Ben Burt also known as the grandfather of sound design worked as the lead sound designer on Wall-e. He speaks about his process of creating sound for this movie and his process. He starts by speaking with his interests in the roots of sound design and his early recordings. I found his explanation of starting with mechanical devices intriguing. You’d had to go out with a portable table recorder and locate effects to use instead of digitally manipulating them.
He also spoke about animation in general vs feature films and the differences between the sound design between them. He spoke that in animation there is no recordings filmed on set. There’s no base to add and amplify of its all creation. Because of this, all the sounds have to convey emotion. From how the wheels of a car sound when it’s driving to the sounds of a door creaking. This he says, is where the emotion comes from. Even more specifically in a film like Wall-e where the robots have little communication. It’s important to make sure that every sound has meaning and emotion as if it doesn’t then the viewers will create their own meanings and perceptions. someone will take a meaning you don’t intend.
He also spoke about his fascination for sound objects. The early days of Disney cartoons had makeshift machines created to add sound effects to the screens. Recording studios back then were heavy bulky and impossible to have portable. because of this instead of being out in the field capturing the sounds to manipulate everything was done in-house. I never entirely realised the extent of making sound objects they went to as some of the examples shown are incredibly creative. He states that he created a few objects to use in Wall-e as he wanted control in the sounds. Such as the wind in one of the scenes. He dragged a microphone along the floor while recording its movement.
He finishes by speaking about the possibilities of sound design in animation. The idea that it’s set in fictionality. When the environment isn’t real you have the ability to create items that can exist where they usually wouldn’t fit.