WEEK 4 SUMMARY

This week concluded the dynamics research sub-unit, with a final practice task and an introduction to our final dynamics task, which we submit with the rest of the unit's work.

ANTICIPATION (JUMP)

I did two animations for this task: an original jump, and then a more refined one.

"Starting off, I knew that I'd need to make multiple layers for my guide. The neutral start / end positions and the anticipation / follow throughs would be standing on the exact same piece of ground, with overlap in the positions if done on one sheet. So I made 3 different guide layers; one for extremes, one for anticipation / follow through, and one for inbetweens. This was a big help, although did prove a little tricky when trying to inbetween, because I was trying to look through my current sheet at two sheets underneath, instead of the usual one.

I linetested my first attempt, resulting in this.

While it gives off a convincing enough effect, I realised that the anticipation at the beginning didn't signpost the movement coming up well enough. I needed BIGGER movements.

So, I went back to the drawing board (literally), and made more inbetweens at the beginning to give a bigger movement. The arms go up further to a bigger extreme, and thus, give off a better signal.

The second jump feels a lot more natural, with the more obvious anticipation and smoother jump in general.

I think if I was to do this jump again, I would try and give it a little bit more personality to the jump with more unique actions for the anticipation and recoil, instead of generic poses.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with this task. I did hit a bump along the way, but instead of letting it get to me and make the work seem lesser, I took it and improved upon it. The talk on failure last week made me feel a lot differently towards work going wrong, especially comparing this task to when my pendulum swing originally went wrong." - original thoughts from this post.

Looking back at the end of the week, I'm definitely more happy with it than I was originally. While it was still fresh in my mind, I was deliberately looking too hard, being too nitpicky. But taking a step back after a while helped to see how the animation actually turned out; it's fine, and while a few things could be tweaked and altered, I'm satisfied at this point with it.

FINAL DYNAMICS TASK

For this task, I'm still going with the idea of the guy throwing his head towards a basketball hoop and ultimately missing. I've found a good piece of live action reference for the ball hitting the wall, made by professors at San Diego State University. Their tennis ball in slow motion shows the exact type of squash and stretch I want from my cartoon head when it hits the wall. I'll make individual blog posts for tests, timings and final productions.

(credit: Prof. Matt Anderson of SDSU)

ANTHROPOMORPHISM
Anthropomorphism was the topic of our character essay lecture. While this didn't apply all too much to my chosen character (Emmet, The LEGO Movie), it was an interesting lecture nonetheless. For all my thoughts and notes on this lecture, see this post.

FINAL THOUGHTS
This week went well overall. The dynamic exercise brief definitely had me the most intrigued, since we were allowed to really go in depth with whatever we wanted to do, without any real limitations. Creativity trumps most other things in this case, so I'm excited to get started on actual animation! The anticipation workshop went well, and I came out with a lot more knowledge about the topic than I originally had. It also helped to go and work on something, then go back and make it better. As mentioned in previous posts, the talk about failure and iteration really helped with that. 

Anthropomorphism, as mentioned before, was in intriguing lecture but not one I can apply all too much to my essay. At this point, I’m pretty certain on my question, being something along the lines of “How does Emmet represent the LEGO brand and group accurately?” I have to talk about visuals and movements regarding this, and I think that I have some good points that tie in with both of those factors, plus my question. Visuals can be discussed with how Emmet has little imperfections and LEGO accurate designs, which show the more realistic minifigure look than other LEGO projects have. For movement, I want to discuss how Emmet only moves in ways LEGO minifigures can; no “illegal” movements. Hoping to have a solid plan of action for the essay soon!

Still, excited for the character design workshops and for more to come!

DYNAMICS - DYNAMIC EXERCISES (AND WELLBEING)

This session, we were mostly running down what we're going to be handing in for our Dynamics submission.

Beforehand, we had a talk from animation graduate Millie Woodcock. She gave a talk about overworking ourselves, and how it's often glorified. A huge emphasis was placed on us managing our time correctly, and learning to take a break to do nothing!

"Doing nothing often leads to the very best something" ~ Winnie the Pooh

We work so we can live, not living so we can work. The biggest advice given was to take regular breaks from the computer / animation work! 5-10 minute intervals are healthy. Also, going outside is beneficial. 

