9 Economical ways that animation builds emotion

The animated short I viewed was Walt Disney's "Education for Death" This film is used to highlight some of the most difficult times in history. This film uses a sensitive subject such as the Holocaust and incorporates the story of a young Boy who grows up and becomes less of an individual by attending Hitler’s school for young boys to breed into a Nazi Solider. In the end, Hans and the rest of the German soldiers march off to war. They fade into indistinguishable rows with nothing on them except a swastika and a helmet perched. This concludes Hans' “education for death." 1. Rear View a. The audience is brought in to imagine what the characters are thinking. i. The narrator of this film tells the audience what is happening 2. Shadows a. Added to associate suspense or drama. i. This is apparent when the couple walks in to get their son's name approved. the room is dim. 3. Shadows over the character a. Used to convey attitude in a character. i. This is used around 2:30 where the prince comes in and saves the day. He is nothing but a silhouette which conveys mystery about the character until his reveal. 4. Overlays a. Shows a 3d effect within the background i.Did not see anything that would apply 5. Dramatic layout a. Overpowering shapes can add dramatic feelings. i. The unnaturally skinny size of Hitler and the prince and the overbearing size of Germany as the princess at 3:18 6. Pictorial shot a. A background with a strong mood can save difficult animation. i. I would say one example of the pictorial shot was when the photos of Hitler is hanging on the wall at 5:21 with the children standing beneath it addressing him. 7. Effects animation a. Effects can establish a mood either by symbolism or showing what the character sees. i. at 5:51 when the lesson is being taught. Hans' answers incorrectly and is sent to the dunce chair and watches as his class mates give a more "brutal" and "right" answer. 8. Held drawing with camera moves a. Emotion can be strengthened through camera moves to establish an emotion. i. at 7:51 the camera moves and shows the entire class being interested in what the teacher is saying. Because of the young age of the children this conveyed disbelief and sadness towards the corrupted youth. 9. Offstage sounds a. Offstage sounds can draw in an audience into the scene by just targeting their emotions. i. Throughout this short music is played in the background to better convey things such as fear and anger. Points to Remember 1. Make sure the emotional state of the character is clearly defined. a. The emotional state is clearly defined by the corruptness of Hitler instilling fear and anger 2. The thought process reveals the feeling. Sometimes it can be shown with a single, held drawing or a simple move. Other times there should be gestures, body moves, or full action. Determine which is best in each case. a. The feeling is carried throughout the entire short. but the best one is conveyed at 7:26 when Hans catches on to the lesson and is infuriated with the rabbit being weak. . 3. Be alert to use of cutting and camera in helping to accentuate the emotion. a. Quick close-ups reveal the emotion of each character. 4. Ask yourself constantly: a. What am I trying to say here? i. The influence of one man with charisma is very powerful. b. What do I really want to show? i. how absurd the ideas are, but how much impact they've had on the world as a whole. c. How do I want the audience to react? i. Sympathize with Hans because he's a child all while seeing the ridiculousness of Hitler as he is shown as a goof. 5. Use the element of time wisely: a. To establish the emotion of the character i. Again, from beginning to end the emotional state is clearly defined. b. To convey it to the viewers i. Same as a. c. To let them savor the situation i. Same as a.

14 Points, 12 more points

Fred’s 14 points of animation 1. Appeal in drawing a. Characters must be eye friendly. i. The seven dwarfs facial expressions. 2. Staging a. Having a basic outline of what needs drawn i. Story board 3. Most interesting way? a. Is the scene get inside the audience’s mind? i. Feelings for the character 4. Is it the most entertaining way? a. Does the scene grab the audience’s attention? i. A sudden action or act that gets the audience excited. 5. Are you in character? a. Get inside the mind of the character…would they do this? i. Page 214 shows an example of a dog trying to block out sound. 6. Are you advancing the character? a. Is the action you’re drawing moving the story along. i. Mickey riding in the steamboat to the next destination (next scene) 7. Is this the simplest statement of the main idea of the scene? a. Dummy down the main idea so even children can understand. i. The seven dwarfs singing about what kind of work they do. 8. Is the story point clear? a. Repeat of #7 i. Repeat of #7 9. Are the secondary actions working with the main action? a. The little things added to create a scene must work well with the character to not draw attention away from the main idea. i. Birds on Snow White. 10. Is the presentation best for the medium? a. Are you thinking about your surrounding environment (audience)? They need to be interested in your work or you won’t be making a second. i. Audiences went crazy over the presentation of Aladdin. 11. Does it have 2 dimensional clarity? a. Sometimes used in a “held” drawing, the 2d effect allows animators to coast into a final pose to show the audience the emotion of the character. i. Page 61 shows Elmer Elephants’ attitude. 12. Does it have 3 dimensional solidity? a. Drawings must have weight, depth, and balance. i. Twins could occur without following these three principles. 13. Does it have 4 dimensional drawing? a. A 3D drawing this is dragged to a 4th dimension i. The scene is so well drawn, it seems real to the audience. (Drag and follow through) 14. Are you trying to do something that shouldn’t be attempted? a. Keep the audience in mind, “why would they want to look at this?” i. Trying to show the top of Mickey’s head. The additional 12 points 1. Inner feelings and emotion a. Repeat of Fred’s #5 i. #5 2. Acting with clear and definite action a. Repeat of Fred’s #7 i. #7 3. Character and personality a. Repeat of Fred’s #5 i. #5 4. Thought process through expression changes a. Repeat of Fred’s #1 i. #1 5. Ability to analyze a. Repeat of Fred’s #7 i. #7 6. Clear staging a. Repeat of Fred’s #2 i. #2 7. Good composition a. Repeat of Fred’s #7 i. #7 8. Timing a. The timing must be correct or the audience may not understand the “punch line.” i. Having a joke too early before the main character can lead up to it. 9. Solidity in drawing a. Repeat of Fred’s #1 i. #1 10. Power in drawing a. Repeat of Fred’s #10 i. #10 11. Strength in movement a. Repeat of Fred’s #6 i. #6 12. Imagination a. Any animator needs an imagination. You be think like the character, act like the character…most importantly…be the character. i. Norm Ferguson acting out Pluto on page 93.

