Ryan Leach : Music for Animation

Jerry over at Cartoon Brew has posted a link to a very sweet and sad story about a little girl who’s dying wish was to see Up. Pixar sent an employee to her home with a DVD so that she could watch it. Something even sadder that the post didn’t mention but was on the original news article is that she died just 7 hours after the movie.

Click here to read the original Cartoon Brew post.

This is the 3rd post in a series on Cartoon Theme Songs. Every other Thursday I examine a popular cartoon TV theme song and discuss what about it does and does not work.

The theme from The Ren & Stimpy Show (also called “Dog Pound Hop”) was performend by a group of employees at Spümcø, the animation studio where animator John Kricfalusi first produced the show. The theme is performed by two electric guitars, saxophone, upright bass and congas.

The song itself is a somewhat nondescript 50s era blues-rock. The chord progression is a standard 12 bar blues and there is no singable melody or tune. It’s basically the whole band jamming over the chords, taking turns on solos. They have an interesting intro with the fast moving walking bass leading in the band, and the ending is cliché but at least organized and clean.

Oddly enough, the one thing that makes the piece unique and interesting is the use of congas instead of a typical drum set. The congas even take a solo at two different times in the song! They work, and they give the theme that quirky edge that a show like Ren & Stimpy needs. 50s Blues/Rock is an odd choice, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the creators of the show had no idea what would be appropriate for such an odd cartoon. Unlike Yogi Bear or Felix the Cat, the theme does nothing to tell us about the story or characters but at least the music they chose is upbeat and fun.

It may sound like I don’t like this theme but I actually do think it’s great. It’s such an odd “from left field” choice that it fits the show perfectly.

The soundtrack for Up features a short video interview with composer Michael Giacchino. Up is Giacchino’s third feature film collaboration with Pixar, the first two being The Incredibles and Ratatouille.

The subject of the video is “Composing for Characters”, though the discussion by the filmmakers and composer seems to be more generally about themes and not necessarily why a certain theme goes with a certain character.

The highlights of the video are the shots of the orchestra recording the score. Giacchino is Hollywood’s brave knight in the fight for live musicians and has been very successful in getting live groups of amazing players together to perform his scores. A lot of people take for granted that a score sounds great because the of the composer’s writing, forgetting that half of the reason it sounds so good is because of the players that turn that writing into music.

This is the 2nd post in a series on Cartoon Theme Songs.

The main title theme from Yogi Bear, written by Hoyt Curtin for the 1958 series, is a classic example of the 50s theme song style. The piece is performed by a big band with the lyrics sung in harmony by both men and women, which I’ve noticed seems to be a more successful sound than only men or only women when going for a vocal ensemble. My guess is that by having both men and women’s voices singing together, there is more of an “everybody can sing along” feel, which invites you into the fun.

Although the music is solid and has a few notable moments worth pointing out, the real success of this theme comes from the lyrics. In 45 seconds they’re able to summarize everything that the character and story are about. Take a look:

Yogi bear is smarter than the average bear.
Yogi bear is always in the ranger’s hair.
At a picnic table you will find him there,
stuffing down more goodies than the average bear.
He will sleep till noon.
But before its dark,
he will have every picnic basket in Jellystone Park.
Yogi has it better than a millionaire.
That’s because he is smarter than the average bear!

By the end of this theme, you’re certain who Yogi is and what is going to happen. They’ve managed to incorporate all of the basic elements of every Yogi Bear episode you’ll ever see. Note how they start and end the song with the catchphrase, “Smarter than the average bear”. Making it the first and last thing you hear really helps get it stuck in your head.

There are some thing to learn from the music as well. Right away, starting with the melodic hook that is the melody to “Yogi bear is smarter than the average bear” sets you up for the song to come. If you’ve heard the song once before, you’ll probably be able to recognize it again as soon as you hear these first few seconds.

Curtin plays with the listener’s expectations by delaying lyrics, using brass hits to add excitement to the piece. The line is performed “Yogi bear is smarter than the” POP “average bear.” Notice how that POP adds what could be described as tension. You are expecting them to sing but instead you get hit with trumpets, then when they continue the line immediately after you feel comfortable again. None of this is on a concious level, but toying with your expectations on a small scale adds a lot of life and interest to the theme.

If you listen to how the brass is used, you’ll notice that the brass and vocals never play at the same time. The vocals are the most important element of this entire theme and their clarity is critical. By leaving using the brass only for hits and fills, the vocals can cut through with no problem and the brass can add interest and excitement in the moments when there is no singing.

One last thing worth pointing out is the hilarious Kellog’s commercial, which at least on the version of the theme I have, is smack dab in the middle of the theme song! A sign of the times perhaps, I feel like that would come across as offensively aggressive marketing these days.