Don Bluth's Animation Academy

Character Clean Up

CLEAN UP

THE CLEAN-UP INBETWEEN

1. Be sure you understand your assignment on the scene you pick up. Don't be afraid to ask questions.
2. Be sure all ruff inbetweens - except very tight inbetweens - have been done. Clean-Up the ruff inbetween unless instructed to make a new drawing.
3. Peruse the scene when you pick it up to see if all elements are there. Don't do new drawings if someone has already done them.
4. Check for reinforcements.
5. Number the drawings in the lower right-hand corner.
6. Trace back to designated drawing.
7. Inbetweens should be good looking drawings - avoid the "Neanderthal" look.
8. Match the line density and width of the extremes.

MOVEMENT - RHYTHM - TIMING

Good pantomimes have always insisted that action should be simple and direct - it should not be overdone! This thought was given emphasis by Ham Luske and others in the mid-thirties when the character and meaning of classical animation was beginning to find its place in the field of entertainment.

How often do we give thought to the inward sensation we experience as we view something in motion be it human, bird or animal - be it trees or grasses pushed by the wind - or water cascading down a canyon wall - or ominous cloud formations gathering in threatening storm pattern? Wherever we look there's something in motion and most of it is exciting! Why, then, shouldn't the movement and rhythm we put into our scenes, regardless of nature or content, be a satisfying experience for our audience?

In our action the big moves may move us from place to place, suggesting the spirit and emotion in our character, but the smaller moves, the embellishments within the big moves, magnify the attitude and emotion and add dimension an sincerity, keeping our action from being just ordinary or passable.

Do you remember seeing a frolicking colt, running pell-mell across an open field, suddenly jumping into the air, wildly tossing his head side to side, giving an exuberant kick with his back legs, landing and then right back into full stride, never missing a step? Or a baby crawling hurriedly across the floor, all "fours" working feverishly, his little rump and shoulders rolling from side to side, his whole body alive in great anticipation of "getting there"?

These actions are not just ordinary or passable. The big movements in the run of the colt and the baby's crawling provide the excitement or "being". The little happenings within the big moves add strength and emotion - they pull the audience into the scene.

Our inward feelings are often expressed in minimal moves - little things like the downward roll to the side that questions or wonders - the hips and shoulders which move and roll forward and back to help arms and legs function prooperly and with rhythm. All are relatively limited moves, but are a vital part of bigger body moves. We cannot successfully consider the most simple or the most complex moves without a thorough ananlysis of the workings of every part of teh body, one with or counter to another, and then making good use of them in our action.

Even in the simplest of walks, perhaps a cycle, we can present an interesting action if we accept and use small, basic "things" taht really happen in a walk, "things" like the normal move of the body forward and backward giving it the needed balance, the logical involvement of the shoulders and hips as teh arms swing forward and vack and the legs lift and kick out into the next step and the reaction of the head to the over-all body movement. But we should remember that all the movement in the world will not pay off for us if we lose its rhythm and flow through bad timing and poorly planned patterns of action and attitudes that are rigid and uninteresting.

RHYTHM

Of rhythm and its meaning Walt Disney wrote:
"I think a good study of music would be indispensable to the Animator - a study of rhythm - the various rhythms that enter into our lives every day - how rhythmical the body really is and how well balanced the body really is. There are things in life that we do to rhythm that come natural to us. Notice how rhythmic an action like pounding with a hammer is. There's no reason for that. You must have rhythm or you can't carry out the action completely. Also sawing a board - see how necessary it is to have a good rhythm for that! Also walking - if you walked without rhythm, where would you get? You'd have to be thinking all the time what to do next. You'd have to set your mind to walking rhythmically instead of doing it naturally."

TIMING

When Walt speaks of rhythm in simple actions like the hammering of a nail and the sawing of a board, he's talking about the timing and phrasing, the change of pace, so necessary in everyaction we do, to make that action crisp, alive and exciting.

