Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1401154
b y M a t t F o g l i a C A S The Sound of Z E N I M A T I O N As sound for picture professionals, we're all taught that "Dialogue is king." If we are unable to capture dialogue clearly on set, we better make sure the client books some ADR time. If we're delivered noisy dialogue on the dub stage, we better break out the noise-reduction tools to bring some improved clarity. If the words are truly indiscernible after our skilled efforts, and ADR is not applicable, the client will add subtitles to make sure the audience can follow the narrative. The end product is nearly always focused on dialogue—and from a storytelling standpoint, that makes sense. One can argue, however, that the life, emotion, and believability of a story is equally dependent on the music and the sound design. And while we can often listen to music soundtracks to help relive the emotion of a favorite lm or video game, that hasn't been the case with sound design. Last year, as the lockdowns were underway and most of us were spending more time in front of our computers than one another, I became aware of an animated shorts series on Disney+ called Zenimation. The Disney name, of course, speaks for itself, but what made these particular episodes very intriguing was their absence of dialogue and music. And what made them even more interesting was that they featured sound design from classic and modern Disney animated lms of which we are all familiar. And it wasn't just, "Here's the sound effects stem from Frozen—enjoy!" Instead, each episode— running from four to seven minutes—focused on a theme that the visual and the sound design then presented through the weaving of scenes from the lms. Themes such as "Water," "Cityscape," "Discovery," "Flight," "Transformation," and even "Kindness" were the focus of each episode. Since this premise is different than, well, a lot of things, I wanted to learn some more about it. So, I spent some time chatting with sound designer Shannon Mills and re-recording mixer David Fluhr CAS, but also reached out to the series' creator and picture editor, David Bess—which is where we'll start.