The Teachers' Animation Toolkit

Materials:
Sketchbooks or exercise books, pens, pencils
Resources:
Handouts: Character Sheet 3, 4 and 5
Video Clip: A Decent Excuse by Julian Frank

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The Teachers’ Animation Toolkit
WORKSHEET: MUSIC AND IMAGERY IN 
PETER AND 
THE WOLF
Teachers’ note:
This and the following two worksheets offer good ways to 
prompt discussion about the power of music to help tell a story in 
animation, to enhance mood and atmosphere and to help develop 
characterization.
In 2006, Suzie Templeton directed a modernized, stop-motion 
animated adaptation of 
Peter and the Wolf
. It is unusual in its lack 
of any dialogue or narration, the story being told purely in images 
and sound and interrupted by sustained periods of silence. The 
soundtrack is performed by The Philharmonia Orchestra, and the 
fi lm received its premiere with a live accompaniment in the Royal 
Albert Hall. The fi lm won the Annecy Cristal and the Audience 
Award at the 2007 Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Begin by asking the students to listen carefully to part of the 
soundtrack of 
Peter and the Wolf, 
without the visuals. Ask the 
following:
What type of fi lm you think this is? What style do you think it is? 
What genre? Does the music invite you to see the fi lm? Does it give 
away the theme or style? Does the music set a target audience?
How would you describe this music? What feeling/images does 
it suggest to you? How does the music contribute to the mood/
meaning of a sequence? How would the sequence be affected if the 
music were absent/different?
Next, show the complete fi lm, including both image and sound. Ask 
the following:
About the sound effects
: What exactly can you hear? Are 
the sound effects used simply to represent an action or do they 
contribute to the drama of the sequence?