SOUND RECORDING

Recording sound before you start animating is particularly important if you intend to synchronize action and sound during your film. A simple example of this is speech, which is referred to in animation, as lip-sync. Sound can also be used to help plan the timing of action. Once sound has been recorded, it then needs to be analysed using a dope sheet.

DOPE SHEETS

A dope sheet is used to break down sound frame-by-frame. It is a long, somewhat boring process, but one that is essential if you intent to synchronize sound with action. Information about the use of dope sheets is quite hard to find. Several animation books, however do touch on the subject. A couple of which mainly focus on the timing of animation and these books contain some very useful information. Timing for Animation, is one of these books and is definitely worth reading.

The dope sheet on this page (right) is one that I used to analyse the sound for Monkey Shelter. The film was dependant on dope sheets as it featured a lot of lip-sync. If you would like to attempt something similar, we have uploaded a dope sheet for your use. Click on the link to download it.