According to The Disney Insider's interview with sound designer extraordinaire Ben Burtt, the talent behind the stars of Disney·Pixar's "WALL·E," it most certainly does. And you'd be surprised at how many years of research and development it takes to make every squeak, creak, click, and clank seem so real.
"The assignment was inventing original voices and all the sounds associated with the main characters ... mechanisms, movements, force fields. Since WALL·E doesn't use conventional dialogue, I had to convey the story through the types of sound each character made. By providing the illusion that they had feelings, the audience would care about them," Ben explains. With a visual start from preliminary paintings and sketches, he began creating possibilities for WALL·E, EVE, M-O, Autopilot, and other characters.
"I'd audition sounds for Andrew [Stanton], who'd then give his critique -- just like any other artist working for a director. It took about a year to finalize the basic sounds and three to produce the film. Usually sound is introduced late in production, which works for undemanding films. But when a customized world is required, it's best to be involved in the development early so the sounds and visuals become embedded as the storyline evolves. Pixar's collaborative process inspired me to invent sounds based on character art and allowed the animators to listen and create tests inspired by the sounds."
"Different techniques were used to produce thousands of sound effects -- everything from characters touching a wall to spaceships hovering. Many originated by wandering around with a recorder and collecting sounds in the real world, like bank vaults closing, doors clicking, and miniature jet planes flying. When real sounds are imposed into a fantasy world, it helps form the illusion that things are real. And people associate real sounds with something real."
Inspiration was everywhere. For example, WALL·E's a low-tech robot, with lots of squeaky, cute-sounding motors and noises each time he raises his hand or tilts his head. Though carefully selected, many of those sounds were ordinary mixing bowls or electric shavers. But when Ben searched for a particular whirring sound for WALL·E's various driving speeds, he didn't go far. While watching an old war movie, he heard exactly what he wanted thanks to a scene featuring a hand-cranked generator. After some research, he purchased the generator online, brought it into the studio, and was able to tailor the sound's speed with WALL·E's onscreen movements.
EVE, on the other hand, is a high-tech robot accompanied by various musical sounds as if she's floating or being held together by a mysterious magnetic force. So those sounds were enchanting as well as threatening to express her charming and aggressive moods. Ben adds, "The tones associated with EVE are a little bit like music in the sense that you're trying to color the situation emotionally with the sound you're putting in."
"The characters' voices were the hardest because people are highly critical of voices and hear them differently than sound effects. We're experts at interpreting voices and the emotions behind them. I built special circuitry for my computer that allowed me to record my voice, digitally break it down into component parts, and reassemble it ... processing the sound as if it were a musical instrument. The trick with robot voices is to retain the human element so people can identify and care while also giving it a machine-like quality -- you don't want the audience to think it's just an actor in front of a microphone. That was my biggest challenge."
No stranger to robots, Ben was the genius behind the sounds and voices in the Star Wars, Indiana Jones and E.T. films. He modestly admits, "I'm happy I had the opportunity, though at the time I had no idea of the impact it would have on my career." This 30-year movie veteran grew up loving fantasy, mystery, adventure, and make-believe as an escape to another time and place. "Movies allow my daydreams to become reality." But sound design wasn't Ben's first and only aspiration. He studied physics and wanted to be an astronaut. After graduating from USC Film School, Ben thought he'd make films for a year or two and then go back to being a scientist. "I never went back."
Ben concludes, "Satisfaction for a sound designer is creating a whole world of sound. If you get to do the voices as well, then that's just about as big a job as it comes. 'WALL·E' was my first feature animation ... working with newly invented characters was very exciting. It was certainly challenging to create something we hadn't heard before. That's what appeals to me the most -- solving the unknowns."
