Dan Qureshi 0891
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION
There are 12 basic
principles of animation, they were created by the two important men from Walt
Disney Studios, they were named Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. These
principles came as a result of reflection about their practise and through
Disney's desire to devise a way of animating that seemed more 'real' in terms
of how things moved, and how that movement might be used to express character
and personality.
SQUASH & STRETCH
This action gives the illusion of weight and volume to a
character as it moves. Squash and stretch can also be useful for animating
dialogue and doing facial expressions. It is usually broader in a short style
of picture and subtler in a feature. It is used in all forms of character
animation from a bouncing ball to the body weight of a person walking.
ANTICIPATION
This movement which prepares the audience for a major action
the character is about to perform, such as, starting to run, jump or change
expression. A dancer does not just leap off the floor. A backwards motion occurs
before the forward action is executed. The backward motion is the anticipation.
Almost all real action has major or minor anticipation such as a pitcher's
wind-up or a golfers' back swing.
STAGING
A pose or action should clearly communicate to the audience
the attitude, mood, reaction or idea of the character as it relates to the
story. The effective use of long, medium, or close up shots, as well as camera
angles also helps in telling the story. There is a limited amount of time in a
film, so each sequence, scene and frame of film must relate to the overall
story. Staging directs the audience's attention to the story or idea being
told.
STRAIGHT AHEAD AND
POSE TO POSE ANIMATION
Straight ahead animation starts at the first drawing and
works drawing to drawing to the end of a scene. You can lose size, volume, and
proportions with this method, but it does have spontaneity and freshness. Fast,
wild action scenes are done this way. Pose to Pose is more planned out and
charted with key drawings done at intervals throughout the scene. Size,
volumes, and proportions are controlled better this way, as is the action.
FOLLOW THROUGH AND
OVERLAPPING ACTION
When the main body of the character stops all other parts
continue to catch up to the main mass of the character, such as arms, long
hair, clothing, coat tails or a dress, floppy ears or a long tail (these follow
the path of action). Nothing stops all at once. This is follow through.
Overlapping action is when the character changes direction while his clothes or
hair continues forward. The character is going in a new direction, to be
followed, a number of frames later, by his clothes in the new direction. "DRAG,"
in animation.
SLOW-OUT AND SLOW-IN
As action starts, we have more drawings near the starting
pose, one or two in the middle, and more drawings near the next pose. Fewer
drawings make the action faster and more drawings make the action slower.
Slow-ins and slow-outs soften the action, making it more life-like. For a gag
action, we may omit some slow-out or slow-ins for shock appeal or the surprise
element. This will give more snap to the scene.
ARCS
All actions, with few exceptions such as the animation of a
mechanical device, follow an arc or slightly circular path. This is especially
true of the human figure and the action of animals. Arcs give animation a more
natural action and better flow. Think of natural movements in the terms of a
pendulum swinging. All arm movement, head turns and even eye movements are
executed on an arcs.
SECONDARY ACTION
This action adds to the main action and adds more dimension
to the character animation, helping and re-enforcing the main action. Example:
A character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful,
aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping
walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with
the walk.
TIMING
Most animation is
done on twos or on ones, twos are used most of the time,
and ones are used during camera moves such as trucks, pans and occasionally for
subtle and quick dialogue animation. Also, there is timing in the acting of a
character to establish mood, emotion, and reaction to another character or to a
situation.
EXAGGERATION
It’s a caricature of facial features, expressions, poses,
attitudes and actions. Action traced from live action film can be accurate, but
stiff and mechanical. In feature animation, a character must move more broadly
to look natural. The same is true of facial expressions, but the action should
not be as broad as in a short cartoon style. Exaggeration in a walk or an eye
movement or even a head turn will give your film more appeal.
SOLID DRAWING
It is the way you draw cartoons, you draw in the classical
sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for reproduction of life. You
transform these into colour and movement giving the characters the illusion of
three-and four-dimensional life. Three dimensional is movement in space. The
fourth dimension is movement in time
APPEAL
Appealing animation does not mean just being cute and
cuddly. All characters have to have appeal whether they are heroic, villainous,
comic or cute. Appeal, as you will use it, includes an easy to read design,
clear drawing, and personality development that will capture and involve the
audience's interest. Early cartoons were basically a series of gags strung
together on a main theme. Over the years, the artists have learned that to
produce a feature there was a need for story continuity, character development
and a higher quality of artwork throughout the entire production. Like all
forms of story telling, the feature has to appeal to the mind as well as to the
eye.
