Homework:
Start preproduction planning (with your team) for your URBN 15 sec ID spot. Remember, use found objects. Be prepared to work in class on tuesday.
Also find a 15-30 station ID spot, look at it, try to deconstruct it. Be prepared to share with the class how YOU think it was created. The process. Preproduction, production, and post production.
Links from week 3:
Fantasia abstract
Found Object
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Storyboard templates:
12 Principles of Animation
The Twelve Basic Principles of Animation
is a set of principles of animation introduced by the Disney animators Ollie Johnston
and Frank Thomas
in their 1981 book The Illusion of
Life: Disney Animation.[a][1]
Johnston and Thomas in turn based their book on the work of the leading Disney
animators from the 1930s onwards, and their effort to produce more realistic
animations. The main purpose of the principles was to produce an illusion of
characters adhering to the basic laws of physics,
but they also dealt with more abstract issues, such as emotional timing and
character appeal.
The book and its principles have become
generally adopted, and have been referred to as the "Bible of
animation."[2] In 1999 the book was voted
number one of the "best animation books of all time" in an online
poll.[3] Though originally intended to apply to
traditional, hand-drawn animation,
the principles still have great relevance for today's more prevalent computer animation.
A key frame in animation and filmmaking is a drawing that
defines the starting and ending points of any smooth transition.
The drawings are called "frames" because their position in time is
measured in frames
on a strip of film.
A sequence of keyframes defines which movement the viewer will see,
whereas the position of the keyframes on the film, video or animation defines
the timing
of the movement. Because only two or three keyframes over the span of a second
do not create the illusion of movement, the remaining frames are filled with inbetweens.
12 Principles
Tips On Getting Started: there are a number of ways
to start the process of learning animation. One is to buy books and teach
yourself. The Bible of the industry is the "Illusion of Life" by
Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. The information and drawings in this book make
it worth the fifty dollars or more that you will pay for it. These 12
principles became the gospel according to the nine old men of animation that
worked with Walt Disney in founding the industry that you see today. Don't just
read it; memorize it, learn it and use it every time you draw. There is no
short cut for skills and knowledge. It all starts will heart and desire; do you
have it?
THE 12 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ANIMATION Paraphrased
from the "Illusion Of Life" by Frank Thomas & Ollie
Johnston.(pp.47-69) Look these up and read the original version for a complete
understanding.
1. Squash and stretch
2. Anticipation
3. Staging
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
6. Slow In and Slow Out
7. Arcs
8. Secondary Action
9. Timing
10. Exaggeration
11. Solid Drawing
12. Appeal
1. SQUASH AND STRETCH
This action gives the illusion of weight and volume
to a character as it moves. Also squash and stretch is useful in animating
dialogue and doing facial expressions. How extreme the use of squash and
stretch is, depends on what is required in animating the scene. Usually it's
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. This is the most important element you will be required to master and
will be used often.
2. ANTICIPATION
This movement 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. A comic effect can be done by not using anticipation after a
series of gags that used anticipation. Almost all real action has major or
minor anticipation such as a pitcher's wind-up or a golfers' back swing.
Feature animation is often less broad than short animation unless a scene
requires it to develop a characters personality.
3. 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 and continuity of the story line. 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. Do not confuse the audience with too
many actions at once. Use one action clearly stated to get the idea across, unless
you are animating a scene that is to depict clutter and confusion. Staging
directs the audience's attention to the story or idea being told. Care must be
taken in background design so it isn't obscuring the animation or competing
with it due to excess detail behind the animation. Background and animation
should work together as a pictorial unit in a scene.
4. 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. The lead animator will turn charting and keys over to his assistant. An
assistant can be better used with this method so that the animator doesn't have
to draw every drawing in a scene. An animator can do more scenes this way and
concentrate on the planning of the animation. Many scenes use a bit of both
methods of animation.
5. 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, for example, would be when Goofy starts to run,
but his head, ears, upper body, and clothes do not keep up with his legs. In
features, this type of action is done more subtly. Example: When Snow White
starts to dance, her dress does not begin to move with her immediately but
catches up a few frames later. Long hair and animal tail will also be handled
in the same manner. Timing becomes critical to the effectiveness of drag and
the overlapping action.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. SECONDARY ACTION
This action adds to and enriches the main action
and adds more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or
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. Also, the possibility of
dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns of the head to
accentuate the walk and dialogue, but not so much as to distract from the walk
action. All of these actions should work together in support of one another.
Think of the walk as the primary action and arm swings, head bounce and all
other actions of the body as secondary or supporting action.
9. TIMING
Expertise in timing comes best with experience and
personal experimentation, using the trial and error method in refining
technique. The basics are: more drawings between poses slow and smooth the
action. Fewer drawings make the action faster and crisper. A variety of slow
and fast timing within a scene adds texture and interest to the movement. Most
animation is done on twos (one drawing photographed on two frames of film) or
on ones (one drawing photographed on each frame of film). 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. Studying movement of actors and performers on
stage and in films is useful when animating human or animal characters. This
frame by frame examination of film footage will aid you in understanding timing
for animation. This is a great way to learn from the others.
10. EXAGGERATION
Exaggeration is not extreme distortion of a drawing
or extremely broad, violent action all the time. It¹s like 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. Use good taste and common sense to keep from
becoming too theatrical and excessively animated
11. SOLID DRAWING
The basic principles of drawing form, weight,
volume solidity and the illusion of three dimension apply to animation as it
does to academic drawing. The way you draw cartoons, you draw in the classical
sense, using pencil sketches and drawings for reproduction of life. You
transform these into color 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.
12. APPEAL
A live performer has charisma. An animated character has 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 audience¹s 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.
