Blog 10

I think my favorite thing that I learned about animation was learning how illustrators were taught to create characters to look as though they are thinking. I think this aspect is one of the most amazing innovations of animation. I think that when an illustrator is drawing a character and changing his or her facial expressions to convey a certain feeling or mood to the audience really says something about the imagination and sheer talent of an illustrator. I thought it was interesting how from the 20's to the 30's, Disney's priorities completely changed from creating cartoons with the common goal of having a funny plot line to then creating animated films with the intent of them becoming major motion pictures and having serious story lines along with being as realistic as possible. It's as if Disney envisioned himself as a traditional film director and he wanted his animated characters to be real like actors and wanted these characters to not only act as if they were real but act as though they were the best actors in the world. Walt Disney was essentially asking these illustrators to play animator/actor at the same time. He continued to push his illustrator's to do what constantly was thought of as impossible. Disney asked a lot from his illustrators and his ability to get the most out of who he hired is what I think made him one of the greatest minds to ever walk this earth.

Blog 8

The 9 Economical Ways that Animation Can Build Emotions in the Imaginations of the Audience are

1. Rear View which is viewing the characters from behind them and at a distance giving the audience a chance to imagine the characters feelings rather than seeing them.

2. Shadows which are characters in silhouette which add interest and variety to a picture while saving the illustrator time needed to detail the characters.

3. Shadows Over The Character which are when shadows are drawn over a solid character. They add drama and excitement to a scene while making it easier to focus on the shadows as well as a character that may be present in the scene.

4. Overlays which are when a scene has several layers drawn into a picture which create more of an aesthetically pleasing scene.

5. Dramatic Layout which can be something like a large layout with a character drawn very small in it to represent that character as feeling lost or alone. This adds feelings of dramatic sadness and/or loneliness.

6. Pictorial Shot which is a drawing of a background with a point of interest off in the distance to convey feelings of dreaming or wishing one could get to that point of interest.

7. Effects Animation which are aesthetically pleasing scenes which represent what the character is seeing and how they are feeling while viewing it.

8. Held Drawing With Camera Moves is a still frame of a drawing in which a simulated feeling of a camera moving closer into the character to create a certain dramatic mood or feeling felt by the character.

9. Offstage Sounds which are sounds that are used typically for a still frame scene which can build images in the imagination.

The 5 Points to Remember When Animating Emotions are

1. Make sure the emotional state of the character is clearly defined which means to make sure it is clear to the audience how the character is supposed to be feeling.

2. The thought process reveals the feeling. Sometimes it can be shown with a single, held drawing or a simple move. Other times there should be gestures body moves, or full action. Determine which is best in each case. In other words, when making a character look as though it were thinking, make sure to use the appropriate actions to convey the correct feelings and thoughts to the audience.

3. Be alert to use of cutting and camera in helping to accentuate the emotion, which means to be aware that making correct use of scene cuts and camera movements will help deliver further characters emotions.

4. Ask yourself constantly: What am I trying to say here? What do I really want to show? How do I want the audience to react? In other words, when animating emotions, put yourself in the audiences shoes and think of how they would receive and process the emotions you are delivering to them.

5. Use the element of time wisely: to establish the emotion of the character, to convey it to the viewers and to let them savor the situation. Don't be ponderous, but don't take it away from them just as they start to enjoy it. In other words, make sure to allow the audience to view a scene for the right amount of time in order for them to fully understand what the characters are feeling.

When reading this blog the first video that came to my mind was the scene from Bambi when Bambi's mother is killed. After viewing this scene I was surprised to find 7 of the 9 animations for building emotion and felt they perfectly delivered the feelings they were supposed to. Offstage sounds of gunfire are used when his mother is killed, a dramatic layout is used when Bambi is shown very small in a forest when going back to search for his mother. Effects animation is used with snow falling when Bambi is searching for his mother symbolizing Bambi feeling cold and lost inside. Shadows are used when Bambi is pictured in silhouette form while searching for his mother through the woods. Overlays are used when Bambi is running through the forest and snow and trees are drawn over him while running. A held drawing with camera movement technique is used when Bambi first meets his father. The camera zooms in on his fathers face while he stays still. Finally the Rear View technique is used when Bambi and his father are pictured from behind as they walk off into the distance symbolizing Bambi. Regarding the 5 points to remember, point 1 I feel is clearly defined when Bambi is running back through the snowy forest looking for his mother. He feels scared, lonely and cold inside without his mother. Point 2 was clearly defined when Bambi is told by his father his mother can't be with him anymore. Bambi stairs at his father with a stunned look on his face. His head and eyes then slowly droop down showing the utter despair he is feeling. Point 3 is best shown when the camera cuts from a surprised Bambi to a silhouette of a large buck and then zooms in on the buck's face to convey to the audience Bambi's stunned reaction. Obviously point 4 was used by the illustrator because of the outstanding artwork throughout this scene and Point 5 is used perfectly as well when the camera stays on Bambi face after he learns his mother is dead. The camera stays there long enough for the audience to grasp the complete and utter despair he is feeling after losing his mother. This is one of my favorite Disney movie's and is a great symbol of the glory days of Walt Disney animation.

