ANIMAFEST PRO | ANIMAFEST SCANNER XI | Panel 2: Role of Editor and Editing in Animated Film

Beyond Words - Bill Kinder (United States / France)

PANEL 2 - ROLE OF EDITOR AND EDITING IN ANIMATED FILM
04/06 UTO 15:05-15:35 KIC

This paper considers the editorially constructed human voice in animation in light of both current production practices and recent scholarship. An example-rich survey of contemporary approaches to editing vocal performance for animation will recontextualize Walter Murch’s notion of encoded sound (2005), Michel Chion’s disembodied voice (1999), among others. Film editors were aware of the utility—and the threat—to believably ‘alive’ performances posed by digital tools long before Large Language Models and deep fakes. What are they? Can foregrounding current practices in the editing of the voice inform our response to new technologies, including generative AI?

Bill Kinder is a filmmaker and writer based in Paris. He is the co-author of Making the Cut at Pixar: The Art of Editing Animation, which describes the role of film editors at the studio, where he founded the Editorial & Post Production department, which became known internally as ‘the hub of the wheel’. Kinder began his career producing an Emmy®-nominated documentary, news, and sports; editing commercials; and creating experimental art and non-fiction films. Kinder was then the Director of Post Production Facilities at the birthplace of electronic cinema, American Zoetrope in San Francisco. Today he leads creative talent in various studio consulting and producing assignments, which have included: an animated series; an animation startup in Vietnam; a ‘must-see’ independent feature film; and essay films exploring cinema culture.