Daily Archives: March 15, 2022

In Walt Disney’s 1928 short film “Steamboat Willie,” sound is employed to emphasize the activities of the eponymous character Mickey by imbuing him with personality and enhancing the storyline itself. Songs used to enhance the story have always been a staple of Walt Disney Animations, particularly with their animated short series “Silly Symphony,” and just as those shorts flawlessly combined visual effects and music to define their characters’ emotions and dispositions, Steamboat Willie did the same with its unique narrative plot structured around an intriguing musical choice. Not only does the music in “Steamboat Willie” serve as one of the earliest sequenced cartoons to incorporate sound, but it also serves as an integral advancement within the animation industry.  There have been numerous animated shorts with synchronized sound and animation in the past, but what made “Steamboat Willie” so distinctive was the fervent and vivacious personality of the Mickeys’ character, with the music assisting in conveying his mischievous, fun-loving nature as he ventures through the uproarious world in which he is portrayed in. This is also true for all of the other supporting characters. The numerous diverse cadences and distinct melodies utilized to introduce new characters not only assist distinguish them from our eponymous character but also help them develop their own sense of identity. For instance, with Minnie’s introduction rushing to the boat, it’s a considerably higher-pitched rendering of Mickey’s introduction. It demonstrates that, despite the gender difference, she is an extension of Mickey herself,  not quite her own character yet, and appears to envy Mickey’s playful attitude, demonstrating their similar nature and special relationship.

After viewing the video of Snow White meets the seven dwarfs, you will see that they are all created and animated in a similar style, but they are distinguished by their personalities. I chose two dwarfs who were both sleepy and grumpy. To begin, Sleepy, when first introduced, yawns and stretches while appearing drowsy. Furthermore, his character has bigger eye bags as a result of his “lack of sleep,” making him appear physically exhausted in comparison to the other dwarfs. On the other hand, before Snow White even shouted his name, he crossed his arms with firm fists and took a deep breath, while crossing his with an angry expression. His brows are more clenched, and he has the largest nose compared to all the dwarfs.

After watching Snow White meeting the seven dwarfs, there were only two characters that stood out to me. The first dwarf Dopey, has a clumsy and sloppy characteristic amongst the seven dwarfs. His immaturity and deaf are what makes his characteristic stand out. The way Dopey is drawn is that his body is sloppy, his facial expression is silly, and his movements are very unpolished/sloppy when he moves. The second dwarf is Happy, the funny and jovial dwarf amongst the seven. He is energetic and cheerful traits is what makes his characteristic stand out. He has very quick movement and quick body language when he moves his arms around while talking. He also has a humorous voice and laughs.

In the film, the sound is used to emphasize the action from the beginning to the end because without a sound the film(clip) will a story different, sounds are very important in any video and film, sounds being feelings and emotion so the audience can feel the same way as in the film(movie). In the scene from the goat playing music, without the sounds, you won’t be able to know what music was Mickey and Minnie playing to the audience. Music plays a big role in the movie because if it is sad music you would feel upset if a happy one people would feel excited, without it, it can a challenge for the audience to react. Also in the goat scene, Minnie was playing something exciting so Mickey reacts to it with excitement and plays along with it, with more sounds.

Sound is used to emphasis the action that occurs during scenes in a film. This works well with animated films as the sound is able to set the ambiance of the scene that is being shown to the audience. By adding sound in the film Steamboat Willie, it allows for the characters as well as the audience to embark on a journey on the boat considering the film revolves around music. Each character played a specific tune which further emphasizes how they all had a meaningful role to be played throughout the film. This also allowed for the characters to be given an identity which is important for the story that the film proceeds to share.