Power of Pantomime

Here's an article about the power of silence in animation. I couldn't agree more. An excerpt:

"American animation wasn't always like this. Some of its most memorable moments have no talking: Mickey Mouse dancing with the brooms in "Fantasia"; the Seven Dwarfs weeping at Snow White's bier; Bugs Bunny riding in as Brunhilde on a white charger in "What's Opera, Doc?" Animation is often funnier, more dramatic and more powerful when words aren't distracting the viewer's attention from the stylized expressions and movements.

Walt Disney often made his artists prepare their storyboards with only pictures; dialogue was added at the end of the process, when they determined how few words were actually needed to tell the story. In 2001, Joe Grant, who did key story work on "Snow White," "Pinocchio" and other Disney features, said in an interview: "Walt was a great advocate of pantomime. He would stand in front of the boards and re-enact the scene. You could see the reflection of him in the film: his pantomime was beautifully followed through. Today it's all talking heads."

I have still yet to see The Triplets of Belleville, and now I want to see it even more!

Source: Animated News