Painting the Past: An Analysis of the Soundtrack in Animated Feature Film Loving Vincent (2017)

Abstract

Animated feature films have soared in the box office in recent years. However, when it comes to their soundtracks, these have long been ignored by both the discipline of musicology as well as film studies. This thesis examines how this situation came to be and aims to correct this negligence, while it provides ideas on how to go about analysing the soundtracks of animated films that are not cartoons or Disney studio productions. It moreover presents one such analysis of the soundtrack to the recent well-received animated feature Loving Vincent (Dorota Kobiela & Hugh Welchman, 2017). In the process, this thesis reveals the primary issues stemming from the fact that animation is considered to be a single genre, while it is in fact as diverse in genres as live-action film.