Impact of Soundtrack in Narrative Animation - Essay Example

Impact of Soundtrack in Narrative Animation Introduction Finding Nemo is an animated film that is loved and enjoyed not only by the kids but by adults as well. The secret of this film’s success lies in many contributing and interrelated factors – the plot, the characterization, the effects and of course the film’s own sound track. Yes, indeed, Finding Nemo’s own sound track is a very big factor that makes up for a good and unforgettable animated film. The Plot The story revolved around the two clown fishes, which is actually the father and son. They came from one big family of clown fish, but due to one painful event, other members of the family were washed off and died. This is the foremost reason why the father became overly protective of his son, Nemo. But the father’s over protectiveness later on becomes a case pf paranoia that he is always too scared to let his son try things he doesn’t know of. Nemo felt frustrated over his father’s paranoia that one time, he tried to disobey him by trying to touch the bottom of a boat. Things happened so fast that the fisherman (the owner of the boat) happened to see Nemo and caught him. Imagine the shock of the father’s life seeing his own son being carried away by a total stranger and he couldn’t do anything to prevent it. As a doting father, he knows that only him can find and bring back his own son. That is why he set himself to finding Nemo despite the distance nor the lack of experience in getting out of what he is accustomed to. In his quest, he met a blue tang named Dory. He thought that this fish could really help him go to locations where he can find Nemo but to his dismay, dory is suffering from a not-so-typical type of amnesia. As the father and Dory continue their quest, they met a lot of other sea animals like sharks, turtles, jelly fish and their story spread all across the deep see and has been passed to the air through some mongering birds. Thousands of kilometers away, Nemo is seen to be owned by a dentist and is put inside an aquarium with other sorts of sea creatures like angel fish, a starfish and the likes. These creatures know have heard about Nemo’s story – about his father’s seemingly scared behavior and the sudden change and how he becomes so brave in trying to find his own son. Thus, they too shared efforts in trying to free themselves fro the four corners of the aquarium. They made plans and the success of such plan lies with Nemo ecause of his small stature. In the end, the father and son met again in a circumstance they never thought would become possible. They are both happy and proud of what they experienced. At the same time, both the father and son learned a valuable lesson in life – trust, friendship and bravery. Characters The major characters of this animated film are intertwined in such a way that they make up for a one whole interesting story. First of which is Marlin, the father. Because of what happened to his family in the past, he becomes seemingly obsessed in taking care of his only remaining son, Nemo. In the end, however, he is able to prove to his son and to the rest of the world that he is not just a clown fish, but a strong and brave fish that is willing to do everything to get his son back. Marlin is also one of the characters who learned the value of friendship and trust. Second major character is, of course, Nemo, Marlin’s son. Because of the incident that caused the death of Marlin’s almost entire family, Nemo, was hatched with a physical disability. One of his flippers is smaller than the other. Even with such disability, Nemo remains a very independent and resilient you fish and he is transfixed in proving to his father that he can do what the other normal fish can do. At the end of the story, Nemo has indeed proven to his father of what his capable of doing. He also learned to understand why his father is so protective of him. Third most important character in this animated film is Dory. With the Dory, one can really comprehend the true value of friendship and optimism. Dory is found to be the most sociable and caring fish that Marlin has ever met. She has zest for life. These positive characteristics are all within her despite her amnesia. Because of Dory, Marlin learned to trust other beings. Effects and/or Animation Effects and/or animation in this film can be categorized into two - visual effects and animation and the sound effects and animation – both of which are truly spectacular. Finding Nemo uses a 3-dimensional visual effects and animation. Most of the scenes are underwater scenes and the very movements of the fish and all other living organisms under the sea can be