Iluminace 2025, 37(2):95-113 | DOI: 10.58193/ilu.1814

Storytelling Beyond Dialogue and Preschool Animation. Rethinking Audiovisual Narrative in the TV Series The Sound Collector

Maria Chiara Oltolini ORCID...
Università Cattolica Milan, Italy ✉

Sound plays an important role in filmmaking, enhancing the narrative power of the image and engaging audiences in various ways. Significantly, when we say we watch a film, we are truly “audioviewing” it — a key point concerning the nature of audiovisual storytelling. In animation, sound representation used to receive limited attention. This perspective, however, is shifting, as demonstrated by the growing awareness in film scholarship and how-to manuals regarding sound design. Within this evolving framework, The Sound Collector (2023) stands out as a preschool television series that places sound at the center of its storytelling, integrating auditory exploration and themes of disability with a calm, reflective tone. This article examines the creative process behind the making of the show, to which I contributed as a scriptwriter, drawing on both my personal experience and conversations with its creators and producers. It explores how the series relates to the existing tradition of preschool animation and its strategies — in characterization, worldbuilding, narrative structure, and scripting conventions — to foster engagement through sound, even in the absence of dialogue. In particular, the series blends stop-motion animation with live-action footage, giving space to the portrayal of small moments of everyday life, in contrast to the faster pace and gag-driven style common in much children’s animation. By analyzing the interplay of sound, visuals, and narration, this paper argues that The Sound Collector questions some conventional assumptions about children’s television and illustrates an approach to inclusive storytelling that can engage a wide audience.

Keywords: children’s animation, audiovisual storytelling, sound design, scriptwriting, disability

Received: February 20, 2025; Revised: August 27, 2025; Accepted: October 2, 2025; Published: November 10, 2025  Show citation

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Oltolini, M.C. (2025). Storytelling Beyond Dialogue and Preschool Animation. Rethinking Audiovisual Narrative in the TV Series The Sound Collector. Iluminace, 37(2), 95-113. doi: 10.58193/ilu.1814
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