I didn't really chat to any of the other people there, mostly because I felt pretty intimidated as I was by far the youngest there, (no offence to anyone who attended), and everyone else there were professional/experienced animators of various fields, so my input was pretty limited as a student who's just vaguely interested in the whole "animation kind of area".
But...
The talk was lead by Zane Whittingham, who has over 20 year experience in the Animation/TV/Film/Game industry. He did a short presentation about Character Animation, in particular, focusing on the 12 principles of Animation, giving examples of current and original videos/animations/book features to explain the principles.
Here's a quick sum up from some of the notes I scribbled down....
The 12 principles were introduced by the Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas in their 1981 book The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation... [Which i have now taken out from the library and will consider buying for myself, even though it costs 2 weeks worth of food shopping...it's fine. All in the name of education. And love for Disney.]
1- "Squash & Stretch"
One of the fundamental starting points for animators to create a smooth more realistic rather than a jerky appearance.
Classic example, the bouncing ball; see how it changes shape to squash & stretch through the movement of the bounce, rather than staying as a whole circular shape.This can then be applied to a character, their facial expressions and movement; but ensure you keep the basic principles of volume and mass so they don't become distorted.
2- Anticipation
This is used to prepare the audience for what is coming next... for example, when you jump, you don't just launch up, you'll actually lean back/down slightly to gather your weight to move upwards. Or before you throw a ball, you take your arm back first to gather the energy up... (yep animation involves science too)
Your character needs anticipation to ensure a more realistic event.
Also, you can use anticipation to tip the viewer off as to what is coming next - an eye glance in the direction that something is approaching perhaps?
It's kind of tacky.. but this puts it out in black and white for you ...
3- Staging
This very general principle also applies to theatre and film, it is necessary to direct the audience's attention - make it clear what is the most important thing within a scene. Johnston and Thomas defined it as "the presentation of any idea so that it is completely and unmistakably clear", whether it is an idea, a personality, a character, an event... etc.
Staging can be effected by how you place a character in a frame, how you use lighting and shaddow, the angle/positioning of a camera.... Basically, just make sure the most important aspect is kept clear, and avoid unnecessary detail.
4- Straight Ahead & Pose-to-Pose
These are 2 different drawing processes.... Straight Ahead, says what it does... Start with a frame and go straight ahead drawing each individual frame there on..
Pose-to-pose means drawing out a few key sketches and filling in the rest of the intervals after.
Both have their advantages; the first creates a much more fluid illusion of movement, where as pose-to-pose works better for dramatic or emotional scenes... or the two processes can be combined and used together.
Pose-to-pose is also used in computer animation because of the advantages it brings in composition.
I was struggling to find something to explain this any more, hopefully these will do... The first is pose-to-pose sketching and the second is a short straight ahead action animation...
5-Follow Through and Overlapping Action
This helps to make your character more realistic... A woman wearing a dress dancing; her dress will still move when she stands still from a turn... If someone moves sharply, their hair will move slightly.. Get the idea...
Watch Ariel's hair under the water.. if it wasn't moving, she'd look a bit odd.
(Then have a sing along with Sebastian)
6-Slow in and Slow Out
Vary the pace of your animation to keep it visually interesting...
Consider the spacing and timing of the sequence.
A good example would be a slow or sad character, such as Droopy... his characteristics are slow, simple and quite drab, however, his actual actions can vary to make his character more visually interesting.
7-Arcs
Again help create a more realistic animation that captures that flowing illusion.
If you nod your head, stretch your arms up, when you walk... there are lines of arcs in which your body follows with its movements. Last night Zane showed a video of a ballet couple dancing, and each move was over layed, which exaggerated all the arcs featured with each movement... but I can't find it ANYWHERE!
So here's a not so good drawing instead.
8- Secondary Action
Compliments the characters main animation; eg. a sad character wipes a tear from an eye as they turn around. Or if someone is knocked over and stunned, when they stand up they'll shake their head. It's an extra little detail... but make sure the secondary is always kept secondary to the main animation.
9-Timing
"While the pose tells the story, it's the timing that intruigues the audience."
Shamus Culhane
Fundamentally, fewer drawings = faster movement and more drawings = slower movement.
Vary the timing for more texture to the characters movement, and vary different characters within the scene.
Just a note ... Different animators have different views on timing.
Try out the link for Art Abbit's 'Mushroom Dance' from Fantasia... Notice how the little mushroom's timing is different to all the little ones .. makes the scene that little more interesting..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzfyK_0fmIU
10-Exaggeration
Push a pose - if a character is sad... make him sadder. Sell the action.
You want a scary beast... make him scary....
11-Solid Drawing
Make sure you always keep in mind the weight, depth and balance of your characters - not just drawn details, but even flat cut out paper models can have a weight to them.
Here's an animation by Lottie Reiniger, a cut-out animator.. the detail is crazy.. but notice how the characters always look like a 'solid drawing', they have the right balance, depth and weight to them...
And finally....
12-Appeal
All characters need some form of appeal, so that people will want to watch them!
Characters need clear designs - a great pose - as appeal can also come out of this; they are instantly recognisable, so they become familiar and this is an appeal in itself.
See if you can make out some of these silhouettes?
Sometimes, it's not what a character does that appeals to the audience, but the way they do it. What about Dopey from Snow White... you just laugh at his little dopey ways and the way he does things, no matter what he does.
So there you have it ... "The 12 Principles of Animation"...
Well now you know them as roughly as I do anyway. It's worth pointing out as well... that standard rule applies that, all rules are there to be broken - so to make an animation stand out or look out of the ordinary, or for a certain special effect or gag etc etc... it might be just as wise to take in the principles, and see where they can and maybe shouldn't be broken, amended or tweaked a little.
This is the short film they wrapped the evening up with, to see if you could spot any of the principles of animation in there. Or just take a look as it's another great Pixar short movie....
Presto ...
PHEW.. That's all :)
http://www.animatedyorkshire.co.uk/?page_id=2
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