("The Closest Feeling to Death That Isn't Death - dir. Jaiden Dittfach)

After the brief talk of wellbeing, we moved onto our Dynamic Exercise Task! The breakdown of the animation is

• Be 50-75 frames (around 3 seconds)
• Can be either digital or hand-drawn
• Only one shot, no cuts
• Black and White
• Simple

... and the animation should focus on one of these pairings

• Weight and Effort
• Speed and Acceleration
• Squash and Stretch
• Impact and Reaction

We're also recommended to use live action reference. It helps to understand movement and timing, in a more realistic way. Directors will often act out a scene to communicate what actions they want to the animators.

(Toy Story: Behind the Scenes - Pixar Animation Studios)

Animators will often use mirrors to convey facial expressions onto characters they're animating as well.

Once we got the brief, we started storyboarding. After some ideas, I eventually settled on a final mini-plot.

In it, we start with a stick man and a basketball hoop. The stickman looks up at the hoop, then smirks. He removes his head (in a cartoony sort of way), and aims; he's trying to score. He throws, aaaand... misses. His head bounces off the rim, and hits the floor. His face shows indifference, but his body overreacts and falls to it's knees, pounding it's fist on the floor.

I'm definitely going to go with pencil and paper drawing for this task. While I'm more experienced in digital animation, I've really grown to enjoy the "traditional" methods. It'd be an interesting challenge, not to mention somewhat enjoyable. In the session, I lined out my rough keyframes. I'm going to work on the task on days off and in spare time between lectures, but I'll try to work on it as much as possible.

CHARACTER ESSAY - ANTHROPOMORPHISM

This session, we focused on Anthropomorphism.

"anthropomorphism/ˌanθrəpəˈmɔːfɪz(ə)m/ nounthe attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to a god, animal, or object." ~ Google definition

We went through a few key terms relating to the topic, including

• ANIMISM - The belief that non-humans may possess a soul / spirit. Children usually hold onto the concept of animism until puberty.
• ANTHROPOCENTRISM - The belief that humans are the most significant beings in the universe
• PAREDOLIA - Seeing familiar objects, like faces, in random & meaningless data.
• APOPHENIA - Seeing general patterns in random & meaningless data
• ANIMATION - Endow lifeless things with life, or living things with a different kind of life

With anthropomorphism, it's mostly assigned to animals or inanimate objects. Cave paintings from ~20,000 years ago were filled with hundreds of animals, but only featured one human.

Just like our ancestors, animators are fond of animal characters since there's more confidence presenting one to an audience and having them engage with it, over a human character.

"It's easier to humanise animals than it is to humanise humans" ~ Chuck Jones

"... On the whole, animals substitute humans" ~ Sergei Eisenstein, talking about animal characters

"If cartoons... [can't] venture beyond the realm of a live action film, what was the point?" ~ Leonard Maltin 

"I look for characters that cannot be done in live action. That's what animation's all about." ~ Chuck Jones 

What these all refer to is the common trope of giving animals human qualities in animation, which leads to end products which couldn't be done in any live action medium.

We spoke about the Animal / Human Divide, which is essentially the differences between the animal kingdom and human society, and their specific applications in animation. Animal / Nature's side involves animalisation, which involves an animal's natural instincts, and have irreconcilable differences. On the other side of the coin is Human / Cultural, which replaces animalisation with anthropomorphism. There's an element of totemism, a belief that humans have some kind of kinship with other beings. This side of the divide also has culture, as opposed to the more savage landscape of the animal kingdom.

Pure Animal and Animal Appropriation are the two main ways humanity sees animals, depending on which ones they see. Pure Animals are wild, natural, and unknowable. Completely unpredictable, like a tiger or panther. Animal Appropriation involves a few different ideas; pets, symbols (e.g. myths, stories, religion), and to substitute humans (known as quasi-humans, they wear clothes, express emotions, talk, etc.)

Disney's Zootopia is an example of a film that demonstrates both sides of both arguments aforementioned. A main plotpoint of the film involves domesticated, anthropomorphised animals suddenly turning "savage"; their way of saying they've reverted back to being a pure animal. Instead of bipedal walking and civil behaviour, they suddenly inherit every attribute of the animal they actually are.

(Zootopia - dir. Byron Howard and Richard Moore)

An example of an animal having humanity forced upon it is The Bear That Wasn't. The Chuck Jones cartoon depicts an intelligent bear who finds himself in a newly built factory. After mingling with the employees, he's then mistaken for a worker by the foreman. Every higher-up in the company all have the same reaction to the bear claiming he's a bear: "You are not a bear. You are a silly man in a fur coat who needs a shave." Whenever the bear is seen with a cigarette and hardhat, that's when he's seen as a human. 

