Willie. The reasoning was ‘that Disney could, technically, approach
distributors with three sound films…However,
of the three, only Steamboat Willie had been designed to exploit the sound
medium to maximum effect.’ Referring to the previous discussion above between
Baker, Cavalier and Mayerson, this ‘design’ was that of a pre-planned beat.
‘Dinner
Time [by Paul
Terry] (1928) is perhaps the most significant cartoon in animation
history that no one has ever seen. It was one of the few synchronized sound
cartoons produced before (though released after) Disney’s Steamboat Willie. It played a small but pivotal part in Walt Disney’s creation
of his first Mickey Mouse sound cartoon. It was this film, shown to Walt in New
York on the cusp of recording his track for Steamboat
Willie, that gave him the
confidence to press on with his plans.’ (Brewmasters 2008)
There is however another that claims to be the first sound
cartoon, and that is Max Fleischers Ko-Ko song car-tunes. Some had been made
and recorded with the Phonofilm sound-on-film process in 1924 (Furniss 2007).
However, watching these back one can clearly see that animation and sound isn’t
synchronised effectively and doesn’t inform the timing or pacing of the
animation. The only aspect synced with any unified purpose is the ‘famous
bouncing ball’ (as it states on the DVD casing). The process for creating the
effect of the bouncing ball is told by Bernard Fleischer (son of Lou
Fleischer):
‘They worked out a situation where they put the
lyrics on a drum, which would be turned as needed, and my dad had a laton[?
Stick] which was all black except it had a white ball on the end, and he wore a
black glove and he would actually bounce the ball and the drum would turn to
the next set of lyrics.’ (Fleicher 2002)
The only truly synced part of the shorts was not animated. This explains the
expression of calling them series ‘The first sound cartoon ever!’ This is an important distinction. The term
sound, void of synchronised, is the first and opposing stage of the
relationship between action and audio. Audio has no influence on
performance and is merely an accompaniment. This stage would also include Plane
Crazy and The Gallopin’ Gaucho because they had been animated with no pre-planning for audio
synchronisation, as the idea to include this was an afterthought (Kaufman
1997). The second stage could be seen as what Richard Williams calls the First
phase, where sound and action are synchronised at a predetermined level. The second stage can
appear quite ambiguous, especially when you could consider both Steamboat
Willie and The Skeleton Dance to be in the latter despite having clear
differences. Although Williams says The Skeleton Dance followed Steamboat
Willie, in this regard he means in animation innovation as opposed to a
chronological release and production. As Kaufman (1997) highlights there were
other Mickey Mouse releases after Steamboat Willie such as The Barn Dance.
The Silly Symphonies, as Williams (2009) describes, sees
music take a more central role rather than the extended accompaniment
previously. According to Mayerson (2006), a reason for this is ‘because the
marriage of picture and sound was one of the main selling points of cartoons in
the early '30's, directors had to deal with musical beats in order to make the
films work.’ To find what ignited the prominence of music as a central driving force for the action we have to look
back to Steamboat Willie.
‘He [Disney] knew that, if steamboat Willie did
achieve a popular success, it would be essential to follow it up immediately
with other films… The first, unsuccessful recording session for steamboat
Willie had taken place on 15 September and, after hearing results, Walt had a
much better understanding of post-synchronization. The main problem was not
synchronizing the music – which rolled along at a steady, predictable tempo –
but synchronizing the sound effects, which popped up at random intervals and
difficult to anticipate.’ (Kaufman 1997 pp.37-38)
It was only natural that Disney would evolve into the Silly
Symphonies. Disney was very conscious of not repeating gags and staying ahead of the competition
(Kaufman 1997) and this is not surprising.
In search for the differentiation to separate the two types
of predetermined sound – action relationships (stage two), the Warner Bros
offer a similar reflection. Maureen Furniss cites Scott Curtis
‘… He finds that ‘ostensibly’ the Warner Bros.
series split worked on the same principle as disney’s, that is, action taking precedence in the Looney
Tunes and music guiding action in
the “Merry Melodies” … He also indicates that, while most of the scoring for
the “Looney Tunes” series was recorded after the production of images, the
music director was still consulted at the beginning of the process, so that
timing could be indicated on sheets of written music.’ (Furniss 2007 p.104)
The two statements present the central difference. Music guiding action can be seen as the third and final stage. Where action holds
narrative importance, such as Steamboat Willie, it should be seen as action
taking precedence, and The Silly Symphonies, can be seen as music guiding
action. Although Steamboat Willie was designed to exploit sound with the
pre-planned beat, it only holds up for part of the film and falls back to be
freed from the musical structure, allowing action to be timed freely. The
Skeleton Dance however, uses both musical timing and pitch as a means to
manipulate movement from start to finish, and although with a linear narrative
structure (start and end), the importance of the action is secondary to the music,
and it’s the last statement that defines the third stage.
