Sound for animation

The question is not “what sound goes here?” but “what does this movement need the viewer to feel?”

Animation creates a useful sound-design problem because every movement has already been chosen. A sound can reinforce that movement, contradict it, give it weight, make it comic, make it threatening or direct attention somewhere else entirely.

Robert's approach begins with timing and dramatic function rather than filling the soundtrack. The important decisions are often about scale, perspective and texture: how close an action should feel, what material an object seems to have, how much energy belongs in an impact and where silence gives the image more power.

Across the selected studies, sound becomes part of character and visual storytelling. Small sonic details can make a stylised world believable; rhythmic choices can change the pace of a sequence; a deliberately unexpected sound can create personality or humour.

The result is a practical demonstration of the same principle that runs through Robert's theatre and narrative work: sound should change how the audience experiences the story, not simply sit on top of it.