Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
kevin magee s0342560 sound and fixed media submission 2 – film sound analysis I will be focussing my essay on the Tom and Jerry short cartoons from the Hanna-Barbera era (1940-1957), which relied heavily on the use of a musical score to illustrate and emphasise the characters actions, intentions and emotions. It is a fast passed ‘cat and mouse’ style cartoon, with Tom and Jerry switching roles as the hunter and the hunted throughout the piece, and with an orchestral score composed by Scott Bradley making up the vast majority of sound present throughout. The score is extremely effective in emphasising sudden changes in the mood of the piece, and it is hard to imagine the cartoons without it. Notably, the characters very rarely speak, which means the score and sound effects have considerably more information to convey than what is normal in a cartoon, or any piece of television for that matter. The success of the cartoon is further testament to the skill of Bradley as a composer, as it won a record 7 Academy Awards in the animated feature bracket. The sound designer for the early Tom and Jerry Cartoons, Scott Bradley, was a classically trained composer, pianist and conductor, and spent most of his working life composing scores for MGM studios. He composed an impressive 262 pieces1 in his career but was unaccredited on a shockingly large number of works1 that he contributed to, which is hard to understand considering his impact primarily on the Tom and Jerry cartoons. Although Bradley composed primarily with orchestral instruments, in many instances throughout an episode a real world sound effect will be used to add detail to the events on screen, such as that of smashing glass as Tom’s teeth are shattered after trying to bite a turtle. But more on that later! As televisions became more affordable in the late 1950s, short animated features such as Tom and Jerry became less popular for cinema release, and as a result the studio producing the cartoons (MGM) was forced to close their cartoon division, and settle by showing re-runs of older shows until 1960. When MGM decided to commission new Tom and Jerry cartoons, a different director and animation/sound team were commissioned, which resulted in a wholly different style of cartoon2. In my opinion, under new direction and with a different crew, the post 1957 cartoons became a poorly executed parody of those created by Hanna and Barbera. Although still relying on music and sound for dramatic effect, it was now undoubtedly a secondary mechanism, and with speech now a prevalent factor, the magic of the old cartoons that won Hanna and Barbera 7 Academy Awards was lost. Watching a full episode of the post ’57 cartoons3, I could barely force a smile, and the score (as well as the animation and story) was distinctly less impressive. The score in the latter cartoons is considerably simpler, often with only a single instrument playing at one time, which pales in comparison to the scores produced in the Bradley era. This could have been a result of the monetary resources available to the studio at the time; Scott Bradley after all often made use of a 20 piece orchestra2 which couldn’t have been cheap! Like most young kids, growing up I was an avid fan of cartoons and it has been an interesting trip revisiting these shows and watching with a more critical and appreciative eye. I have realised the unbelievable skill and hard work that went into creating the cartoons, when I previously took them for granted. The success of the Tom and Jerry franchise during the early years was undoubtedly down to numerous elements, however without any bias, the sound design and compositions found in each episode is quite outstanding, with Scott Bradley using many styles and moods of music to great effect. One could argue that Bradley should have attained more recognition for his contribution to not only the MGM productions, but also to sound design for animation in general. Before Bradley began to compose a musical score to the animation projects he worked on, the normal approach in the business was quite different, with pop songs of the time being used as more of a backing track to the animations, along with sound effects to enhance actions3. So when Bradley approached his producer with an idea to create an individual score to accompany and enhance the animation3, one can imagine the conflict that may have been present here. However, the skill of Bradley as a composer clearly won the confidence of those working on the project, and the rest is history. Bradley was also allowed to score the music as the animators were working, so perhaps he was able to collaborate with the animators in order for the piece to flow more freely as a whole, along with his proposals for the score. This is clearly a fine achievement for a sound designer, as the sound element of a project is often overlooked in favour of visuals, or at least taken for granted. The following analysis will look at why Bradley’s scores are effective in more detail. The opening scene in the Oscar winning ‘Yankee Doodle Mouse’ 4 begins at a frenetic pace, with Tom chasing Jerry through the house. Almost exclusively in Bradley’s scores, the pace of the music directly corresponds with the actions of the characters, with this scene a perfect example. The music is also very fast passed and busy, which effectively represents and enhances the chase scene. Interestingly, the music that follows the action in the first scene is almost a seamless continuation of the title music, which gives the viewer no time to breath as the action starts immediately, resulting in an exciting start to the episode. Very often there is also a rhythmic relationship between the characters actions (footsteps for example) and the beat in the music. This factor is used effectively with the sound effect elements in many scenes, such as a cymbal crashing when a character is hit with a pan, or when Tom falls down a staircase in this episode5. In this case, a thud is made each time Tom hits a stair on his way down, in time with the score. This adds continuity to the action, and adds excitement as both the visual and aural elements of the piece are working in harmony. Again, a few seconds later we see Tom still in pursuit of his little friend/foe and he is clawing at the floor for grip as Jerry slips away in to a hole in the wall. As was the case when falling down the stairs, each claw scrape is in time with the score, notably in quite a complex rhythm. The fact that Bradley’s score is in such harmony with the visual action is a clear indication that the cartoons were a collaborative effort between all parties, and this was surely an integral factor in its success. Thirty-six seconds into the episode, Jerry has found sanctuary in a hole in the wall and on cue with Tom stopping his pursuit and remaining still, the music stops also. This period develops tension as the viewer is startled by the dramatic change in the score, from a very busy, upbeat, frantic piece of music, to complete silence. With the camera looking from Tom’s perspective, and Jerry nowhere to be seen, the silence in effect gives the viewer time to think about what could happen next. We are not left wondering for long, as the camera cuts to Jerry in his mouse hole, who has loaded up a big tomato on a mouse trap ready to fire at Tom. The tomato is then fired at