viewed as if one is really under the see. Sound effects and animation is equally stunning. The bubbles under the sea can be clearly heard, the breathing and even the seemingly voices of the fishes, turtles and the likes are made realistic. Finding Nemo’s overall sound effect is a collaboration of efforts of Andrew Stanton and composer Thomas Newman. Newman’s output is recognized as really extraordinary that even the other members of the movie production panel have commented that his work with Finding Nemo has: “…a very lush orchestral score that has a lot of very quirky and interesting instrumentation layered in. There’s an unexpected quality about it. You don’t always know what you’re hearing or what some of the sounds are. He does a lot of overdubs, where he’ll gather a group of musicians together apart from the orchestra session and have them play lots of interesting percussion and instrumentation. Then he’ll layer that into the music that’s been recorded on the soundstage with the orchestra…” (Finding Nemo, 2003, http://www.mooviees.com/2253/153-production_notes) Soundtrack and/or Musical Scoring Finding Nemo is nominated for best sound and musical scoring, and this is just one among the many other awards it has been accredited to. Like the sound effects, the over all musical scoring such as the choice for soundtrack, is a tasked performed greatly by Thomas Newman. The list of songs used in this film includes (The Soundtrack and Read-Along, 2003): 1. Wow 2. Barracuda 3. Nemo Egg (Main Title) 4. First Day 5. Field Trip 6. Mr. Ray, Scientist 7. The Divers 8. Lost 9. Short-Term Dory 10. Why Trust A Shark? 11. Friends Not Food 12. Fish-O-Rama 13. Gill 14. Mt. Wannahockaloogie 15. Foolproof 16. Squishy 17. Jellyfish Forest 18. Stay Awake 19. School Of Fish 20. Filter Attempt 21. The Turtle Lope 22. Curl Away My Son 23. News Travels 24. The Little Clownfish From The Reef 25. Darla Filth Offramp 26. Lost In Fog 27. Scum Angel 28. Haiku 29. Time To Let Go 30. Sydney Harbour 31. Pelicans 32. Drill 33. Fish In My Hair! 34. All Drains Lead To The Ocean 35. ...P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney... 36. Fishing Grounds 37. Swim Down 38. Finding Nemo 39. Fronds Like These 40. Beyond The Sea (as performed by Robbie Williams) It should be noted that all the 39 songs (with the exception of number 40 song) is written and composed by Newman himself. Because of Newman’s musical scoring, the variations of moods of the story are successfully set. One best example is the ‘fear’ or ‘scary’ mood which takes place when Marlin and Dory meets up with three hungry sharks. These three sharks happen to give a pledge of not eating any other sea creature and they are really striving hard to commit to such pledge. The two songs “Why Trust a Shark?” and “Friends not Food” provide the much needed musical scoring for this part. Had it not for these two songs, the scene where Dory and Marlin were both too scared with the three sharks will not be achieved effectively. Another scene which has created a different mood is when Marlin and Dory reached their destination P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. This scene is very important because this provides hope for both Marlin and Dory … hope that they will soon find Nemo and the father and son will be together again. With the song inputted by Newman, entitled “...P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney...”, movie watchers’ mood are indeed set to be hopeful. Indeed, the musical scoring and/or the overall soundtrack of this animated film has successfully achieved its goal, and that is to set the mood for every important scenes in the film and of course, to give the much needed entertainment and enthusiasm for the viewers of varied ages. Conclusion It can be concluded then that there really is a strong impact to the overall creation of an animated film when an original and creatively crafted soundtrack is involved. Like in this animated film “Finding Nemo”, what the soundtrack and musical scoring has achieved cannot be underestimated. Without such musical scoring, the movie would not be a tremendous success. However, it is also worth noting that the overall relationship of the other important aspects of the film, such as the plot, characterization and the effects when combined with a first-class soundtrack definitely makes a good animation. It certainly cannot be done and/or achieved without these other aspects. References: Fierce, Nev. October 2003. “Movie Review: Finding Nemo”. BBC Film. “Finding Nemo – The Characters” 2003. “Finding Nemo – Movie Notes” 2003. http://www.mooviees.com/2253/153-production_notes “Review” 2003. “The Soundtrack and Read-along” 2003. Read More