A. AN ANIMATOR'S GUIDE TO MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN NOTES
B. ANIMATION, COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER - KEY STEPS TO AN EFFECTIVE WORKFLOW
A. AN ANIMATOR'S GUIDE TO MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN NOTES
The list below covers the essentials elements for communicating with potential collaborators for original music and sound design.
1. EARLY DEVELOPMENT: PRELIMINARY MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN NOTES
Early on in the Development process, you'll want to include a description of how you anticipate the role of music, sound FX, and silence play out in the broader vision your project. This should include samplings of larger musical scores and even excerpts from short films that you feel best exemplify the role that music will play in your project.
For now, stick to the general overview and broader emotional tones.
2. PRE PRODUCTION: "LOCKED" STORYREEL
The Final Storyreel Revision (or "Locked Storyreel") represents as close to final timings as possible. If you haven't yet, this is a perfect time to invite music and sound design collaborators onto the project.
The Storyreel should include temporary (or "scratch") musical score and sound effects. The temporary audio elements (or "scratch audio") will eventually be replaced with final audio. If possible, utilizing your composer for an original temp score (or beat track) is a great way to collaborate, but not always possible or necessary.
3. POST PRODUCTION: SCENE-BY-SCENE NOTES ON SOUND FX & MUSICAL SCORE
Depending on the role that Musical Score and Sound FX play in your final production, you may need to provide the Composer and Sound Designer with a scene-by-scene breakdown describing the specific role that music, sound FX, and silence play in the context of every scene. Typically this level of direct feedback won't happen until most of your final animation and visual FX are fully rendered and cut into the Progression Reel. Posting an interactive document on Google Drive is a great way to facilitate this kind of scene-by scene conversation.
The following documents are an example of a live conversation between Director and Composer in the final stages of post production for the short film Fire Flower: Director's Notes.pdf and a Composer's Score Plan with Notes.pdf.
B. ANIMATION, COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER - KEY STEPS TO AND EFFECTIVE WORKFLOW
An ideal workflow between the Animator, Musician and Sound Designer for scoring a short animated film is listed below. As in all art-making endeavors, every project has its specific needs, limitations and opportunities so we remain flexible.
Typically this process includes the following roles: Animator, Director, Editor, Sound Designer, Musician and Composer. In most cases, these roles are shared by individuals wearing multiple hats. Whatever form your post-production roles take on, here are the key steps for hand-offs and deliverables.
1. EARLY DEVELOPMENT: PRELIMINARY PITCH
This is generally comprised of loosely timed storyboards with "scratch" musical score, to help define the mood. And sound "scratch" sound effects to accentuate action and establish an ambient soundscape. Often this is accompanied by "Preliminary Musical/Sound Design Notes" to help the Musician understand style, emotional overtones, and sub-text.
2. PRE PRODUCTION: MUSICAL SKETCHES, TIMING TRACKS, VOICE-OVER & DIALOGUE
Typically a Composer or Sound Designer would not be brought onto the project until the completion of the Storyreel. This changes if the film was driven by the musical score or sound design. The obvious example of this would be the "Wiley Coyote" cartoons or a Musical film.
Musical sketches, Timing Tracks, Voice-over & Dialogue would then be incorporated into the Storyreel to establish the timing of the final film.
Musician/Composer provides “musical sketches”: These sketches should provide the animator with a broad musical vision for the project and be simple enough to accommodate feedback. Once a direction is clear, Animator and Musician part ways to work on their respective parts of the project.
Musician/Composer provides Timing track: At this point the musician may provide a midi-track that animators can work with to time their final animation or the animator will continue to work to scratch audio.
Voice-Over & Dialogue: VO and Dialogue need to be in place before the Storyreel can be cut together. Often they will be recorded as a temporary (or "scratch") recording first to help facilitate the Storyreel, and then be replaced before the animation begins.
3. PRODUCTION: SOUND DESIGN & MUSIC EXPLORATION
Once the final revision of the Storyreel (or "Animatic") is complete, this is an ideal time to bring in both a composer and a sound designer to discuss both the major themes in the film and the specif audio needs within each scene.
Musical Score: From here the Composer can begin to explore musical themes based on the scratch score.
Sound Design: The Sound Designer can begin experimenting with various events in the film and gathering sound effects.
4. POST PRODUCTION: FINAL MIX
1. Locked Film Edit: Once the animation is nearly complete, the Animation Editor creates the final timing for a "locked edit" of the film. Final animation is ideal at this point but due to tight deadlines, the locked edit will likely contain near-final animation, low-resolution renders, and a combination of scratch and final audio FX.
2. Final Musical Score: Musician/Composer provides the first draft of a final score to Animation Editor to replace the scratch score with actual music. Leave time for some back and forth adjustments at this step as the final elements can be tricky to put into place.
3. Final Mix-Down: At this point the Sound Designer (if you have one) provides final sound effects and works with the Animation Editor to create a final audio mix. Four ears are always better than two.
4. Create final credit roll: Make sure that you have included the credit roll as part of your sound design! This can be an extension of themes from the score or a radical departure.
Stephan Leeper/Central Michigan University 2025