American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1942)

toon that hasn't music in it. About the only time you'll find a lack of music is under a loud sound-eflfects pattern, or a line of dialog, in which case the presence of more sound would simply muddy-up the track. But then again, the dramatic effect of certain types of dialog can be heightened by the proper punctuation of music. And often enough, orchestrations have been so arranged as to substitute for sound-effects. The consideration given music in the planning and timing of a cartoon is of the highest. Many directors insist on a musician working in the room with them during the process of timing a picture. In fact, director's units at the Disney studio are called "music rooms." A good story-minded musician is worth his weight in aluminum and rubber. He can open up new possibilities in the staging of a piece of business by suggesting musical themes to work with the action. His music can tell the story almost as much as the action. You could take the orchestra track from a good cartoon, run it alone, and follow the story simply by the accents, pacing and dramatic coloring of the music itself. The timing of a cartoon is based entirely on musical beats of varying tempos, according to the pace and speed of the action taking place. The choice of a musical tempo for a sequence of action depends upon the type of action. A fast chase will require a rapid musical beat; a sneak action, a slow tempo, and so on. From the standpoint of their musical backgrounds, there are three distinct types of cartoons being produced today. In each, music plays a role of varying importance. In the first type, music plays a part equal to the action in importance. It more or less sets the pace for the action, through the use of rhythm or dance se(juences in telling the story. In planning the story, the music is given as much consideration as the action, and the musician will work hand in glove with the director during the timing of the story for animation. All action is designed to follow a definite musical beat throughout. The "Silly Symphony" cartoons fall into this category, being classed as "musicals." Action, for the most part, will compromise to music, in order to maintain a constant feeling of rhythm and tempo throughout the picture. The second type of cartoon subordinates music to the action entirely. Here action is the first consideration in telling the story, and the music is written later to fit. In this type of picture, no attempt is made to make the music a predominant feature as in the Silly Symphony series. They employ no dance or rhythm sequences to supplement the story-telling. Most of the current Donald Duck, and Pluto cartoons, and the Goofy series on "How To Ride a Horse, etc." exemplify this type. In the third type, music governs every factor of the cartoon; tempo, story and action. "Fantasia" is an example of this I type, in which the complete orchestration is pre-scored in its final form before production. The story is designed to fit the music, and the animation timing is held to the rigid tempo of the pre-scored music. In each of these types, the procedure of timing differs, but in general, the problems are the same. In all cases, the action is in the final analysis, patterned to a musical beat. The only difference, as can be seen, lies in the way this musical tempo is established. It might be well to draw a distinction here between musical tempo and story tempo. Musical tempo means simply the beat of the music. Story tempo, or story pacing, implies the rate of the progressive story-points which build to the climax. There is absolutely no relationship between the two, because story tempo — or pacing, as we'd better call it to avoid confusion — is based entirely upon an intangible relationship of story ideas, one to another, arranged so as to maintain and build audience-interest. Musical tempo sometimes supplements story pacing, but cannot make up for the lack of it. No amount of fast action and fast music can revive the audience's interest in the progress of the story once it has lagged due to side-tracking business and lack of directness in presenting story points. It is a big part of the director's problem when timing a picture to mainfain a constantly building pace in the picture. WHAT !S CERTIFIED SOUND? It's not a particular piece of apparatus; it's not a camera nor a sound recorcJer alone. . . . CERTIFIED SOUND is a SYSTEM, carefully cJevised and worked out by us to give the best possible results in 16mm. sound films— every time. Naturally, CERTIFIED SOUND results can be had only with J. A. 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