Don Bluth's Animation Academy

Character Clean Up

CLEAN UP

ANTICIPATION

Anticipation is a vital part of timing. It tells an audience taht something is about to happen. It adds definition and life to an action. It sets up the rhythm.

Let's think on this for a moment. Do we, or do we not, anticipate the many actions we might go through in our daily routines? Do we get directly up out of a chair? Do we move directly into a walk from a still position? Do we pick an object up off the table without an anticipation of some kind? Having a ball in our hand, will we start bouncing it without first anticipating the action?

Because an anticipation to an action is so normal, we're often apt to overlook our doing it. Of course, we maly each anticipate a given action just a little differently. Let's say we're sitting in a chair and somethingstartles us. We might excitedly grab the arms of the chair - lift our feet - plant them on the floor - push our body forward directly over our feet for balance and move forward and upward into a standing position. Taht suggests a lot of anticipation before we actually get to our feet, doesn't it? but the situation might justify it. Normally, just to get up from a chair, we wouldn't go through such "wind-up" anticipation. We would probably just lean forward, getting our body bent over our legs and then, with hands on the chair arms, push ourselves forward and up into standing position, ready to walk away.

Sometime try kicking an object like a soccer ball or a tin can without anticipationg the action. It will feel or look clumsy and awkward and the total distance the ball or can might travel will be less because the body and the kicking foot would not have had the "wind-up" or built in rhythm an anticipation would supply.

Starting from a still position, try moving directly into the first step of a walk. The move will not feel right because we have not prepared for the lift and reach of the leg which is to start the action. We need that anticipation, that something that automatically says, "Let's go."

A walk anticipation may be no more than a body lift and that just naturally helps get the starting foot off the ground. It's all done as habit. Too, the anticipation may be just a body twist within a short backward move. Or it might be a big, show-off thing in the form of a body bowing, pushing the tush back for balance and then moving forward, "pushing" the body into an up position with the stepping foot lifting and reaching out into the first step - and the walk is on its way! If the walk is to be one of great spirit,. the "bowing" anticipation might be embellished (and made more of) by several little quick steps backward as the "bowing" is taking place. Really, there is as much variety in anticipation as our imaginations will allow.

The nature and ways of anticipation go on and on, and regardless of houw or why, it's a part of everything we do, and must be a part of all we animate.

The character on our drawing board cannot get by without anticipation anymore than we ourselves, can. His will be caricatured and more visual and more fun - but anticipation must be a part of him just as it is a part, a natural part, of us.

STAGING, ANTICIPATION and the SILHOUETTE

Goethe

How often have we been deeply moved by a certain picture hanging in a gallery and have taken time to sit and study it hour after hour? If we so desired, we could go back again and again, sit before it and "listen" to its message. It might have been alive with movement, color and design - full of interesting detail - dramatic in the grouping of human or animal figures - restful in its echoing of nature's moods. Whatever the appeal, the picture communicated with us - a message visually and emotionally presented through the artists creative abilities, not least of which was the talent for "staging" and making known his deep convictions. And we responded.

How different the gallery presentation to the viewer and that of the animated picture? In our films we have but seconds, or portions thereof, to present our story to our audience. If our message has not gotten over in the allotted time, that's just too bad! We can't say we're sorry and obligingly run the film back so our audience can take a second or a third look in order to enjoy that which we have laboriously created.

And therein lies our challenge. In the short time we have for our presentation on the screen, we must be sure our message is well staged - clearly and quickly stated. This means that the business and character(s) in every scene must be carefully considered and presented. In an article in Psychology Today (June, 1982), the point was made that, "Youngsters remember what they see twice as well as what they hear." Perhaps this might go for youngsters of all ages, five to ninety-five. The famed writer-humorist, Alexander Woolcott, made it clear to us in 1939 when he warned that "animation, being basically a panntomime art, should be expressive and visual."

How can we best respond to Mr. Woollcott's admonition? There certainly is no "one, two, three and that's it" approach. But let's start with our drawing - our visual statement up there on the screen. standing apart from other considerations, is it quickly readable and delivering ur message? Is the "silhouette" good or somewhat vague with arms or legs crammed in front of the face or body, destroying definition? Is the body attitude complimenting the character's expression or gesture? In short, as we have to always ask ourselves, is our drawing alive and does it say what we want it to say? Perhaps this is rule one in staging.

More often that not, our staging problem is challenged by the movement of our character(s) and our job is to make sure the attention of the audience is focused right where we want it to be. In working out scenes, a perspective and path pattern of all action might well be planned on one sheet of paper, and within the fielding (camera) bounds, before any animation is done. This approach is proper planning - our only assurance of staging and figure size contol.

We should have a reason for what we do. We have something to say, maybe in action, maybe in a still pose. Beyond our drawing, what can we do?

First, let's consider a camera position, or the field size, we might need. Is the full figure important in the problem before us? Will a waist shot serve us better - or do we need a good close-up on our character? Do we need to pinpoint something he's holding in his hand? Whatever the need, camera fielding is part of the answer.

"Fielding" helps us to be visual - to be specific. The camera opens wide to help us with locale - whether the beauty of the countryside - the warmth of a village stree - the menace of a gathering storm - the thriving industrial complelx, shrouded in a haze, kept alive by giant stacks belching out their heavy smoke. The camera can be dramatic with its high and low angles and its versatility. It zooms or cuts in or pulls or cuts back to punctuate emotions. But before the camera is useful to us, we must know how to use it to help us in what we have to say.

It is well to have a good idea of the fielding we might need before we animate, but rgardless of the camera bounds, we will do well to draw beyond the borders of our anticipated camera field so we may have a leeway with our camera position just in case we might want to make a slight adjustment after seeing our first test.

We may find it desirable to be with ur character(s) throughout a given action as in Mrs. Brisby's flight with Jeremy the Crow to visit the GReat Oul. In those scenes we were not only following the action with the camera but, to add vitality to the perspective effort put into the animation, we were also moving in and out on the characters with the camera for added scope and dramatic effect. Again, let's keep in mkind the fact that the camera should work for us, that we are in control of its placement and movements and that it's a valuable asset in getting our best pictorial results. Whatever is happening on the screen must be clearly understood. Remember, a picture is for communication and the camera will help us make it so.

Summing up:
A scene, even if a moving composition, must be understood, or there's no sense in animating it. The strory it tells is new to the audience, so let's put ourselves in the viewer's place and check whether or not we have communicated.

We think of ourselves as pantomimists. An maybe - in a way - we are magicians, too. The mystical babble and gesturing the magician uses to invoke his magic is the anticipation and staging for his act. It gets the attention of his audience. It commands viewers to watch while his performance goes on with enigmatic yet fascinating shhowmanship, caricatured to high heaven. The audience is bug-eyed, lest it lose out on some little mystical happening.

We too, have a little thing done to get attention and we call it "anticipation". Sometimes it can be rather simple - sometimes involved - but whichever and however, its purpose is to prepare the audience for the action we are about to present and for best results it, the anticipation, must be easily seen, graceful, eye-catching and positive. It's got to be staged for the show!

In our animation "arcs" as we know an use them, we stage the grace and clarity of movement. Namtue, at times, gives illustration o fthis when gusty winds rock a big, heavily leafed tree, bending it mercilessly to the ground and whipping it back in anticipation of antoher onslaught. This big "arcs" that the tree's action follows are full and expressive of force and the "whip" (the overlap) of the leafed branches as they surge into the reverse move adds a strength and excitement to the action.

Repeat: "arcs" we use to define our actions become a very valid part of our scene's staging. It's through the arcs that we graphically display what our character is doing and how he's doing it. A gesture cannot be really alive and meaningful without the rhythmical strength an "arc" can give. All "arcs" are not equal in scope or design, so we might consider any action "off the straight line" as being "arc" in nature. The "arc" gives finesse to an action. It's showmanship - it's positive and graceful. Perhaps we might add, even poetic!

It's interesting to note that while the acting in live action films has become less involved with expressive gestures, stage presentations still feel the need for pantomime. Pantomime, of course, is even more obvious in musical comedy shows. Some comics play strongly with gestures, using big "arcs" for the flourish that helps their act, while others have nothing to gesture or emote about.

The old melodrama said it all. The actors were "hams" and pantomimists at heart and their caricatured acting in pure fun and very, vary visual. Animation is that kind of entertainment - positive, expressive and visual. It's worthy of the best staging we can give it!

Simplicity is so necessary in staging and a good silhouette in drawing is one helpful way of achieving that simplicity. The old cliché, "black it all in and see if it reads", is very applicable here. We may blacken the drawing only in our imagination, but whether imaginary or really blacked in, we should get a prompt "yes" or "no" verdict as to how clearly the drawining reads. We ask ourselves if we are making our best statement of the body stance and attitude? Have we lost strength and meaning in the pose by ignoring definition of arms or legs? Have we let expressive hands get lost within the silhouette of the body shahpe? Are we striving for good silhouette in our action?

It's like building a building - we start with a good foundation and build upward - not start with the roof and build down. It's easy and temptiing to think of little subtleties that might go into an action even before we have fully planned the design of that actio. Thre, we must not discard or overlook those subtleties but should jot them all down to be considered and used later, in proper place and time, to punctuate our character's movements and personality. All in all, Whatever we animate will be much more entertaining if we give it the silhouette look.