about the author: animation sound deconstruction

Peak from Jin / Sonnye Lim on Vimeo.

This animation uses a combination of 'real-life' / expected sound effects and atmospheric music/ soundbites to create a dark and sinister animation that does not require vocals or words to create a narrative. The sounds add so much to the atmosphere that I think they are integral to the video.

There's a few things that have come up in this animation that I have learnt from. Even when the character has left the frame the continuing sounds suggest a continuous world that exists. The volume of the sound can connote different locations, such as the sound of the wind dying down during the shot of the birds in the sky suggesting a distance from the previous action, and in the next shot the volume goes up to confirm this.


Tourist's Illuminate — Official Music Video (2014) from Nicolas Ménard on Vimeo.

I'm starting to think about the use of music as a tool in my animation. Not necessarily with vocals, as in this animation, particularly as the sting is only 15 seconds long. I like the idea of atmospheric music, which I think would suit Murakami's subtly sinister feel, but would have to consider if the music is too slow there might not be time for a suitable amount of buildup. I had a quick look at what is available on the FMA (Free Music Archive) and this seems like a good possibility.

Because the animation was made to accompany an already existing piece of music, the animation is designed to suit the sound rather than the other way around- both visually and thematically. What I notice mostly is how the animation flows to the rhythm of the music. Being mostly abstract and surreal I think there is more room for this. For example, fitting everyday actions of a figure such as walking or cooking would soon turn into an animated dance routine.

Despite being surreal and abstract there is a clear narrative that with the animation, I find, is more interesting than the music itself. The repeated animation to the chorus seems a little out of touch to the rest of the visuals though. It works as an aid to the narrative but seems to lack the imagination or rather surreal feel to the rest of the work (although I feel this is quite a nit-picky criticism, and mostly isn't noticeable).