Timing is, in theory, avery simple little trick that, skillfully done, creates rhythm, pacing and vitality in our animation. We crowd drawings close together to create and define mood attitude and we space them apart to give emphasis. How we space and use all those drawings, determines the life and tempo in our scenes.

We must understand the value of a "second of time" (24 frames of film) upon that movie screen. We must know just how much "time" (seconds or parts of) it might take for us to make our story message known to our audience. We must capably break our action down into "seconds" and "frames" - one second being 24 frames - one-half second being 12 frames - one-third second being 8 frames, etc. We must mentally calculate all of this. We have to feel and know the value and relationship of frames and seconds and drawings in order to express ourselves fully.

Let's look again at that hammering and sawing Walt talks about. If we wonder about the lessons to be learned from such simple actions, let's consider that all action will have a reason - the reason being that our character wants orhas to do it of course, to one degree or another, emotions will be involved and might well dictate the timing and rhythm.

Every action has a change of pace in its slow and ast movements. In the performance of the actions Walt suggested, we would anticipate deliberately and then do the hti or sawing action with an accent, the accent being the beat. That timing gives the action a change of pace and a pattern of consistency which is a necessary factor in making bith the hammering and the sawing successful. The slower move in the anticipation followed by the accent of the hit or the sawing action by contrast, gives strength to lthe whole action. The fact that the action is to a rhythmical beat promises a successful result in getting that nail driven into the wood or the board being cut all the way through. In either action we would have to determine the relative "time" or number of frames to be used in the anticipation and in the accent. Would the anticipation be double the time in the accent? More? Less? It might well depend on the attitude of the character doing the action.

Naturally, if our character is a bit irritated, his tension will be heightened and his rhythm will be at an accelerated tempo in his anxiety to get the job done and out of the way. If, on the other hand, his mood is less tense, the beat and rhythm might very well be slower. What happens if the rhythm falters? well - the stroke might get off line - the nail might get bent - a finger might get smashed or the saw get "wedged in". It happens all the time - even in real life.

It's interesting to note that when a beat rhythm is broken by a mis-move or an illogical interruption, it may take a number of beats to get back into it. In the course of doing so, even the simplest action could go awry.

As is always desired in our action, the path and design of the hammering and sawing actions were positive. In each, the anticipation would be in a slight, upward arc - the hammering, an over arc; the sawing, an under arc. The action down into the hit or sawing would be in the same arc, moving in the opposite direction. The force or power in the overall move is gotten through the reversal of movement on the same line of action. If we get out of that "line of action" going either way, the strength and rhythm of the action will be off balance.

The reversal of direction on a given line has power! We were illustrating this years ago when we used to say: "Go one way before you go another" when discussing anticipation. With this in mind let's concider an example: If we're going to punch someone in the nose, we best draw our fist straight back on a direct line to his face in anticipation and then come forward at the poor guy with all our might, moving fast on that same straight line and into the hit. That's a very visual force.

The "flow" of the action line is all important. We must always have a reason for it. The straight line often suggests strength. The undulating line, often more interesting, gives a poetic feeling and movement to the action. Even in a simple run we may add interest if we gradually lean our character into a forward attitude, then pull back into a more erect position for his "second wind" and then faster into a ore determined lean forwrd, never breaking stride, but suggesting an increased emotional feeling within our character. With the changing body attitudes and our timing in and out of them, we get an interesting pacing but we do not vary or change the beat or tempo of the run. In our pattern of action we strive to avoid rigidity. "Stiff as a board" has nothing in common with animation, unless used to point up a given gag or story point.

The rhythm and timing of animation is like a good musical score - it builds to crescendos and drops into quiet - it surges and it slows - it lifts and it falls. An audience needs that change. It must have periods of excitement and periods of rest. Our action must have variety and vitality in timing, lest it becomes monotonous and irritating. Action, like emotion, needs change to get and keep the viewer's interest. It has to be alive. We might say it has to be moody, impulsive, sprinkled with surprises. It has to have zest, humor, drama, and meaning! How? Through expressive drawings, movement patterns, and our timing and acting skills.