Reflections on Sound Design

Blogger won't let me upload .pdf files, so I hosted it online: Script Format

This cartoon uses a few aspects of sound design multiple times. Within the first ten seconds, it uses anthropomorphism by giving Courage the ability to speak (and walk on two legs, but that has nothing to do with sound). This scene continues by using many semantic sounds: the sizzling of the pot, Courage's footsteps on the floorboard, and the splat of macaroni. 

The pot sizzles and actually sounds closer to a frying pan than anything being boiled. This helps the viewer to quickly recognize that Courage is cooking, rather than the causal sound of water being boiled.

Courage's footsteps on the wood flooring are also semantic sounds; a dog walking on wood flooring as a causal sound would be soft and uninteresting. The punchy, quick knocks on the wood alert the viewer that Courage is running over to Muriel.

The splat of macaroni toward the end of the scene is my favorite example of sound design in this clip. I'm not sure any of us know exactly what a plate of macaroni would sound like if it was thrown at our heads, but we probably all assume (thanks to cartoons) that it would sound something like this. 

Throughout this scene, there are no examples of either proximity or illusion. This show has always been interesting to me for that reason; where other cartoons use background music and constant sound design, Courage the Cowardly Dog seems to openly embrace flat soundscapes and periods of silence. There are rarely overlapping sounds; their philosophy seems to focus on one sound at a time so the viewer is forced to intently listen.