Animation pioneers Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, Working at Disney from its primitive years into the 1970s, created a set of rules for creating well-produced animation. This set of rules is titled the ’12 Principles of Animation’.
- Squash and Stretch
Squash and stretch give emphasis to the weight and momentum of a movement. In a media form such as animation, the body can be pushed to unrealistic limits. However, it is essential to keep the volume of the exaggerated object the same. The intentional exaggeration of this principle can be applied contextually, depending on the type of animation style being created. For instance, this is exemplified in figure 1, a more’ Cartoony’ style animation where the character is stretched out to add comedic emphasis to the interaction of the characters, heightening the emotional displays from each of them. Contrasting with this, the subtle uses of squash and stretch in the film ‘Cinderella’ (1950) are portrayed in a more nuanced and ‘realistic way’; this is mainly present in particular facial expressions and movements of more ‘ridiculous’ characters such as the king. Highlighting squash and stretches importance in animation, Walt Stanchfield states how “The lack of it can make a scene seem lifeless. The overuse of it has not yet occurred” (Stanchfield and Hahn, 2009: 12).
2. Anticipation
Anticipation is in its basic form, is the preparation of the action. This principle adds an accentuation of energy build up in a movement that gives it a sense of realism and weight. For example, before starting a run, a character might dramatically lean back on one leg before going into a sprint (which is classically seen in older cartoons). In animation, this can really be pushed to extremities, the show a build-up of action in stylised and comical ways. An excellent example of this is shown in figure 4, where the animation is pushed to such extremities, the character falls off their chair.
3. Staging
Staging is an essential part of animation as it concerns the overall placement, camera angle, movement and focus of a shot. Much like elements of ‘Mise-En-Scene’, which is “the contents of the frame and the way they are organised” (Gibbs, 2002:2), the staging helps progress the narrative. As shown in figure 5, the way the camera is placed, using the out of focus building to lead the eye into the right corner to the in-focus main character, helps frame the current action. When the camera pulls out of focus toward the peak of the building, his destination makes the subsequent action very clear as he turns towards it. Camera moves are not the only thing that makes effective staging; however, the background and environment play a big part in setting the scene and providing a lot of context and character. This is not without the inclusion of props and objects the characters interact with. Without effective staging, the story of the animation will not come across effectively, even if it displays beautiful animation. It is an essential aspect of any film.
4. Straight Ahead and Pose to Pose
Straight ahead and pose to pose animation describe the different methods of approaching an animated shot. Straight ahead is when a piece of animation is done from frame to frame without planning. Pose to pose is a more strategic, planned method of animating, where keyframes of the action are put in place. Straight ahead, while allowing more freedom of movement, can create somewhat inconsistent and proportional issues further into the animation; This method can be suitable for animating things such as fire and water due to its loose and non-consistent nature. Pose to pose makes the process of inbetweening easier when keeping control of portions and saving time, especially for staging as you know where it will start and where it will end. D ring this process, an animator will use Keys, extremes, and breakdown poses to map out the movement. However, during this process, some of the freedom of action can be lost and inevitable end up looking slightly more plain, and it can also be challenging to plan with a lot of external things to animate, such as hair. A good practice is not to try and mix both of these methodologies together, such as animating the character figure using pose to pose but animating secondary overlapping action such as tails, straight ahead.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Following the last principle, follow-through and overlapping action refer to the attachments, accessories and parts of the body that ‘drag’ behind the character. This could include hair, hats, tails and clothing that will react in a secondary way to the character they are seated upon. T e term ‘follow through’ refers to the movement an object will continue to make once a character has stopped. Overlapping action is about the parts that will be held back or delayed because of a movement (for example, if a character wearing a cape started running, there would be a delay in motion from when the character moves and when the cape moves). It is essential that during this process, “everything does not happen at the same time” (Williams, 2009:226), and there is a clear and natural offset of motion. As shown in Figure 6, the character proved to show precise follow-through and overlapping action in its lower jaw.
6. Slow in and Slow out
This principle is about the natural speed of action. Most actions generally start slow, gain momentum and then end by slowing down once more. This means more drawings and frames are needed at the start of the animation and the end of the animation to get the desired, ‘naturalistic’ effect. This aids the realistic innate look of a movement to the human eye, making the animation thoroughly more convincing and life-like to a viewer.