APPEAL

An animator that is able to fully grasp the idea of warming the heart is Fred Moore. His ideas lead to bringing forth Disney's appeal that would be used to create films that would last a lifetime. Fred Moore did not follow severe scrutiny of how people move or walk or talk. He was able to show things from facial expressions to changing the shape of a character in order for them to have accurate “human-like” movements. Fred Moore showed accurate and realistic character movements within his work , something that came natural to him in his drawings. The warming up of the heart analogy versus “dumbding down” is a way Disney was able to allow the audience to relate and sympathize with the character, even though the character is not real. Moore knew that the audience was interested in seeing the characters think and feel as humans do and in order to make this happen the audience had to establish a relationship with the character which leads to the warming o the heart. One of the 14 points of animation that was a chart constructed by Moore relates to the “dumbing down.” Point 7 of the 14 principles reads “Is this the simplest statement of the main idea of the scene?” This is not because the audience as a whole would not understand, but it was made simple so that the age range of the audience would be greater and the message would be sure to reach everyone on the same cognitive level. Although adults may understand situations and plots in a movie, the children who are also a target audience should also be able to understand and enjoy a movie.

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. “

The real and realism

“I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.”- Walt Disney. What Disney means by this is that nothing great can be done that is based on reality if one does not understand the concepts and foundation that makes something real. An example of this is trying to create a character that audiences can relate to. Say that the audience an animator is trying to reach is that of the age group 5-8. The animator cannot create relatable or real characters that will appeal to this audience if they do not first understand what it is real to this age group. A character that can be real and relatable to this age group could be a princess who is friends with a hyperactive dragon with whom she goes on many adventures with. I do not think that this conflicts with the argument made in Chapter two because using emotions and characteristics that are real to humans and applying them to animation is what makes it successful and viewable to a widespread audience.

12 Principles of Animation

1. Squash and Stretch- its purpose is to give a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects. An example of this is a bouncing ball.

2. Anticipation- is used to prepare the audience for an action, and to make the action appear more realistic.

3. Staging- Its purpose is to direct the audience's attention, and make it clear what is of greatest importance in a scene.This can be done in different ways such as the placement of a character in the frame, the use of light and shadow, and the angle and position of the camera.

4. Straight ahead action / pose to pose- means drawing out a scene frame by frame from beginning to end, while "pose to pose" involves starting with drawing a few key frames, and then filling in the intervals later.

Pose to pose-

5. Follow through and overlapping action- "Follow through" means that separate parts of a body will continue moving after the character has stopped. "Overlapping action" is the tendency for parts of the body to move at different rates. A third related technique is "drag", where a character starts to move and parts of him take a few frames to catch up.

6. Slow in and slow out- The time it takes for the human body and other objects to accelerate or slow down. This principle goes for characters moving between two extreme poses, such as sitting down and standing up, but also for inanimate, moving objects, like the bouncing ball.

7. Arcs- Arcs give animation a more natural action and better flow. 8. Secondary action- Adding secondary actions to the main action gives a scene more life, and can help to support the main action. A person walking can simultaneously swing his arms or keep them in his pockets, he can speak or whistle, or he can express emotions through facial expressions.

9. Timing- refers to the number of drawings or frames for a given action, which translates to the speed of the action on film.

10. Exaggeration- is an effect especially useful for animation, as perfect imitation of reality can look static and dull in cartoons.The classical definition of exaggeration, employed by Disney, was to remain true to reality, just presenting it in a wilder, more extreme form.

11. Solid Drawing- means taking into account forms in three-dimensional space, giving them volume and weight.

12. Appeal- in a cartoon character corresponds to what would be called charisma in an actor.

Caricature

Caricature is an exaggerated rendition of an image and its features. I believe that caricature is more real than realism because an artist can evoke more feelings from his or her audience through exaggeration. These emotions that are provoked from the animation are real which then makes the caricature real. The artist can show emotions, feelings, and fear by not limiting the actions of a character. Through satirizing the artist can take something like a lamp and give it human qualities. It is these qualities given to the object that makes the object real: The “art of animation had the power to make the audience actually feel the emotions of the cartoon figure” (Thomas and Johnston 15).