Tom, accompanied by a crashing symbol as the tomato hits is face. Again, the cymbal crash clearly adds impact to the action on screen as the viewer is aware that in real life a splatting tomato does not make this sound. As Jerry scuttles away to prepare his next attack, his movement is described in the score with a solo flute riff. The flute piece is jovial and bright in nature, and is high in the pitch register, which one could argue symbolises the lightness of Jerry’s footsteps. The cheery nature of the piece adds emotion to the scene, as it portrays Jerry as a cheeky little chap who has been successful in humiliating his tormentor. Importantly, this emotion would be lacking from the animation if the score was not present, or indeed less effectively composed. As Jerry is making his escape we do not see his face, however with the musical accompaniment we can imagine that he is smiling away, happy with the results of his trap. As an aside, this would be an opportune moment to discus the somewhat ‘magical’ qualities of music to strike up the imagination of the listener, and create or emphasise emotions that are impossible to describe in any other way. Science has not yet shown why a certain instrument or a piece of music played in certain key makes the listener feel a particular emotion, and this is where the inherent skill of the composer is apparent. For example, when the flute piece described in the previous paragraph is said to emphasise the cheeky nature of Jerry, we are unsure exactly how the music conveys this feeling. It seems that an instrument with high pitch could be used to represent say a tiny mouse, as in this case, while a booming trombone may represent an elephant plodding slowly along, however this is not always the case. In the same way, a song written in a minor key is not always sad. There are so many elements to Bradley’s compositions for ‘Tom and Jerry’ that one cannot help but admire his skill. It could be argued that after studying Bradley’s work in close detail one could maybe parody various elements of his compositions, but in my opinion it would be an almost impossible task to capture the same feel and complexity as he was able. So back to the action, as Jerry picks up several eggs to throw down onto Tom from his next position of attack, the flute melody that accompanied his getaway is briefly broken with a few short sustained string notes (possibly cello), which add suspense to the scene, as we do not know where Tom is or what he is doing. It turns out he is still struggling to wipe the tomato from his face, and so gets hit with the eggs. Following the barrage of eggs Tom receives to his face, the chaotic and frantic score kicks in once more, this time to accompany a salvo of further attacks on the hapless cat. This includes numerous household goods that are catapulted towards Tom in classic cartoon fashion, each with its own representative sound effect. Although the majority of sound effects in this scene represent what the action would sound like in real life (i.e. thudding down the stairs), often in cartoons in particular there are sounds that can better, or more dramatically explain the event. As briefly touched on previously, in another Tom and Jerry episode6 Tom tries to eat a turtle seemingly unaware of its hard shell. After a build up of stringed orchestration to him biting into the turtle, the music cuts away to be replaced by the sound of smashing glass to accompany Toms teeth smashing. Again, this is not the real life sound of smashing teeth but it is arguably more effective in describing the action than the real sound effect would be. The sound of smashing glass is an alarming sound in itself, possibly due to the real world connotations (personally) of when a window is smashed with a football for example! Furthermore, it is a high pitched sound, which is perhaps naturally more alerting to the human ear. Another interesting use of the score in the same episode, is when Tom finds himself at the top of a coconut tree7. As he slides down the trunk of the tree, the sound playing is of a percussionist running his beater down a wooden xylophone, from high to low pitch. The fact that a wooden xylophone is used is clearly indicative of what is going on in the scene, as the trunk of the tree is made of wood. Rather obviously, but very effectively, a high to low pitch progression is used helps to illustrate the feeling of falling downwards, with each change in note symbolising every bump along the way. Scott Bradley’s skill as a composer is unarguable in the opinion of the author, as he redefined the possibilities for sound designers, not only working on cartoons but in unrelated areas where his example may encourage others to pursue their ideas as opposed to blindly following what is the normal practice for a certain task. I have thoroughly enjoyed studying his work, and now look upon cartoons such as Tom and Jerry with a new found fondness and appreciation for the skill and effort that went in to their creation. I have decided to analyse the film sound design submission by Chris Gillespie, and briefly compare it with the works of Scott Bradley. Gillespie used a very similar style of sound design (as found in the Tom and Jerry cartoons) to accompany what the author personally found a rather boring piece of film, and he did well to make it work. Using primarily a single piano to develop tension and also create sound effects that directly related to the actions of those on screen, he was effective in emphasising feelings of agitation and excitement in the subjects of the video. With a salvo of oddly fitting notes played in a fast staccato manner, he was able to represent a build-up of intensity of the supposed events on the television, and in the opinion of the author, his style of composition effectively conveyed the uneasy nature one feels when watching a football match. This may have been a result of the rather sparse nature of the score at times, or indeed the minor key notes that were used. Also developing the mood of the piece were a number of sound effects, stemming from an input from human voice, and computer generated voice. In the opinion of the author, these sound effects were effective at times, adding to the tension and eeriness of the piece, however at times they seemed out of context, and less effective. The final short monologue was interesting as it summed up the feelings one often experiences at the end of a relatively uneventful, boring match. That is, what is the meaning of life. While Gillespie merely posed such questions with his piece, he did not attempt an answer, which may have been something welcomed by the listener. However, the genius of the composer maybe lies in his ability to plant the seed of such questions in the viewers mind, and in time allow it to flourish into a marvellous tree. References 1 - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005973/ 2 - http://www.tomandjerryonline.com/bradley.cfm 3 – Tall in the Trap (1962) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G99n-eZ-blQ 4 –Yankee Doodle Mouse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA2dWDgzeNA 5 –Yankee Doodle Mouse (29s in) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA2dWDgzeNA 6 – His Mouse Friday (1m 52s in) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlwamWwZzQY 7 – His Mouse Friday (1m 26s in) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlwamWwZzQY