Mood

Walt Disney said, “In most instances, the driving force behind the action is the mood, the personality, the attitude of the character--or else all three. Therefore the mind is the pilot. We think of things before the body does them.” The Disney artist meant that the mood is what creates the flow of the character. If the character is in a happy mood then his personality will be much more accepting and he will have a positive attitude. Because emotions stem from the mind we therefore think before we give action. A person is in a good mood and is happy, the mind then gives off a signal to the mouth telling it to smile, thus being the driving force or pilot behind the outwardly shown good mood of a character. On pages 100-101 of "The Illusion of Life” there is a sequence of drawings that shows Pluto’s mood which is portrayed through his actions. At the top of page 100 Pluto is standing in a crouch position while smiling. He then sits down and is smiling for the next two frames. He then realizes he sat on something that is stuck to his bottom and has a look of shock on his face. In the next fram his ears are pointed straight up showing his alarmed face. “