In the Professional animation industry, there are numerous examples of expertly crafted animation which has a precise and conscientious use of the 12 principles of animation. Controversially to this, several demonstrate a lack of understanding of these principles, and it comes across in the production quality.
Hotel Translyvania (2012)
The stylised animation of Hotel Transylvania flows wonderfully and is an excellent example of well-crafted exaggerated, comical timing. It demonstrates a great affinity for the cartoon’s old ‘Looney Tunes’ style with overexaggerated motions that follow physics that are unique to that world and bring it effectively into 3D Space. In figure 1, there is a clear demonstration of emotion, positioning and pose. ‘Dracula’ is posed in a curve around the other character, which displays a sense of power while simultaneously telling the audience the conversation is private, which demonstrates very effective staging and character expression. The facial expressions are exaggerative and clear, which allows each personality to shine through. Timing-wise, in figure 2, the character begins to fall at a languid and unnatural pace which works well comedically as it exemplifies the distance he has jumped from. Example: Hotel Transylvania – Pool Party Scene | Fandango Family – YouTube
Treasure Planet (2002)
Disney 2D animated Treasure planet shows an excellent demonstration of follow-through and overlapping action on ‘Jim Hawkins’ character design. Particularly in the opening sequence, the character is flying on a hoverboard, and various different forces are applied to him. The way his hair and clothing and earrings move in relation to the very rapid action is very well done, as they are being counteracted by several forces at once. Example: Treasure Planet – 12 Years Later (Blu-Ray) – YouTube
Bratz Rock Angels (2005)
The entirety of the movie ‘Bratz Rock Angels’ has a questionable animation style. Given the context of these movies, the characters are ‘doll-like leaves lee-way for stiff, monotonous animation. However, rather than coming across in an intentional and well thought out process, the animation comes across as clunky, unpolished and at times verging on Uncanny. In reference to the 12 principles of animation, the animation’s timing appears to be very unnatural, following a more mechanical and ‘floaty’ CGI look which is achieved through minimal and badly placed keys in computer animation software. The lip synchronisation with the audio is also very out, making the animation look rushed and not well thought out. Example: Bratz Rock Angelz part 5 – YouTube
FoodFight! (2012)
While the conceptualisation and storyline of this movie have many very apparent issues in themselves, the animation for this film has significant issues; especially when considering the time frame and the budget this film had (being $65 million) (FoodFight! -Imdb, 2021). Due to issues in timing on the production, the animation style was changed from key animation to motion capture, which looks very rushed and appears to have not been cleaned up very well. This gives the characters very ‘jerky’ and contorted movements that look hazardous rather than enjoyable. In figure 6, you can see how the character’s wrist bends backwards rather unnaturally, and the movement itself is very unclean. The animation of ‘FoodFight!’ (Kasanoff,2012) seems to be an example of bad application of ‘appeal’ as the characters movements do not match the aesthetics of the film or the character designs and look particularly uncanny and grotesque despite the ‘cartoony’ style. Foodfight! Trailer – YouTube
Titanic: The Legend Goes On (2000)
This 2D animated version of ‘Titanic’ is in the top 10 worst animated movies on IMDB (Worst Animated Films of All Time – IMDb, 2018) and demonstrates some examples of bad staging. In figure 7, the character appears to be exiting down the corridor to the right side of the screen, however in the shot immediately after (shown in figure 8), the camera shows him leaving on the left side of the screen. This breaks the spatial continuity editing rule called the ‘180 Degree rule’. This invisible 180 Degree line directors use help to keep screen continuity to communicate the story to an audience so as not to confuse them (Edgar-Hunt, Marland and Rawle, 2010). While this can be broken to create a feeling of discombobulation, it appears to be a victim of poor storyboarding and shot layout in this specific instance. this, combined with the poor timing
List of Figures
- Figure 1- TARTAKOVSKY, G (2012). [Screenshot]. Hotel Transylvania. United States, South Korea and Canada: Sony Pictures Animation, Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions.
- Figure 2- TARTAKOVSKY, G (2012). [Screenshot]. Hotel Transylvania. United States, South Korea and Canada: Sony Pictures Animation, Columbia Pictures and Happy Madison Productions.
- Figure 3- CLEMENTS, R and J, MUSKER (2002). [Screenshot]. Treasure Planet. United States: Walt Disney Animation Studio.
- Figure 4- CLEMENTS, R and J, MUSKER (2002). [Screenshot]. Treasure Planet. United States: Walt Disney Animation Studio.
- Figure 5- FASSETT, M (2005). [Screenshot]. Bratz: Rock Angelz. United States: MGA Entertainment.
- Figure 6- KASANOFF, L (2012).[Screenshot]. Foodfight!. United States: Lionsgate Family Entertainment, C47 Productions, Natural Image.
- Figure 7- TETI,C (2000). [Screenshot]. Titanic: The Legend Goes On. Italy: Titanic Cartoons.
- Figure 8- TETI,C (2000). [Screenshot]. Titanic: The Legend Goes On. Italy: Titanic Cartoons.
Bibliography
- EDGAR-HUNT, R., MARLAND, J. and RAWLE, S., 2010. The language of film. 4th ed. AVA Academia, p.150.
- Imdb.com. 2021. FoodFight! -Imdb. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0249516/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0> [Accessed 17 October 2021].
- IMDb. 2018. Worst Animated Films of All Time – IMDb. [online] Available at: <https://www.imdb.com/list/ls022726660/> [Accessed 17 October 2021].