(The Bear That Wasn't - dir. Chuck Jones)

There's also the idea of the Bestial Ambivelance cycle. In the looping cycle, there's

• PURE ANIMAL - Behaviour like the real animal
• ASPIRATIONAL HUMAN - Demonstrates positive human qualities
• HYBRID HUMANIMAL - Parallels are drawn between the human and animal worlds
• CRITICAL HUMAN - Critiques humans, down to their attitudes, behaviours and society

An example of characters who go through the majority of the cycle are the pigs from Animal Farm. Starting as pure animals, they are just... pigs. They then move onto critical humans, who dislike how their farmer treats them. They ultimately become Humanimals; the pigs act like the very farmers who abused them.

(Animal Farm - dir. John Halas and Joy Batchelor)

DYNAMICS - ANTICIPATION AND FOLLOW THROUGH

This session, we focused on the principles of anticipation and follow through.

The 12 Principles of Animation, as laid out in The Illusion of Life by Disney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, are designed to make the animation onscreen broadcast what's happening as easily as possible. They should be treated as a checklist of sorts when animating anything. The animator should always consider where they can be used, to enhance movements and / or communication.

Anticipation is the way an animator will show the energy buildup before a larger movement. It usually involves a smaller, counteraction which gathers up energy before expelling it. It's also used as a visual cue for the audience, letting them know an action is about to take place. Anticipation being applied to an action also delivers a more believable outcome.

(Anticipation - Alan Becker on YouTube)

To give an example of a character using anticipation, here's the Genie from Aladdin. When talking to Aladdin, Genie begins raising his hand. This is to signal to the audience there's a motion happening involving his hand / arm, and they should pay attention to it. It also helps to build up energy, for when he makes the motion of bringing the arm back down in a much grander, bigger motion.

POSE 1 - Hand and forearm up

POSE 2 - Hand and forearm brought down

(Aladdin - dir. Ron Clements and John Musker)

Follow Through goes hand in hand with anticipation, essentially acting as the "other end" to anticipation. Energy is required not just to start a movement, but to stop it too. When a character makes a large action, there's usually parts that will keep moving, even after the main action finishes. It could be a cape flapping, a hat shifting, etc. While it's usually applied to accessories, it also applies to body parts in specific scenarios. For example, if someone punches, then usually there body will still move back a little bit after the punch is complete.

(Follow Through - Alan Becker on YouTube)

An example of this can be seen in WALL-E, as WALL-E leaves his home. He drives along to the doorway, then stops. However, though his body has stopped, his hands and treads move slightly in reaction to the sudden stop.

POSE 1 - Body stops moving

POSE 2 - Hands and treads move in reaction

POSE 3 - Hands and treads settle

(WALL-E - dir. Andrew Stanton)

After being taught this, our task for the day was to make a jumping animation that would include both anticipation and follow through. We should make guides, keep it rough & sketchy, and consider the arc of the jump.

Starting off, I knew that I'd need to make multiple layers for my guide. The neutral start / end positions and the anticipation / follow throughs would be standing on the exact same piece of ground, with overlap in the positions if done on one sheet. So I made 3 different guide layers; one for extremes, one for anticipation / follow through, and one for inbetweens. This was a big help, although did prove a little tricky when trying to inbetween, because I was trying to look through my current sheet at two sheets underneath, instead of the usual one.

I linetested my first attempt, resulting in this.

While it gives off a convincing enough effect, I realised that the anticipation at the beginning didn't signpost the movement coming up well enough. I needed BIGGER movements.

So, I went back to the drawing board (literally), and made more inbetweens at the beginning to give a bigger movement. The arms go up further to a bigger extreme, and thus, give off a better signal.

The second jump feels a lot more natural, with the more obvious anticipation and smoother jump in general.

I think if I was to do this jump again, I would try and give it a little bit more personality to the jump with more unique actions for the anticipation and recoil, instead of generic poses.

Overall, I'm fairly happy with this task. I did hit a bump along the way, but instead of letting it get to me and make the work seem lesser, I took it and improved upon it. The talk on failure last week made me feel a lot differently towards work going wrong, especially comparing this task to when my pendulum swing originally went wrong.