← Animation Glossary

Score

In animation, a "score" is the music and sound effects that are added to make the cartoon more exciting and emotional. It helps create the mood of the scene and can make you feel happy, scared, or excited while watching the show.

Please note that Score is not directly applicable to Brush Ninja.

In animation, the music score is crucial for making stories come alive on screen. It’s not just background music; it’s a powerful tool for making viewers feel emotions, enhancing the story, and pulling them into the world of the animation. Composers and sound designers work closely with animators to create a score that fits perfectly with the visuals and makes the animation even more impactful.

One big job of the score is to set the mood and feeling of a scene. With music and sound effects, composers can instantly make viewers feel different emotions, like excitement, suspense, happiness, or sadness. For example, fast and upbeat music can make action scenes more thrilling, while quiet music can bring out moments of reflection or sadness. By matching the music to the feelings of the story, animators can guide how viewers react and make them care more about the characters and plot.

Also, a good score helps create the atmosphere in the animated world. By adding sounds like nature or city noises into the music, composers make viewers feel like they’re really in the scene. For instance, hearing leaves rustle in a forest or machines in a cityscape helps make the world seem real and believable.

Besides setting the mood and atmosphere, the score also highlights important moments in the story. Whether it’s a big fight, a touching reunion, or a surprising plot twist, composers use changes in music to make these moments even more intense and memorable. By building tension, making big moments stand out, and wrapping up emotional parts with music, animators can make sure viewers stay focused and feel the story deeply.

The teamwork between animators, composers, and sound designers is crucial for making a great score that enhances animated films and videos. With attention to detail, trying out new musical ideas, and blending music seamlessly with the animation, scores can capture viewers’ attention, stir up strong feelings, and leave a lasting impression even after the animation ends.

Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Ambient sound

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Casting

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Character Design Sheets

Cinematic lighting

Claymation

Clean-up

Close-up

Color Correction

Color Grading

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Continuity editing

Cross-cutting

Cut

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Dissolve

Distributed Rendering

Dolby Atmos

Dope Sheet

Dutch Angle

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Framing

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

High key lighting

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

Jump cut

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

Low key lighting

M

Match cut

Matte painting

Montage

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

N

Network rendering

Non-linear editing

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Pan

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Props

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Score

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Sound effects

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Split screen

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tracking shot

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

Voice-over Narration

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Wide shot

Z

Z-depth

Zoom

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