Blog 7

Fred's 14 points of Animation are

1. Appeal in drawing - Are the animations something that an audience would like looking at?

2. Staging - Are the characters placed on a stage according to depth and their appearance?

3. Most interesting way? (Why would anyone other than your mother like to see it?) - Are the characters drawn with the most interesting attributes to them? i.e. big round eyes, nice bodies.

4. Is it the most entertaining way? - Are the characters drawn to be as entertaining to the audience as possible?

5. Are you in character? Have you drawn the character in model of yourself. The book states Fred drew Dopey has a reflection of himself; innocent, but with a touch of mischief; naive, but with just enough worldliness.

6. Are you advancing the character? - Are you having the character grow or mature mentally and/or physically.

7. Is this the simplest statement of the main idea of the scene? - Have you made the main idea of the scene easily understandable for the audience?

8. Is the story point clear? - Have you made the point of the story easy for the audience to understand?

9. Are the secondary actions working with the main action? - Are the secondary actions making sense with the main action and not drawing unwanted attention or drawing wanted attention?

10. Is the presentation best for the medium? - Is the presentation conveying the message of the story in the best way?

11. Does it have 2 dimensional clarity? - Are the characters 2 dimensional features such as the face clearly defined?

12. Does it have 3 dimensional solidity? - Are the characters presented with good 3 dimensional characteristics?

13. Does it have 4 dimensional drawing? (Drag and follow through) - Do the characters features such as hair and body parts keep moving the way they are supposed to even when a character stops?

14. Are you trying to do something that shouldn't be attempted? (Like trying to show the top of Mickey's head) - Have you made sure to not show a character in a way they are not meant to be seen? Different points of view of the character.

The last 12 points of animation are

1. Inner feelings and emotion - Do the characters display emotions and convey to the audience their inner feelings?

2. Acting with clear and definite action - Is it clear to the audience what the characters are doing or trying to do?

3. Character and personality - Do the characters have a clear, definite and consistent personality?

4. Thought process through expression changes - Are the characters clearly conveying to the audience what they are thinking through the use of facial expressions.

5. Ability to analyze - Are the characters able to think through and correctly analyze a situation?

6. Clear staging - Are the characters correctly placed on a stage according to depth and their appearance?

7. Good composition - Does the layout of the picture make sense? Do the ingredients of the drawing fit in well with each other?

8. Timing - Do the drawings of each frame create the correct motion in between frames creating a smooth flow of the character that makes sense?

9. Solidity in drawing - Does a silhouette drawing determine what the pose is communicating?

10. Power in drawing - Do the drawings create images that are entertaining and appealing to the audience?

11. Strength in movement - Do the characters move smoothly and create a sense of how that character is feeling?

12. Imagination - Does the animation convey a strong imagination from the illustrator?

The following video of a scene in Pinocchio I feel displays most if not all of these characteristics. I felt that the Italian was drawn with a correct stereotype of all Italian's being overweight, talking with their hands, doing anything possible to make money and even having a fiery temper. I also felt all the puppets in the scene have great movement of a typical puppet and even having Pinocchio having slightly more human like movements but not enough to look humanistic since he is essentially in the middle of being just a wooden puppet and being a real boy.

Blog 5

In chapter 5, when Disney says "the mind is the pilot. We think of things before the body does them." This coincides with Disney's thoughts from chapter 4 where he is becoming more concerned with characters becoming as lifelike as possible. This isn't only directed towards human like movement but characters being illustrated to look as if they are thinking. Disney wanted his characters to convey to the audience what they were thinking and how they were feeling on the screen as if it were a real life movie. The book uses an example of Disney explaining how dogs act and the funny things they do when their sniffing things. Disney would sometimes act these things out to animators to show them how a dog may sniff something they are on the trail of and then look up and out into space as though they were thinking and sorting things out in their head. He wanted these acts to be drawn out so the audiences would recognize that the characters are thinking. In this Pinocchio video, you can see the facial expressions in the characters, specifically the cat. The cat is a good example of a character thinking because it only has one form of communicating and it is by facial expressions. The cat has various expressions of happiness, annoyance, physical pleasure from being pet. At 5:18, Pinocchio is petting the cat but then leaves to go see the fish. The cat falls over and exemplifies some displeasure and maybe even jealousy that he has been left for the fish.