Music to convey story using the film WALL-E for PSU final.

1. WALL*E
A Conveyance of Story Through Music
By Becky Love

2. WALL*E
Introduction
• An American, computer
animated, sci-fi film.
• Released Nov 27, 2008 by Pixar
and directed by Andrew
Stanton, with score by Thomas “What if mankind had to leave Earth
Newman. and somebody forgot to turn off the last
robot?” Director Andrew Stanton’s
• Set in 2805, a single robot, question that eventually led to WALL*E
WALL-E, is left on Earth
(abandoned 700 years ago by
humans) consumed by garbage.
Change comes when the
discovery of a plant brings the
robot EVE to Earth and
launches WALL-E on an space
wide adventure.

3. Overview
Most of the characters in …Music.
Pixar’s WALL*E are
robots. Humans have Standing against
smaller parts and don’t emotionless-robotic
feature until the second voices and sounds, it is
half of the film. music that helps convey
Thus, WALL*E is a film of the story, as well as the
little dialogue, but with emotion that swells
much sounds, imagery along with it.
and most of all…

4. Original opening?
• Director Andrew Stanton
originally wanted WALL*E to
open to 30s French swing music.
• But then The Triplets of Belleville
came out, which also has 30s
French swing and not a lot of
dialogue. Stanton didn’t want to
be accused of copying/stealing.
• So Stanton finally settled with
“Put On Your Sunday Clothes”
from Hello Dolly!

5. No Dialogue
• “In real life, when characters can’t speak—a baby, a pet—people tend to
infer their own emotional beliefs onto them: ‘I think it’s sad. She likes me.’
It’s very engaging for an audience.” Andrew Stanton
• Audience members do this with such robot characters as WALL*E and EVE.
The animators also paid attention to the shape of the characters eyes and
their movements to express emotion. Look at the various pictures. What
do you think they feel?

6. And music!
The following scene from WALL*E is a
prime example of the film’s music and
telling ( or furthering) a story through it.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvw
p&v=aX5zflBuN30&NR=1
• This film clip showcases several different
emotions. The build up of danger, the relief of
survival, the excitement of discovery, the
gentleness of love, the swelling of dancing
with someone you love…

7. Disney’s Fantasia
Walt Disney worked on a similar idea of music and
story in his Fantasia film. Pieces of music were
chosen and artists created stories to them.
Fantasia features three types of music-stories:
- Definite Story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdvR2cBq1
-4&feature=BFa&list=PL5E22BB4DEEF23EFD
- No Plot, but Paints Pictures:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojdHiWNw
Fantasia Master of
Ceremonies Deems Taylor
a_M&feature=relmfu
introduces the film and its
concept
- Music for it’s own Sake:
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=UW1S1WGSARo&
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=br6W8iLRu
feature=BFa&list=PL5E22BB a0&feature=relmfu
4DEEF23EFD

8. Templeton’s Peter and the Wolf
• Suzie Templeton’s Peter and the Wolf goes
even further. It includes no dialogue, relying
completely on music and action to tell the
story. This differs from the original by
Prokofiev, which was live music and narration.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdJBK1d
Rq38

9. Questions
• Would WALL*E have had • Disney is known for its song filled
movies, compared with, say, Studi
a different impact if it was Ghibil’s music only (Princess
fully dialogued, with all Mononoke and Tales From Earthsea
robot characters having a an exception with a single song).
Which type do you prefer in an
voice? animated movie?
• Some English translators would
create/replace the soundtrack in
• Are robot characters foreign animations or anime
more sympathetic when (example: Gandahar and History
of Trunks). Do you think this is
given eyes and allright, or should the original
movements like a music be left alone?
human?

10. Sources
• All images from Google
• Desowitz, Bill. “Stanton Powers Up WALL-E”. Animation World
Network.com. Animation World Magazine, 7 April 2008. Web. 5 Aug.
2012. http://www.awn.com/articles/stanton-powers-iwall-ei/page/3%2C1
• Fantasia. Pro. Walt Disney. Walt Disney Productions, 1940. DVD
• Fritz, Steve. “How Director Andrew Stanton & Pixard Created WALL-E –
Part 1”. Newsarama.com. 1 July 2008. Web. 5 Aug. 2012.
http://www.newsarama.com/film/080701-wall-e-lasseter.html AND
“How Director Andrew Stanton & Pixar Created WALL-E – Part 2”.
Newsarama.com. 4 July 2008. Web. 5 Aug. 2012.
http://www.newsarama.com/film/080704-wall-e-stanton-2.html
• Peter and the Wolf. Dir. Suzie Templeton. BreakThru Films, 2006. DVD
• WALL-E. Dir. Andrew Stanton. Pixar, 2008. DVD.
• Willman, Chris. “WALL-E Meets ‘Dolly!’”. EW.com. Entertainment Weekly,
14 July 2008. Web. 5 Aug. 2012.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20211943,00.html