The opening to the 1995 film 'Toy Story.' I will be analysing how sound has been used. Click to play.
Dialogue
Dialogue in this opening is quite interesting, as it is actually a monologue posing as dialogue- the main character, the young boy, is creating personas for each of his toys, including voices, and having them interact with each other. Thus this creates the illusion of dialogue, as for all intents and purposes it is dialogue, however the viewer knows better and most likely finds the scene quite funny because of it, conveying the humour of the film in the first few seconds and divulging the genre. The audience also gets somewhat of an idea of the plot, as they can fairly safely presume that the toys are going to be characters (the title already hinted at this) and have their own personalities as dictated by the boy's monologue.
Sound Effects
The main sounds effects are the toys and their props moving around, including the bumping of their feet, the jingling of some coins, and a comedic "eye-pop" effect. This helps to show the importance of the toys and avoid any outside distraction. The most notable sound effect is Sheriff Woody's string-pull voiceline- it could almost be considered dialogue, however I am putting it here as it was involuntary and pre-recorded and initiated by the boy. Despite not clearly knowing whether or not the toys will speak on their own at this point (which, as someone with prior knowledge of the film, does happen,) one toy character already has a voice, despite it being mingled in with the sound effects of the story the boy is playing out. The other noticeable sound effects in the opening are the everyday sounds of the objects interacted with once the story leaves the bedroom- this helps to set the mood and scene as one of an average but happy home life.
Music Track
There are three pieces of music in this opening. They are all non-diegetic, which is notable as so far every single piece of audio has been diegetic. The first is an atmospheric villain theme, intended to play along with the villanous first character and set the mood for one of suspense. The second piece is a natural follow-up to the first- a slightly western action theme, used to transition from the bad early events to the action-packed rescue as the character Woody comes onto the screen. The final piece, and the only non-instrumental, begins to play as Woody and the boy finish playing and leave the bedroom, as serves as the backing track for the aforementioned average home life. The lyrics work with the visuals as they are about friendship, something which the two characters obviously share.
Dialogue in this opening is quite interesting, as it is actually a monologue posing as dialogue- the main character, the young boy, is creating personas for each of his toys, including voices, and having them interact with each other. Thus this creates the illusion of dialogue, as for all intents and purposes it is dialogue, however the viewer knows better and most likely finds the scene quite funny because of it, conveying the humour of the film in the first few seconds and divulging the genre. The audience also gets somewhat of an idea of the plot, as they can fairly safely presume that the toys are going to be characters (the title already hinted at this) and have their own personalities as dictated by the boy's monologue.
Sound Effects
The main sounds effects are the toys and their props moving around, including the bumping of their feet, the jingling of some coins, and a comedic "eye-pop" effect. This helps to show the importance of the toys and avoid any outside distraction. The most notable sound effect is Sheriff Woody's string-pull voiceline- it could almost be considered dialogue, however I am putting it here as it was involuntary and pre-recorded and initiated by the boy. Despite not clearly knowing whether or not the toys will speak on their own at this point (which, as someone with prior knowledge of the film, does happen,) one toy character already has a voice, despite it being mingled in with the sound effects of the story the boy is playing out. The other noticeable sound effects in the opening are the everyday sounds of the objects interacted with once the story leaves the bedroom- this helps to set the mood and scene as one of an average but happy home life.
Music Track
There are three pieces of music in this opening. They are all non-diegetic, which is notable as so far every single piece of audio has been diegetic. The first is an atmospheric villain theme, intended to play along with the villanous first character and set the mood for one of suspense. The second piece is a natural follow-up to the first- a slightly western action theme, used to transition from the bad early events to the action-packed rescue as the character Woody comes onto the screen. The final piece, and the only non-instrumental, begins to play as Woody and the boy finish playing and leave the bedroom, as serves as the backing track for the aforementioned average home life. The lyrics work with the visuals as they are about friendship, something which the two characters obviously share.
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