However, music guiding action was not without its issues,
according to Maureen Furniss who cites Chuck Jones in Animation Aesthetics
(2007), the concept of sound driving action developed the expression ‘Micky Mousing’, which was ‘being used to
describe a situation when sound and visual elements are deemed to be too
tightly matched.’ Thus, ‘music guiding action’ became a limited technique and
is often saved for more abstract and non-linear narratives. It is still
important for budding animators to learn as John Kricfalusi points out:
‘I'm convinced that the quickest way to learn the
basics of animation is to start by animating fundamental animation techniques
using rubber hose designs. I mean Hell, it worked for all the greatest
animators in our history. It could work for you too and you the advantage
because you have their stuff to study. They didn't have any reference. They
were making it up from scratch through trial and error. Animating to a regular
beat teaches you: … Rhythmic timing: it feels better- imagine a song
with no beat, it wouldn't be much fun. It would meander. General timing - you
get used to what different amounts of frames feel like - what 12x feels like as
opposed to 8x. Classic animators and directors were like drummers. They
automatically thought of their scenes as rhythms and that helped make their
timing so crisp.’ (Kricfalusi 2007)
Just as the first conversation above illustrates, it can
produce a heated discussion among animation historians. And although Cavaliers
information was incorrect, it is still the ambiguous nature of the topic that
causes such debates. Searching the question ‘what was the first animated sound
film?’ and one is presented with a variety of responses, each claiming to be
correct – and all could be – depending on the interpretation of the definition of the word synchronised. Paul
Wells suggests the narrative and action relationship could be seen as the
Chicken and Egg question, he says:
‘In arguing for the autonomy of the composer and
music itself, Halas fundamentally drew attention to animations ‘Chicken or Egg’
question – Should music be written and recorded before the animation, or
synchronized after? In the first instance, the soundtrack essentially
delineates the nature of the visuals, as evident in the more abstract works,
which have often used music formally as a creative stimulus or a kind of
illustration, either of the lyrics of a song or of a popular, often narrative
based or symbolically charged instrument melody. In the latter instance, the
soundtrack is always subservient to the needs of the visuals with regard to the
post-dubbing lip – synced dialog, diegetic sound or atmospheric,
mood-determining music.’ (Coyle 2010 p.45)
Conclusion
In searching for a place to start my master’s program, I
first had thoughts surrounding where my previous research had ended. Sounds
relationship to narrative and performance had influenced the results, and my
curiosity and need for further understanding of why it played such an
influential role seemed a logical place to start. I had anticipated this would
be where my research this year would lead. After further rationalising I realised
the sound – narrative relationship in all its forms (abstract, linear and
non-linear) would be too big from initial research. Realising I want to use
this opportunity to produce a piece of animated character performance to a
portfolio standard, I decided the best approach would be to explore the first
steps of sound and animation synchronisation and move on.
The relationship between sound and animation was an evolving
process. Evidence of this is apparent by the multiple ideas expressed from
various sources explaining which was the first synchronised sound animation.
Each of the ideas can be acceptable, but only through merit with clear
definition (which most have struggled to define). Through the course of the
document the interpretations have been categorised into three stages:
1) Action
and Audio = no pre-determined concept of sound integration with action, but
sound can be added later. The narrative takes complete lead over action. (Max
Fleicher’s My Old Kentucky Home; Disney’s Gallopin’ Gaucho and Plane Crazy;
Beuren Studios’ Dinner time)
2) Co-ordinated
Action and Sound = some pre-determined concept of sound in the planning stage,
but action/narrative takes majority lead role. (Steamboat Willie)
3) Music
guiding Action = Pre-determined concept of sound in the planning stage and
takes lead over any narrative forms and ideas. (The Skeleton Dance (Silly
Symphonies) and Merry Melodies)
Each process can be interpreted
as synchronisation. Each stage involves a relationship between the visual and
audio senses. In the quest to answer ‘which was the first’, further into the
discussion (outside of this document) one can see how technology allowed
progression onto the next stage. This can also influence an individual’s
response to the question. This has been purposely avoided in this discussion
because the overall objective was to rationalise sounds influence on narrative
and establish the different forms of the relationship. These forms were
explored and evolved when sound was exploited for market purposes.
In answer the bigger question, why did the audio affect the
outcome of the animation in my previous research? It is clear by the three
identified stages that the third stage had been used as the process. Using
pre-recorded audio had shaped the action, timing and performance. I had highlighted this at the time, but
what I didn’t understand was the context of the process and its relationship
with other processes. Now I understand the context, my future research and
practice will produce better-informed choices.
Bibliography
Coyle, R., 2010. Drawn
to Sound. London: Equinox.
Furniss, M., 2007. Art
in Motion: Animation Aesthetics. Revised ed. Eastleigh UK: John Libbey.
Furniss, M., 2008. The
Animation Bible. London: Lawrence King.
Kaufman, J.B., 1997. The Transcontinental Making of the Barn
Dance. Animation Journal, 5(2),
pp.36-44
Max Fleischer’s Ko-Ko
Song Car-tunes, 2002. [DVD]. Morley Avenue, Michigan: Inkwell Images, 2002.
[Region 0]
Halas, J. and Whittaker, H., 1981. Timing for Animation. Focal Press.
Williams, R., 2009. The
Animators Survival Kit. Expanded ed. London: Faber and Faber.
