We started by watching a sad stop motion- A love story- anushka naanayakkara – focusing on the relationship between these two balls of yarn. The only facial feature they had was eyes. I found it really interesting how changing the shape of the eyes conveyed so many different emotions. The principles of animation still apply even though it is stop motion 

–https://animade.tv/work/lernz – how bad animation can look if you don’t use principles. 

Lip Sync is bad even in their improved version -in my opinion.

Introducing: the 12 Principles

‘The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation’ most animators have followed this pretty religiously. The rules pre-date the book, and have been used by Disney animators since the 1930s. They help us create animated performances, and provide a common language for discussing animated work and giving feedback. They show your technical understanding of animation, and are a great jumping-off point. 

They are just guidelines 

Richard williams animator’s survival kit recommended as well 

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 (ease in/ease out)
7. Arcs
8. Secondary action
9. Timing
10. Exaggeration
11. Solid drawing
12. Appeal

1 ) Squash and stretch

• Gives the impression of weight and volume
• The amount of squash and stretch depends on the action related to it. 
• The mass of the character should stay more or less the same 
• Gives your characters a sense of plasticity 
• applies to everything including expressions 
• Think about the forces (physics) acting on your character- it’s about you personal style and setting informing what you chose to exaggerate 
• will make their movements more dynamic and believable
• Change shape not volume 

2) Anticipation

• Anticipation gives your viewer time to get ready because an action is about to take place. 
• It can be subtle stuff as well not jus large actions
• Can tell us a lot about character, where they are reserved out there. What is the amount of animation that is normal the universe 
• Give audience to time to buy into things 
• E.g. if your character is going to kick a ball (action) first they bring their foot back (anticipation) and then after they’ve kicked the ball their leg will continue on the same trajectory (follow through)
• Again, really important for dynamic movement. 
• You can us anticipation multiple times for the same move just don’t over do it – unless for a good reason 

5) Follow Through & Overlapping Action

• When an action stops there are elements that continue moving like hair, clothes, wobbly bits etc. 
• Follow through is for things that have no muscular control.
• The momentum of the action may also be extended past the main action. E.g. if a character punches another character, their fist won’t just stop upon impact, it will follow through before coming to a rest.
• Rebound or follow through past it 
• Think about forces again like, gravity, and air resistance 

6) Ease in, Ease Out

• Eases (in and out) are where we have more frames at the beginning and/or end of an action to slow the movement, with fewer frames in the middle to speed it up. 
• This makes actions seem more believable (e.g. you don’t go from standing to a full sprint in less than a second) 
• More ease (more frames) make things look softer, whereas less ease makes things start/stop moving abruptly. Think about the acceleration or deceleration of your action first, then plan your eases according to this.
• Humans don’t move at a consistent speed its impossible 

7) Arcs

• This is one of the most fundamental laws of motion. If anything looks wrong check this 
• Things move on circular paths, rather than in a straight line. 
• Without arcs, your characters will look lifeless and robotic. 
• Draw arcs on your page and make things follow your guide. Everything does this – e.g. in a walk your shoulders, elbows, wrists, hands, head, knees, feet and hips are all moving in arcs. 
• Everything is made of clocks

8) Secondary Action

• Secondary action happens in support of the main action. It adds more life to the scene, enhancing the main action. 
• It’s an intentional movement, not just a result (like with overlapping action).
• Timing and scale of these actions is important so that the viewer is not distracted from the main action (think about cooking – secondary action is like salt or spices).
• This was the hardest for me to get my head round- if I remove it from the scene the message of the action should not change. That’s the logic i’m using for now 

Things that break the ‘rules’

Fox hunt – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLRvk5N2Eog – not the best quality but i will have to look for a better on later 

Transition 

• Try to use transitions that have meaning. Avoid transitions that break down an object before building a new one.

Composition 

• Think about negative space. 
• a lot of the things we learned about in animatics are still applicable.

Change 

Interest happens in storytelling and in visuals through CONTRAST.

We want to take the viewer on a journey

Friday 1 november 

Staging

• Staging applies to the movement and placement of the camera and how it directs the eye of the viewer.
• Keep the focus of the most important elements of the scene. 
• Everything not important has less movement. –  don’t get distracted from important actions.
• It also connects to the idea that each pose should convey the character’s mood/intention
• Directing the eye 
• More of a storyboard thing 

Straight ahead 

• volume and design change
• Best for very elemental things like water and fire, smoke 
• Stop motion and cut out are straight ahead as well as lots of more experimental practices.

Pose to Pose 

• Pose to pose is where we draw our ‘keyframes’ first. These are the main poses of action or emotion of the character (think about what you might see in a storyboard, or comic book frames). We start with these, make sure they look ‘on model’ (like the character)
• Then we can add ‘breakdowns’ which are drawings that show how we get from one key to another.
• Finally we add ‘in-betweens’ which is where we fill in all the missing frames between the breakdowns and keys.

Timing 

• Timing helps objects look realistic or stylised in their motion. It helps create the laws of physics for your universe: inertia, constant motion, action and reaction. 
• Manipulating timing allows us to create character and life.
• The basics of timing: the more frames, the slower/smoother something moves. The less frames, the faster/more punchy the action.
• Laws of physics of the universe  – very close to easing 

Exaggerating 

• Something to really focus on for me 
• Push expressions to the extreme –  thin of it as actors on a stage and you are really far away 
• Think about what you’re trying to achieve and push this as far as you want. It’s often better to push it way too far and then bring it back to where you’re comfortable – Also think of why you are doing what you are doing. 

Solid Drawing

• This just means your characters may be drawn in 2D, but needs to look like they exist in three-dimensional space.
• How? Perspective, form and anatomy, keeping weight and volume consistent, and even using lights and shadows.
• Think: volume, weight and balance

Appeal

• Make things that look nice! An obvious rule: but create things that are compelling and draw the audience into the story. 
• Think about: design (like colour, shape language, what features you’re exaggerating), emotion, movement, and body language