Sound in the Lion King

The movie that will be discussed in this post is The Lion King.

Describe each of the three basic categories of sound (dialogue, sound effects, and music). Explain how the different categories of sound are being used in your chosen film.

The dialogue that you see throughout this film is pretty easy to understand. Each character speaks clearly and you are able to sense their feelings in each scene. You can understand who are looked at as the “good” people and the “bad” people. The sound effects that are used are amazing. An example of this is when Simba and Scar are talking and the hyenas end up corning Simba to scar him. You can tell by Scars voice that he is a mean character and the hyenas have that annoying voice. The “good” characters voices of Timon and Pumba are more fun and energetic. The music throughout this video goes along with the situation that is happening. The soundtrack of the movie was very well liked once the movie was released. One of the sounds that sticks out in my mind is when the stampede is coming through, you hear the sounds getting louder and heavier as Simba continues to run. This would be an example of sensurround sound which is “basically a pumping up of bass sounds” (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2014, Chapter 8.3).

How does the use of sound inform the mood of the scene, or the film overall? The use of sound is used very well in this film. For example, at the end of the movie when Simba ends up taking over the pride land, the background music works to get louder while he is climbing the rock. Once he gets to the rock he lets out a big roar and the female lions roar back to him. The music then switches to a more upbeat sound to portray celebration and all the animals comes together to celebrate. This is a very good use of sound to portray what is going on.

Can you identify specific sounds in your film that allow you to infer a particular genre? As this movie continuously has singing involved, I would say that the sounds and the constant singing would classify this movie as a musical. According to Ward (1996) “the fact that film has not only dialogue, but also visuals and music to add to its potential power” (pg. 1).

Since each category of sound may produce a range of effects, how might you characterize the effects in your film? For example, realistic and expected sound effects may have a different effect on a viewer than exaggerated or unexpected ones. Obviously this is an animated movie so it is not realistic for a lion to be talking to another lion however, the director makes this movie so that the situations that are being faced could be done in real life. For example, a father trying to teach his son right from wrong could be learned in real life and not necessarily learned from two lions. The sound effects of each situation could be the lion roaring loudly versus a person yelling loudly.

Assess how the scene or sequence would play differently if you changed or removed a key category of sound. If sound was removed from this movie, the audience would not understand the theme that was being portrayed. As the clip that was shown earlier, if the music was taken away, the audience wouldn’t understand the triumph and feeling of relief that Simba was feeling without that music.

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Ward, A. R. (1996). The Lion King’s mythic narrative. Journal Of Popular Film & Television, 23(4), 171.

Lighting in The Lion King

The movie that I will be analyzing in this blog post is The Lion King. The type of lighting that I noticed the most was high-key lighting. According to Goodykoontz & Jacobs (2014) “high-key lighting design has very bright light over everything, with few shadows and relatively low contrast between the lightest and darkest parts of the scene” (Chapter 6.4).

An example of this is when Mufasa becomes upset with Simba because he disobeyed him and didn’t follow his instructions. The lighting is dark to represent the anger that Mufasa is trying to show Simba.

What are the benefits of the style of lighting used? Typically, the lighting in this movie is very bright and entertaining. This represents that the movie is a happy one overall however when the dark scenes come in, it shows the audience that there can be serious parts.

How did this technique contribute to the theme? Using the different shades of lighting shows that audience what is going on. As stated before, when the lighting goes dark, it is a serious moment. When it is bright lights and multiple colors, it typically means a happy moment.

How as the lighting technique suited to the genre of the film? I would say the genre of this movie would be animation and musical. There is quite a bit of music that is involved in this movie and during most of the music scenes, the lighting is bright and cheery to show happiness that is going on.

Compare how the scene would play if different choices had been made. If the director of this movie had used low-key lighting the whole time, I don’t think there would have been as many happy viewers that would like the movie. When high-key lighting is used, it gets the audience in happy and exciting mood. I think the director’s used the best possible lighting for this movie.

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014). Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.). San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

The Lion King

The Lion King was written back in 1994 by Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts and Linda Woolverton. The directors were Roger Allers and Rob Minkoff.  Some of the famous cast were Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Matthew Broderick, James Earl Jones,  Jeremy Irons, Moira Kelly, Niketa Calame, Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane. There were many others that played parts in this film however these are some of the more common ones.

The Lion King is about a young lion cub who loses his father and fights with his uncle to become the King of the Pride Land. That would be considered the story. The plot is that young Simba is born, his father, Mufasa, shows him the Pride Land. Simba’s uncle, Scar gets jealous that Simba will eventually take over so he makes a plan to kill Simba and Mufasa in a stampede. Luckily, Simba survives that stampede but Scar convinces Simba that it was his fault that his father was killed so he runs away. When he runs away, he meets Timon and Pumba and eventually runs into Nala, his childhood friend. Nala convinces Simba to go back and claim that he is King. Simba and Scar end up fighting and Simba wins which ultimately means he is now the “The Lion King”. The movie ends with Simba and Nala having a child together.

Was the films presented chronologically or non-linearly? The Lion King was presented chronologically as the events started from the day Simba was presented to the gathering of animals at the Pride Rock and he learns from his father growing up what it is like to become the King of Pride Rock. Once he grows up and realizes that he is going to fight Scar to be the King, he ends up winning the fight. At the end of the movie, Nala and Simba are old enough to be parents as the have a baby cub of their own.

How did this aesthetic choice contribute to the general effect on the audience? Throughout the movie, there is constant scene changes that will portray the mood that is happening. For example, when Simba meets Timon and Pumba for the first time, there are bright colors, different trees and flowers and also multi-colored bugs to show happiness. On the other than when the fight occurs with Scar, it is dark and dreary to show fear and anger.

How are elements like character development or foreshadowing impacted by the choice of storytelling methods? Character development is very critical in this movie. As you watch the movie, you learn that Simba is growing up and learning what is right from wrong from his Father. Once his father passes away, he learns from Rafiki and Zazu on making sure he makes smart decisions.

If the film had followed a different presentation style, how would the general effect on the audience have been different? I’m not so sure how the movie would have been if it was presented non-linearly. It may have kept the audiences attention more as things were constantly changing and causing the audience to continue guessing on what was going to happen next. I’m not so sure that the movie would have been as good if it was created that way.

References:

IMDb. (1994). The Lion King. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110357

Learning Plot Structure with The Lion King. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL9N_1uJTgA

Lion King Mufasa and Simba. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw45nBcWNbQ