I like the part of explanation given by Jones (the creator of Daffy Duck) about how no matter how much daffy was erased, changed, or whatever. The audience can still associate that it is daffy by the sound of his voice or his catch phrases.
Sound does play a big role in cartoons like the chapter goes on explaining. I agree totally. By watching what we've already seen in class, the atmosphere is determined by the sound in the background, whether the animation is cartoonish or realistic. Like Silly Symphonies vs. Waking Life. I've seen many animations in my life, some serious themes and others just aimed for children. Sound has played a big role in them both.
Watership Down was originally watched by myself because of my love for nature and at that time rabbits. This movie was more on the realistic aspect and with serious tone. Simon and Garfunkel was used in the middle of the movie. Their song 'Bright Eyes' was sad echoing what was going on with a young rabbit searching for his brother, the leader, who was shot by a farmer. The artwork is beautiful with a very realistic drawing of these rabbits, even animated blood. Even though as a child, the blood and the violence frighten me, now I can appreciate the story.
I would agree that sound help people identify with characters and plays a huge role, especially for Daffy Duck. I think I'd know who he was in he was invisible throughout the film, however I wonder if you've never seen Daffy Duck's cartoon before that sound would still mean the same thing. After watching the duck talk certainty when he's erased you still know that it's his distinct voice and I never considered the importance of having the audience really identify sounds. I think this is a good point to make because now I'm thinking beyond what we see in an animation but what we hear and what they want us to put together through sounds. In Silly Symphonies I think its role was very obvious and played a huge role but in Waking Life it played a huge role as well but less obvious and I found it interesting to consider the two.
ReplyDeleteMy father had an old ripped up paperback version of Watership Down. It had always intrigued me because it had obviously been read many times but I never read it as it was very long. I didn't know it was turned into an animated film. I think that the use of popular music in films is really interesting. It at first seems out of place but I think that the reason for it is to evoke emotion in the viewer, like Simon & Garfunkel did for you. The filmmakers turn to popular music to convey a feeling of sadness, joy, and anger, along with nostalgia, because most people can connect popular songs to a specific time and place (or feeling they had) when they first heard it. I'm not sure that I always agree with this choice of music but it is really interesting to me.
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