A COLLABORATIVE POST
WRITTEN BY BOOM BOX POST
It’s time for another installment of Toon Sound Effects for Conveying Emotion! For this post, we’ve asked our editors how they would convey the following emotions through cartoon SFX: Grateful, Curious, Frazzled and Shocked/Surprised. Check out the sounds they came up with and how they approached these emotions.
Struggling to think of a toon sound effect to convey any of these emotions: Happiness, Anger, Sadness, Humor, Fear, Disgust, Love, Boredom, Shyness, Amusement, Envy, Guilt, Thrill, Embarrassment, Fear, Dizziness, Anxiety? Luckily our editors can help you out as we’ve covered them in previous posts! Read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4!
GRATEFUL
Grateful Toon Sound Effect: Sparkles, Harp Gliss or Bubble Pops.
Vivian Williams, MPSE
Sound Effects Editor
Often times with cartoon sound design, you're following the animation to an extent. For this emotion, I imagine there may be a little sparkle in our character's eye, so I'd cut a chime to create a twinkling or sparkling effect. I may even layer in some cute bubble pops if the animation calls for it. If there were no animation cue like a sparkle in the eye, and instead it's a quick moment of gratitude, I might cut a “harp gliss.” Or some quick ascending chime to get across a positive, happy emotion.
CURIOUS
Curious Toon Sound Effect: Fiddle Slide, String Pluck
Katie Jackson, MPSE
Sound Effects Editor
If I were to convey curiosity or intrigue, I would often take visual cues from the picture and focus on enhancing those. For example, a character’s body language may inch forward or they may raise an eyebrow. In these examples a classic cartoon SFX like a fiddle sliding mimicking the body movement up would work great. A string pluck would also work wonderfully to punctuate a shorter movement like an eyebrow raise.
FRAZZLED
Frazzled Toon Sound Effect:
Brad Meyer, MPSE
Supervising Sound Editor
When I think of being frazzled or overwhelmed, especially in a toon context, my mind immediately goes to a Flexitone. A Flexitone is an auxiliary percussion instrument that can create, a dizzying, almost queasy feeling. I don't know about you, but that's how I feel when I'm frazzled!
SHOCKED
Shocked/Surprised Toon Sound Effects: String Gliss, String Stinger, Alarms
Jayson Niner
Sound Effects Editor
Shocked/surprised toon sound effects can vary drastically based on the level of urgency the character is feeling. On the calmer end of the spectrum I think a simple quick upward string gliss can convey a reaction of intrigue or subtle surprise. The second example, a short orchestral stinger, would be better used for a more dramatic reaction of unexpected dread. If the character's surprise is a mix of panic and urgency I would suggest using something like an old-school fire alarm, like in example three. Not only is this sound sharp and shrill but we connect it in our minds with an immediate state of emergency. Example four is another alarm sound, but this one I created using a couple different elements to construct a sound a little more playful and unique.
WHICH SOUND EFFECTS WOULD YOU USE TO CONVEY THESE EMOTIONS?
If you enjoyed this blog, check out these:
SOUND EDITING: THE ART OF AURAL STORYTELLING
HOW TO DESIGN A FUNNY SOUND EFFECT WITHOUT GETTING TOONY
RECREATING CLASSIC CARTOON SOUND EFFECTS