7. Arcs
The arc is much more aesthetically pleasing to the human eye in terms of motion. Natural movements move in arcs, whereas mechanical objects move linearly. Most actions perceived with arcs flow in a much more satisfying way that adds appeal and fluidity to a piece of animation. Looking a Figure 7, I have created a bouncing ball animation that, in motion, follows several cascading arcs, heightening the realism and sense of gravity. Contrasting with this, in figure 8, the ‘square’ elements of action make it appear more like the mechanical movement of a roller-coaster.
8. Secondary Action
Secondary action supports the primary action by adding more depth and character to the movement. An excellent example of this would be a character walk, but they are clicking and whistling to music simultaneously. Another could be a character reading a book; making their eyes droop and close makes them seem bored and adds dimensionality to the character. Figure 9 highlights a quality example of secondary action in the character ‘Figaro’, who snuggles down to bed, imitating his owner and showing a personality of a ‘copycat’ while also expressing a smugness to him. This simple gesture reveals a lot about his character.
9. Timing
Timing is one of the most essential aspects of animation, the character and overall essence of a piece can be affected by the number of frames used. A recent example of stylised timing could be “spider-man: into the spider-verse”, which was animated on every second frame to give an intentional, jerky and slightly less smooth look to replicate the posing in comic books (Fig.6) (Synder, 2019).
10. Exaggeration
Within the medium of animation, poses, movements, design aspects, and facial expressions/actions can be pushed to extreme levels unachievable in real life. Despite becoming something that may appear distorted in a real-life scenario, animation seems to add a level of realism as it makes character movements and intentions clearer to a viewer. In figure 11, The character ‘Tom’ has been drawn in an extreme shape to create a comic effect of being shoved (rather impossibly) into a can. This technique that animation wonderfully exploits, particularly in cartoons that express violence in a farcical way that tones down the disturbing aspect of pain; this opens up the target audience.
11. Solid Drawing
Solid drawing refers to drawing characters within the 3D space, with perceived balance and weight. T techniques that aid this are perspective lines and grids, as they help understand exactly where a character is standing in 3-dimensional space. Character design can also become easier to grasp in this setting when broken down into simplistic shapes like circles and squares. These all contribute to furthering the ‘realism’ of animation; however, its use depends on the context of the style and direction.
12. Appeal
The appeal of an animated character is more than the design aspects, It is more importantly about how a character moves in the context of its design. For example, if there is a cute bumble bee character, they might incorporate a lot of squash and stretch and move in an endearing cartoony way that suits its aesthetic charm. Contradictory to this, a hyperreal rendered character will most likely be animated in a proficiently realistic manner (and technologies such as motion capture may be used to achieve this) to fit the semblance of the design. Ultimately, this will improve the character’s likeability or believability and become an overall better piece of animated work.
List of figures
- Figure 1- TASHLIN, F (1944). [Screenshot]. The Stupid Cupid. United States: Warner Brothers.
- Figure 2- GERONIMI, C, JACKSON, W and H, LUSKE (1950). [Screenshot]Cinderella. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
- Figure 3- WILLIAMS, R. (2009). The Animators Survival Kit. London: Faber and Faber. P.214.
- Figure 4- WILLIAMS, R. (2009). The Animators Survival Kit. London: Faber and Faber. P.282
- Figure 5- BIRD, B and PINKAVA, J (2007). Ratatouille. [Screenshot]. United States: Walt Disney Pictures.
- Figure 6- WILLIAMS, R. (2009). The Animators Survival Kit. London: Faber and Faber. P.226
- Figure 9- FERGUSON, N ,HEE, T and W, JACKSON (1940). Pinocchio. [Screenshot]. California: Walt Disney Animation Studio.
- Figure 10- PERSICHETTI, B, RAMSEY, P and ROTHMAN, R (2018). [Screenshot]. Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse. New York City: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment.
- Figure 11- JONES, C and NOBLE, M (1967). [Screenshot]. Cannery Rodent. United States: MGM Animation/ Visual Arts.
Bibliography
- GIBBS, J., 2002. Mise-En-Scene Film Style and Interpretation. London: Wallflower Press, p.5.
- STANCHFIELD, W. and HAHN, D., 2009. Drawn to life. Amsterdam: Focal Press/Elsevier, p.12.
- SYNDER, C., 2019. How Oscar-winning ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ changed comic book movies forever. [online] Business Insider. Available at: <https://www.businessinsider.com/spiderman-spider-man-into-spider-verse-animated-frame-rate-marvel-stan-lee-2019-2?r=US&IR=T> [Accessed 17 October 2021].
- WILLIAMS, R., 2009. The animator’s survival kit. London: Faber and Faber, p.214- P.282.