Creating (artificial) emotion in animation through sound and story

This chapter examines several examples of contemporary cinematic and television animation, including the Pixar Toy Story trilogy, the extent to which they conform to what we can call a classic, or Proppian narrative structure, and the success of the animation. It deconstructs the examples in terms of narrative structure, sound, and character to consider the capacity for the creation of emotion in the texts and the way in which the use of computer animation may help or hinder this. Beyond the style and technique used in animation, there can be a combination of factors – sound, voice, performance, and color that can influence the level of emotional response. In addition to the comedy narrative, animators have utilized the narrative structure of literature through the popular live-action strategy of the adaptation as the source. Textbooks for animation practitioners can be valuable in the consideration of creating emotion. © 2019 Taylor & Francis.