Drawn to Sound: Animation Film Music and Sonicity

Edited by

Rebecca Coyle † [+–]

Rebecca Coyle published on screen music and sound in a number of journals and books, including two anthologies on Australian feature film music. She was the editor of Screen Sound, the Australasian Journal of Soundtrack Studies and on the editorial board for such international journals as Convergence and Music and the Moving Image. She taught in the Media programme at Southern Cross University, Australia, until her death in November 2012.

Animation films are produced around the world and attract sizeable audiences and much critical acclaim. No longer marginalized in genres such as children’s or propaganda films, they are increasingly the subject of academic study. At the same time, attention has turned to the music and sound, which contribute to both the emotional impact and the narrative drive, as well as the marketing appeal, of such films. This ground-breaking volume bridges these two fields and also positions animation-film sound and music in the context of the screen and music industries. Animation experts like Paul Wells and Daniel Goldmark and film-music authorities including Philip Hayward, Ian Inglis and Janet Halfyard provide international perspectives on the history and aesthetics of music and sound in animation film.

Drawn to Sound focuses on feature-length, widely distributed films released in the period since World War II, from producers in the USA, UK, Japan and France – from Animal Farm (1954) to Happy Feet (2006), Yellow Submarine (1968) to Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Spirited Away (2001) and Les Triplettes de Belleville (2003). It spotlights important studios, including Disney, DreamWorks, Aardman Animation and Studio Ghibli, and composers, both those who collaborate personally with director and those whose music is used to provide period or mood atmospheres.

Series: Genre, Music and Sound

Prelims

Acknowledgements vii

Rebecca Coyle † FREE

About the Authors ix-xi

Rebecca Coyle † FREE

Introduction: Audio Motion: Animating (Film) Sound [+–] 1-22

Rebecca Coyle † FREE

This book spotlights animation as an audio-visual film form but positions the focus on its audio elements.

Part I: Scoring Animation Film

1 “Everybody Scream!”: Tim Burton’s Animated Gothic-Horror Musical Comedies [+–] 25-39

Janet K. Halfyard £17.50

Birmingham Conservatoire

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Janet K. Halfyard is a Senior Academic in Music at Birmingham Conservatoire. She has published widely on film and television music, particularly in relation to horror and fantasy genres. Her publications include Danny Elfman’s Batman: a film score guide (Scarecrow, 2004) and Music, Sound and Silence in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Ashgate, 2010).

This chapter discusses the working practices involved in realizing the films and the way in which both Burton and Elfman place their individually distinctive imprint on the outcomes in truly collaborative works. It examines the ways in which music and songs help to structure the films themselves and allow humour and horror to be juxtaposed.

2 Halas & Batchelor’s Sound Decisions: Musical Approaches in the British Context [+–] 40-59

Paul Wells £17.50

This chapter explores Halas & Batchelor’s responses to different animated musical forms over time and, most importantly, analyse the particular approach to animation soundtracks within the British context, set against its more well-known and acknowledged American cartoon counterparts.

3 An Animated Partnership: Joe Hisaishi’s Musical Contributions to Hayao Miyazaki’s Films [+–] 60-74

Kyoko Koizumi £17.50

Otsuma Womens University

Kyoko Koizumi is an associate professor of music at Otsuma Womens University, Tokyo, Japan. She received her PhD from the University of London Institute of Education. Her research interests include youth studies of popular music and film music studies.

This chapter investigates the musical styles and idioms of Hisaishi’s scores for Miyazaki’s animated films as a way of analysing them.

Part II: Musical Intertextuality

4 Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed… Something Blue: The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine [+–] 77-89

Ian Inglis £17.50

University of Northumbria

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Ian Inglis is Visiting Fellow in the School of Arts & Social Sciences at the University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne. His most recent books include The Words and Music of George Harrison (2010), Popular Music and Television in Britain (2010) and The Beatles in Hamburg (2012). His first novel Clay Lake is scheduled for publication in 2012.

Yellow Submarine’s assembly of musical items – some old songs from the group’s previous records, some ‘borrowed’ and recycled from its store of discarded material, some new instrumental segments – was at the time difficult for a general popular-music audience to recognize as an authentic Beatles product. Furthermore, its collection of nursery-rhyme, music-hall, Indian-derived, rock, pop, psychedelic and orchestral styles defied any attempts at easy categorization. However, although audiences may have been deterred by these apparent inconsistencies, there is little doubt that for those involved in its production, the interplay between music and animation was crucial to its eventual ‘classic’ status.

5 Polar Grooves: Dance, Music and Musicality in Happy Feet [+–] 90-103

Philip Hayward £17.50

Southern Cross Univeristy

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Philip Hayward has taught film and popular music studies in Australia and the United Kingdom and is Professor and Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) at Southern Cross University, Australia. His previous books include Off The Planet: Music, Sound and Science Fiction Cinema (2004) and he is a performer in an avant garde chainsaw quartet performing work written by composer Michael Hannan.

