Emotion is life to animate

     To draw is not to animate. To draw with emotion that is animation. Animation or effective animation is more than drawing or creating animation with a computer. For an audience to enjoy and understand animation emotion has to be shown. This can be time consuming and costly if animators use detail to convey emotion.

In The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston they discuss emotion and these nine economical ways to build emotion.

Economical ways that animation can build emotions in the imagination of the audience:

1. Rear view- Rear view is when the audience sees the backs of the characters. Here feelings are better imagined and viewing the back of the character makes the audience feel with the character. This takes out the need to draw a character in detail. 

2. Shadows- Shadows is when only the outline of characters are seen. Shadows naturally create suspense and drama and add interest to a scene. This again saves drawing in detail. 

3. Shadows over the character- Shadows over the character is when there are shadows seen over a character. In reference to action, the action of a scene is seen through the expression of a character looking at the action and the shadows over the character rather than animating the action in detail itself. 

4. Overlays- Overlays are overlaying some of the background over a character. This adds more emotion and emphasis to the scene adding the setting to the character. This saves to focus on the character’s body and face. 

5. Dramatic layout- Dramatic layout is when the layout of a scene is bigger than the character. This makes the character look small and gives the emotion of loneliness. This saves to draw emotion in detail.  

6. Pictorial shot- Pictorial shot is a big shot of a setting or place. If the pictorial shot is a shot of where a character wants to be the character looking at the shot provides the emotion of wanting to be there. This saves to draw that emotion of the character. 

7. Effects animation- Effects animation is the symbolism of nature or what the character sees. Such things as colors, clouds and rain, and fire create feelings and emotions. There are colors associated with the seasons and feelings and emotions associated with weather and the seasons. 

8. Held drawing with camera moves- Held drawing with camera moves is when an expression of a character does not move. The camera moves but not the expression. Sometimes movement of an expression would not strengthen the expression so camera movement is all that is needed. This saves to draw added movement. 

9. Offstage sounds- Offstage sounds is when sounds build images. Hearing sounds will make the audience use their imagination and create feelings toward what they are seeing. This saves to animate the feeling of a setting.  

In the following clip from Pixar’s Burn-E held drawing with camera moves, pictorial shot, and dramatic layout are seen:

Burn-E is a repair robot on a spaceship. In the clip he is trying to complete his task but gets moved from outside of the ship to back inside due to hyper-speed. Burn-E is a robot so that leaves little to animate on his face yet the audience still can see his emotion. In the clip held drawing with camera is seen when Burn-E is forced up against the ship during hyper-speed. His movement does not change but the camera goes to a close up on his face. This greater emphasizes his emotion of surprise and shock. Pictorial shot is seen when there is a shot of the entire spaceship. Burn-E is extremely small compared to the ship. Burn-E wants to be on the ship but mishaps keep happening. The pictorial shot shows the emotion of Burn-E’s frustration of wanting to complete his task and get back on the ship where he wants to be. Dramatic layout is seen when Burn-E is outside of the ship and space is around him. Space is infinite and being outside of the ship shows the magnitude of Burn-E’s dilemma. The ship is more powerful and in control of Burn-E therefore Burn-E is relieved that he at least does not fall away from the ship.

The other ways are not seen due to there being no shadows in the clip. Burn-E is not covered by the background in the clip therefore no overlays. There are no effects animation showing emotion. Finally there are no offstage sounds even though there are sounds in the clip the sounds do not make the audience imagine for themselves what is happening or add an emotion to the setting. The sounds went with what was seen happening.    

To add to the discussion of emotion and animation there are these five points.

Five points to remember when animating emotions directly from Chapter 17 of The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston :

1. Make sure the emotional state of the character is clearly defined

     Do not confuse the audience. Use the right gestures, story, and graphic presentation to evoke emotion. Emotion makes a character believable. Without clearly defined emotion a character is more a drawing than a personality.

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.

  An emotion or emotions can be shown different ways. Depending on the character and situation the showing of emotion can be simple or a more complex. A single aspect can involve the audience and grip their attention. At the same time a combination of aspects can greater emphasize an emotion. The right combination can intensify the emotion and build a greater bond with an audience. To determine which is best one must look at which better illustrates the emotion for that scene. To decide if less is more or more is needed. 

3. Be alert to use of cutting and camera in helping to accentuate the emotion.

  In reference to the above economical ways to show emotion not everything has to be animated. A still emotion accentuated by camera movement can be all that is needed to emphasize the emotion. Also certain parts of a scene can be cut out or may have to be cut out to avoid confusion to the audience. Cutting can also leave room for the audience’s imagination to go and greater connect with the story and character. 

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?

  If the animator is confused and lost than the audience will be also be. An animator must be clear on what emotions and feelings they want in a particular scene. They must also take into account how the audience will react and how to get a reaction from the audience. The story, graphic presentation, and animation or personality of a character creates emotion. The story and graphic presentation are what are said and shown. The audience reacts to both but gets more involved with the personality of a character.

5. Use the element of time wisely:

• to establish the emotion of the character,
• to convey it to the viewers,
• to let them savor the situation.

     Emotion should not be rushed or forced on the audience. Time can help to build a bond between the audience and characters. First the emotion must be clearly defined, then strengthened or emphasized, and then there must be time for the audience to react. In order to create emotion the emotion has to be created and the audience must have time to have a feeling toward the situation.

In the same clip as above all points are seen: 

     The emotional state of Burn-E is clearly defined. It is with the sounds that went with his movements and his movements themselves. The audience sees his want to finish his job, frustration, and gratefulness of not falling away from the ship. His movements and reaction to situation gave him a personality. In the clip more simple movements and gestures were seen. For one he is a robot which limits his range of motion but at the same time less is more in this case. To make a robot more believable they do not have complex movements. Emotion was seen with sound added to a simple movement. Camera and cutting was seen with the close up of Burn-E’s face and cutting quickly from different areas of the ship. The way the clip was cut made the audience follow along with what Burn-E was going through. For the forth point, the story, graphic presentation, and animation were all in the clip. It was said that Burn-E is being forced out and back in the ship. The emotion of his frustration, relief, and shock and size of the ship were shown. The audience is supposed to feel sorry for Burn-E and hope that he completes his task and stays on the ship. Lastly, even though the clip is short it need leave time for the audience to react to Burn-E. When Burn-E got up after holding on the light that part of the clip was not rushed at all. His emotion of relief was seen and he got back up slowly. Then, when Burn-E was trying to push the button to complete his task the action was very slow. This showed that Burn-E was so close to completing his task but he was pushed away. This allowed the audience to savor the situation of Burn-E almost completing his job but at the last second he could not. In turn this creates emotion for Burn-E as well as the audience who now feels bad for him. 

     

     Emotion and animation go hand in hand. There is so much more to animation than creating an image and movements. It is the storyline, how the story is being graphically presented, and the personality added to the characters that make animation. To make an audience react with emotion they must see emotion. When watching animation one is looking at images that are completely made up in the minds of other people. Audiences react with emotion to others’ imagination. The imagination of animators strikes up the imagination of audiences. Animators think of their own emotions and the audience’s so the audience feel the emotion the animator wanted to them to.