The Little Caterpillar That Could

READING AND WRITING

Continuing on in Liz Blazer's Animated Storytelling, Blazer discusses the importance of sound in animation. In a scene, there can be two types of sound design, diegetic and non-diegetic. Diegetic sound is anything that can be seen in the shot that can make noise: dialogue, music, and sound effects. The sounds of honking in a busy NYC street. The background chatter of a popular coffee shop. The Beastie Boys playing on an old-school radio as someone breakdances. Non-diegetic sound entails anything not visible or has no connection to the story. For example, narration that helps set a scene, or the epic battle music that plays during a war scene.

Let's break down diegetic sound further:

Sound Effects: These can be quite addictive to add to any piece, but overuse will kill the story. Just like color, movement, and story structure, sound effects need to be carefully planned. Pushing beyond literal meanings, sometimes sound effects can be used metaphorically. Blazer provides a common example of a criminal caught in the act, with the sounds of sirens and helicopters in the distance to signal being trapped.

Music: Music can have such a drastic effect on the emotion of a scene, to the point where the same shot can change drastically just by the music choice. The "volume" also has sway as well. Sometimes you don't even notice that music is playing in a scene but somehow if it wasn't there, you would notice. And of course, you can go completely off the rails and have music that is the absolute opposite of what is happening, like happy music when a murder is happening.

Dialogue: When it comes to animation, no dialogue is better. But, if it needs to be used then it needs to be simple and meaningful. It should match the character's personality and speak in a way that mimics how conversations go in real life.

As I've said before, the possibilities with animation are limitless because you can create the rules. Can purple monkeys skateboard upside-down? Absolutely. Do people foot-five each other instead of high-five? Sure, totally normal. The audience will believe all of it, so long as you stay consistent with the rules of your design.

Providing the viewer with a defined time and place is the basis of your world. Then you can consider physical, social, and visual "laws." For example, no gravity in mountains, or children don't go to school until they're 13. Don't be afraid to get inspired by what's out there, and let it foster your imagination.

RESEARCH TO INFORM

The Emperor's New Groove is one of my favorite animated films for a number of reasons, mostly because there are some great quotable lines (A llama!? He's supposed to be DEAD). The sound effects here are really great, and I don't know how to explain this but they sound like textbook animation SFX.

You don't have to watch the whole thing, but you can get the gist after a minute or two.

The cool thing about sci-fi shows is that the world can be created however you want, without the limitations of reality. Also, there can be a series of sounds or music that you automatically associate with a character or place once you hear it. In Star Trek, the Borg ships have an ambiance to them that you can pick up with your eyes closed. Lots of hissing, whirring, machine, and robotic noises, some of which you can barely hear and others you definitely can.

This has some freaky imagery, so if you're grossed out easily don't watch!

This I wanted to include because it uses non-diegetic sound (narration) accompanied by non-diegetic music. No sound effects and no ambient noise, but it still gets the emotion across.

As far as animation with text, I love Ji Lee's work. He animates words in a way that relates to the meaning of the word, like the oo in balloon floating from the word balloon.

In a time where TV show intros either barely exist, or are over a minute long (there's no in-between), some short and simple sequences can be the most striking. Take Black Mirror for example. It's just a text animation of the words Black Mirror, but pair that with the audio and then the mirror cracking effect, and it can leave a chill down your spine.

CREATE

I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to actually filming the animation. Despite it being my first time ever doing this, I wanted to challenge myself to only use materials that I already had (no buying anything new), whether it be from my craft bin or outdoors.

I knew I was going to have to get creative with the setup of the camera, which was slightly challenging. I ended up attaching my flexible tripod to the top of a porch chair, pointing it directly down at almost a 90-degree angle. Part of the chair leg was in the shot, so I had to cover it with mulch in order to hide it in the scene.

I had to play around with how much to move the objects for each frame. I was moving them too much at first and had to reshoot with smaller movements. Also, I kept accidentally knocking around the mulch, which of course ruined the continuity of it. The egg and caterpillar were small, and it was tough to move them without ruining another part of the scene. Eventually, I got tweezers to help with placement.

This of course is far from perfect, and the perfectionist in me was screaming, but it was really fun to do and it sparked an interest for me. I'm planning some new stories already!