Wednesday, 12 December 2012

Principles of Animation


Exaggeration:
Exaggeration gives more action and change to a movement to create more of an impact on the viewer. A perfect recreation/imitation of reality can look dull and motionless. It sets animation apart from live action. Disney’s definition of exaggeration is that it has to remain true to reality, just presenting in a wilder, more extreme form.

My non-contemporary example of exaggeration is from a scene in Disney’s Bambi ‘If you can’t say something nice’ which features Bambi trying to stand for the first time while being watched by a rabbit called Thumper. Thumpers ears are used in this scene to exaggerate all of his facial features and expressions.
My contemporary example of exaggeration is a scene with Bruce the shark from Finding Nemo by Disney Pixar. The shark’s mouth is extremely over exaggerated with huge razor sharp teeth highlighting the main fear factors of sharks. The way the gums and the mouth move when he talks with a huge evil grin emphasises his character and personality, bringing him to life.

Follow through and Overlapping:
Overlapping gives movement within a movement. This simple overlap gives more change and life to a movement or action. It can help give subtle, realistic movements.
Overlapping action is where things move in parts and don’t happen at the same time. One part starts first and the other parts follow. This is also known as ‘follow through’. It can help change a very ordinary action to be much more interesting and inject life into it.

My contemporary example of Follow Through and Overlapping is a scene from Ice Age of the character ‘Scrat’ trying to climb up a glacier to reach his prized nut. You can see as he tries to pull himself up different parts of him move at different times. When he is hanging by his tongue his tail and legs continue to swing in the air as he comes to a standstill. He also makes subtle movements as he moves such as his nose twitching and feet scurrying while climbing.
My non-contemporary example of Follow Through and Overlapping is a clip from an episode in Looney Tunes. It shows Bug’s Bunny being chased and shows how his body parts move at different times, particularly his ears that follow behind after he runs.
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Anticipation:
Anticipation communicates what is going to happen, before it happens. It is the preparation for an action. For every action we make there is an anticipation. We think of the things first then do them.
This helps enhance the action by giving it more of a build up. It also helps make us feel or understand what the person is thinking. It tells us exactly what is going to happen, It’s the expectation of what’s going to occur.
A well timed anticipation can enable the audience to better understand a rapid action, for example preparing to run and then sprinting off screen.
Anticipation can also create the perception of weight or mass, for example a heavy person might put their arms on a chair before they get up, whereas a smaller person might just stand up effortlessly.

My non-contemporary example of Anticipation is the opening scene from ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ where a baby tries to squeeze out of its play pen.
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My contemporary example of Anticipation is the ghost ship scene from Aardman’s ‘Pirates’. It displays the Captains realisation he’s not on a real ship and then plummets into the sea.
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