This chapter analyses the operation of the “accidental musical” text of the film. It considers the nature of the ‘iconic’ songs presented, the role of tap-dancing in relation to these and, in conclusion, how these relate to the eco-political messages that are heavily inscribed within the text.

6 Minstrelsy and Musical Framing in Who Framed Roger Rabbit [+–] 104-119

Neil Lerner £17.50

WFRR brings the traditions of cartoons and minstrelsy together, although it is not the first example of animation to indulge in the imagery and racism of minstrelsy. The film contains several elements of minstrel performances: singing, dancing, telling jokes, and while there is no direct representation of blackening the face with burnt cork, some more implicit vestiges of that part of minstrelsy may remain in WFRR’s use of ape imagery.

7 An Aesthetic of Ambiguity: Musical Representation of Indigenous Peoples in Disney’s Brother Bear [+–] 120-137

Janice Esther Tulk £17.50

This chapter first provides a brief overview of the representation of indigenous peoples in film. It turns to the animated film Brother Bear and demonstrates that the scripted motifs have antecedents in the folklore of several indigenous cultures.

Part III: Music and Sonicity

8 Sonic Nostalgia and Les Triplettes de Belleville [+–] 141-159

Daniel Goldmark £17.50

Les Triplettes de Belleville is the story of two historical eras – the nostalgic past and the crushing present – that intersect on two continents. The film thrives on nostalgia largely based on a narrative element introduced early in the film with a single line of dialogue. Presented as a function of memory, the idea of nostalgia relies heavily on sound design to establish connections to the characters’ past, to distant history, to other places altogether.

9 Resilient Appliances: Sound, Image and Narrative in The Brave Little Toaster [+–] 160-173

Jon Fitzgerald,Philip Hayward £17.50

Southern Cross University

Jon Fitzgerald is an associate professor at Southern Cross University, Lismore, and a practising guitarist and composer. He has previously written on a variety of musical topics and is author of Popular Music: Theory and Musicianship (1999).

This chapter analyses The Brave Little Toaster’s uses of sound and music, locates these within the interrelated threads of its narrative themes and references to animation history and, offers a perspective on its production moment and the changing character of the latetwentieth- century animation industry.

10 Lupin III and the Gekiban Approach: Western-styled Music in a Japanese Format [+–] 174-187

Kentaro Imada £17.50

Lupin III comprises several television anime series and theatrically released films that were screened in Japan over a twenty-five-year period. This chapter analyses gekiban (dramatic accompaniment), the music used in Japanese animated films, by examining the Lupin III film products.

Part IV: Music and Industrial Contexts

11 DreamWorking Wallace & Gromit: Musical Thematics in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit [+–] 191-208

Rebecca Coyle †,Sarah P. Morris £17.50

Wallace and Gromit are the claymation characters devised by British animation director Nick Park. This chapter charts an aspect of Aardman’s transition to feature-film productions in Hollywood through an exploration of the music approach employed in Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

12 Cowboy Bebop: Corporate Strategies for Animation Music Products in Japan [+–] 209-222

Aki Yamasaki £17.50

This chapter examines recent trends in animation soundtrack CD sales in Japan in relation to the distinctive character of the animation business. Animation music is well supported in Japan due to industry factors that impact on the sound of animation films.

13 Disney Does Broadway: Musical Storytelling in The Little Mermaid and The Lion King [+–] 223-248

Rebecca Coyle †,Jon Fitzgerald £17.50

Southern Cross University

This chapter discusses approaches to the place and role of music in The Little Mermaid, and analyses some of the specific techniques employed in the songs and orchestral score. It then discusses the ways in which The Lion King successfully adapted and extended these approaches, using additional musical elements.

End Matter

Index 249-258

Rebecca Coyle † FREE

Reviews

‘As the first of its kind, this anthology will be an invaluable resource for students, teachers and researchers in film, animation, culture, music and media studies.’
Rick Altman, Professor Cinema and Comparative Literature, University of Iowa

'The collection as a whole is good, and the four chapters in the "Musical Intertextuality" section are among the most engaging and well written. Given the broad range of animated films considered - included among them a number of familiar blockbusters - this collection would function well as a resource for introductory courses dedicated to music in animated films. Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, general readers.'
S.C. Pelkey, Western Michigan University, CHOICE, December 2010, Vol. 48, No. 04

'Presents itself as a long-overdue and most welcome addition to the existing scholarship on animation, film, and film music studies, and offers a wealth of information suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate students and academics across a variety of disciplines.'
Áine Mangaoang in Music, Sound and the Moving Image, 5.2, Autumn 2011

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