GENERAL THOUGHTS ON ACTION ANIMATION

1. THINK WHILE YOU ANIMATE!!! Animation, like all drawing, is a thinking process.

And the hand must be trained to do what your mind determines. If you don't look for something new and different, or funny - in your animation, it won't be there. .Train yourself to be observant. When you watch people, notice the way they move — their attitudes, their idiosyncracies. File these in your memory as well as the things you see when watching theater, movies, or T.V.

2. LOOK FOR THE POSE THAT TYPIFIES THE ACTION!!!!!Posing, or good extremes, may be the single most

important thing that a good animator does well. If the pose is weak, off balance, or does not truly tell your audience the attitude that you wish to convey in the scene, it becomes almost impossible to animate the action well.

Be sure to analyze the anatomy of your character. Consider his weight, shape, dress, personality, sex, age, physical deficiencies. For example, keep small cute character slightly pigeon-toed. Accent stiffness' for age.Is he tall?... fat?... awkward?.... etc. Is the drawing style you are using ..cartoon...humanized...stylized ??????Also analyze his character and philosophy.,.. .but especially his mood!!! What emotion do I want to portray - is he (or she) happy?? Depressed?? Angry???, etc. Make the line of action simple, forceful, and dramatic. AND be sure to draw the expression that fits the action. Don't, for example, draw a guy smiling pleasantly when the dialogue, the attitude, and the mood of the scene call for him to be angryi

• v •

3. TIMINGSecond only to good poses is timing ...this is the

area where true sensitivity such as a good actor will have comes into play - and just as a good actor will vary the speed of an action so should a good animator!! Where tooverlap - when to snap into a hold - when to have a soft cushion - when to get frenetic - when to be gentle and subtle - these are the questions that a sensitive animator will constantly ask himself.... Many feel that good timing

• '

is inherent and cannot be learned. It may be true of a handful of great animators - however, any animator worth the name can learn a great deal about this most important element by observation and practice...And, if being a director is part of your plans for the future...remember that timing is the hey to the pace of the film...to the payoff of gags - to the setting of a mood, ad infinitum - you must know timing to be a good animator or director!!!

4. TASTEThis is one of the hardest elements in animation

to talk about - because it varies so much with the times, with the individual and with public acceptance. Vulgarity is a matter of " taste" ...Hurt gags are a matter of "taste"... Graphics are a matter, of "taste"...Humor is a matter of "taste"... the use of voices and music is a matter of "taste".... etc.

\ • • . • • .

As in timing, you may be fortunate to be born with "taste"...but more than likely as with most everyone else you will acquire it by exposure to good film, theater and personal observation... Taste and timing.... two elements that together with good drawing almost insure good animation.

• • .

5. CARICATURE YOUR ACTION IN THE DIRECTION IT TENDS TO GO!!This is one of the things that a truly good animator

will always do. What it means simply is the exageration of the normal. Taking the action beyond what at first seems like the extreme of an action. Take the word "extreme" literally, for that is exactly what your key drawings should be.

However, remember that loose action does not necessarily indicate good action (taste again) and that there are physical limitations as to how far you can squash or stretch (except for the great Tex Avery films).Practice restraint and be sure to accent most action with hesitates and holds.

- 2 -

3

Act out your scenes and try to really be the character you are endeavoring to animate. Try to get the one basic motive in a pose or action, sublimate minor elements in order to give importance to your main action.

- i

Get follow through and overlap not only inyour action, but between characters as well.

- ' . • /

There has never been an action where all parts of the body moved.uniformly. Have one part of the body preparing to do one thing, while another is finishing up something else.

Exaggerated foreshortening can be a very effective animation device - for it adds space around >

• iyour volumes and creates a three dimensional quality - perhaps a character can lean into the camera when speaking or when swinging an object force the .perspective as it comes .into the camera by making it big and then make it especially small when it moves away from camera.

Looking up or down at a character can giveyou scale and dramatic impact - i.e., have the camera look up at a character you want to show as big - and conversely look down on a character you want to make small.

Be sure and look for a chance to anticipate wherever possible - for it strengthens an action considerably.

6. GRAVITY AND WEIGHTAny still weight will fall unless propped up

or counter-balanced. Make the feeling of weight sincere by proper balance. For instance, when moving the legof a standing character, shift the weight to the other

• « •

leg to enable the foot to have freedom of movement.

4

And do not forget that all inanimate objects are secondary and react to the primary, animate forces.These objects cannot move themselves!. Give them . inertia and give them momentum. They must be startedand stopped by an outside force. Give them resistance

* •and make your character strain when moving them.*

The force of an action must be spent somehow, either by slowing down or by collision with some object which absorbs its force. In this case, there is generally a recoil of some sort. .The general rule here is, that FOR EVERY ACTION THERE MUST BE A REACTION - i.e., a falling feather will be picked up and manipulated by air currents - a parachute will billow out - a velvet cloak can actually pull a man down faster...a rock will fallvery fast — then the question is.... How does the objectland - which one bounces? - which one overlaps?... which one hits so hard it stops practically dead and vibrates the scene???

•

7. DIALOGUEWhen animating a dialogue'scene, think in

terms of words, word shapes and phrases - not of letters. Remember that the upper teeth do not animate and that the lower jaw's action is primarily up and down with the lips and tongue forming the sounds. Keep your mouth action crisp and remember that the tongue is hooked on at the back of the lower jaw and is not floating around in limbo. Most animators disagree • on whether to anticipate the sync of dialogue by one frame or whether tp hit it on the nose. Either will work - depending on how you handle the rest of your animation.

Watch for word accents and try to anticipate dialogue with a body action. ^

5

8. FABRICS Analyze your fabric, try to get the true character

of it — its weight and weave.Look for high points and curves beneath the cloth,

and drape your materials from them. Stress lines will run from the source of pull to these points.

Follow the curve of the solid beneath when drawing "stress lines Watch for surplus areas and make them bulgeand sag.

9. TECHNICALIt is easy to pass off the technical end of

animation as something "the checkers will.take care of".... Don't be misled...an animator that understands his craft thoroughly will know that a good deal of creativity goes into such things as — the speed or slowness of a pan — trucks as action — length of a scene - whether to dissolve or fade or cut — proper direction hookups - action hook ups,etc. A thorough knowledge of the above will help not only your animation but the possibility of your becoming a director... Even the inanimate exposure sheet can be used creatively by clever justaposition of numbers for vibrate effects, laughs, other special kinds of timing...all this plus the added fact that the girls in checking will "love" you for making their lives easier is just one more reason for taking an interest in the mechanics of animation.

A final reminder that all good drawing and good action have pattern. You should be able to stop the flipping of a scene and find a solid, well balanced drawing. It is possible to get away with bad inbetweens or break downs but never bad extremes. With rare exception, all good animators are good draftsmen!! Draw, sketch, observe, and draw some more. Get a feel for personality. Develop your sense of caricature and timing. I reiterate... mostly it's a sensitivity for acting coupled with good taste and good drawing that will make a good animator.There are many different ways to animate the same thing, all valid. It's how well an action is animated, not the

and

- 6 -

choice. However, be sure you know what the director wants. Don't animate a great bit of action that is completely wrong in the context for which it's-meant.Know what the whole action is about...what leads up to it,

%and what follows. Even though the Disney animator Marc Davis has said, "Animation is an anachronism. It is that rarity, a handmade product in a mechanized age", the satisfaction gained from doing a juicy piece of animationand doing it well is the kind of satisfaction that can

• • •only be gotten by creating something with your own hands that no one has ever done before. It's a sublime feeling, you'll see !!

Abe Levitow/