Communicate before you draw

      Life is animation but....animation isn’t real, right? If animation were real it would be live action. Yet animation is real. Animation is life in the sense that it is based on realism and emotion in real life. This is what I have learned about animation. The real life aspect of animation comes from the communication to the audience of real life attitudes and situations. An animated sequence, film, or series does not take so long to complete to get the drawing right rather it is to get the communication right. 

      To get the right communication so many factors I had no idea about have to be put into consideration. To be a good animator one does not necessarily have to be the best drawer or know how to work the software. Walt Disney had animators animate his films for him but he understood how to capitative an audience, tell a story, and present “real” characters. 

      Animated characters become real to the audience because they can relate to the character and situation they are in. Their expressions evoke emotion that one can relate to or makes one feel a certain way toward a character. One feels emotion toward an animated character as if they were a real person. A fish can not talk in real life yet the audience feels bad for Nemo in Finding Nemo. He is a young fish who is lost and separated from his father. The real life aspect of family and family values is communicated to the audience throughout this movie. Thus turning Nemo into something real. 

In the following clip in another part of Finding Nemo family is seen through sea turtles:

In the clip Nemo’s father is with a sea turtle and his son. His son just swam back into current by himself. This scene shows family again and communicates it to the audience through the little turtle’s actions. Coming back to his dad saying “did u see that, did u see me, did u see what I did” is a very relatable situation. It is a familiar situation to the audience. Whenever a child, boy or girl, does something on their own they want their parents to see it and they want them to know they did it. For example like riding a bike for the first time.

      Animation is not successful unless it communicates something. Then it is reduced to a mere drawing. To give that drawing life, aspects of real life must be added. It is not about whether a character exists in real life. It is about how to make a character exist in the minds of the audience by giving that character a mind of its own. The mind of the character communicates to the mind of the audience. 

Music is sound is animate

Music is an animator. Even a better animator at times than a real life animator. Music can bring life to a character just as much as the animator who drew his actions. Chapter 11 of The Illusion of Life:Disney Animation speaks about music in animation. I found it interesting that music can be the personality in animation rather than the actions of a character. This is interesting to me because I overlook music and sounds in animation. Songs are part of story development and I think of them being made after the animation was complete.

Songs are written early. After reading the chapter this makes sense. Since music can add so much emotion it should be looked at early. Songs for animation are better if written to the story. Constant revisions are made back and forth through the music and animation to get the proper flow. 

As discussed in the chapter a good song will pick up the tempo of the story, add emotion, and tell it in a different light. It will make the audience feel more toward the situation and characters. Music adds more power to a sequence. Music makes the sequence memorable. It can add emotion that an animator just can not fully achieve with expressions and movement. 

The following clip is of the work or mouse song in Cinderella:

In the clip the mice feel bad for Cinderella and decide to finish her dress for her. The song adds much more emotion to the situation rather than the animation itself. The upbeat tempo of the song brings an upbeat tempo to the sequence which reflects how happy the mice are to do this for Cinderella. The song also brings the audience into the sequence rather than the animation itself. The audience would not be captivated by mice making a dress alone. The song brings a flow to what the mice are doing. All of the characters singing together also add more to the family dynamic of the animals in the house. The song too then adds more to the fact that these characters are the only ones who care about Cinderella. 

When remembering all the Disney movies I have seen songs start to pop up in my head. These songs remind me of the movies but also remind me of the characters and themes of the movies. These movies would not have been the same without the songs. They gave the movies that “Disney magic”. The music gave the movies a whole personality. Music can turn a movie into its own character.  

Realism?

      To be or not to be. To be real or not to real. To emphasize the real or exaggerate it. In The Illusion of Life:Disney Animation by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston two chapters seem to contradict themselves when discussing animation. Chapter 2 of the book focuses more on the caricature and exaggeration of the real while chapter 4 focuses more on realism. Walt Disney said, “I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.” I believe he means that to create realism in animation one must know the real. At the same time to create caricature one must also know the real. In the two chapters how much realism to put in animation differs.

      Chapter 2 discusses the caricature of realism in animation. To move with exaggeration while still making it believable to the audience. Caricature better showed personality of a character. Base the action on the real but the action did not have to be completely real.

      Chapter 4 was more about moving away from gags. A good story was most important and it has to be based on real emotion to bring the audience in. Artwork was closer to storybook animation and more real and real sounding voices were to be used as well. Realism was the foundation so the audience could understand and relate, situations were clear, and a character’s personality reminded the audience of real people in their lives. Little things could add enough appeal and emotion to a character. The chapter ended with saying a animated feature film “would not be a cartoon. It would be ‘theater’.” For “this world of fantasy would have to be a real world”. 

To reconcile the two chapters I think one should see that both ideas from the chapters are based on realism. Chapter 2 just doesn’t stick as close to realism as chapter 4. In other words they both start or have the foundation of realism. They just went in different directions after that. Both chapters also discuss captivating the audience with emotion. Again they just went in different directions. Chapter 2 better showed emotion and personality with caricature while chapter 4 was about adding subtle, more real life action to show emotion.   

In the following clip from Snow White, the ideas from both chapters are seen:

Caricature and exaggeration as well as realism are seen here. Caricature though the dwarfs and realism through Snow White. Snow White is drawn to look like a real woman. None of her features or movements are exaggerated but are more close to real life. The dwarfs on the other hand are exaggerated through their actions and facial features. All the dwarfs have big noses, cheeks, and eyes. The dwarfs actions as they ask Snow White about the prince before she begins to sing are exaggerated. There arms movements are extended as well as their hand and head movements. As they listen to Snow White putting their hands on their cheeks emphasizes how big they are. At the same time the dwarfs would not have captivated the audience if they were like Snow White. Caricature was the best way to show their emotion and personality. The dwarfs are based on personality, its how they got their names. Snow White on the other hand is better being more real because she is the beautiful Disney princess. In order for the audience to relate to her she had to be more like them and more subtle to evoke the sweet personality that she has. 

     

      From the clip one can see that both chapters discussed were right. Animation does not have to be exaggeration or more real, it can be both at the same time. As discussed before animation is based on realism in life as well as real emotion. There are different ways to show realism. One can put real live actors with animation if they wanted.   

Mind is the Pilot

      Think before one speaks and before one leaps. The body follows the mind as much as speech should follow the mind. Walt Disney said, “..the mind is the pilot. We think of things before the body does them.” We can see this in real life settings and also in the realism created in animation. Disney artists mean that action is based on the mind of a character. The action and movement in animation is based on attitude and personality of a character. 

      Chapter 5 of The Illusion of Life:Disney Animation by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston discusses this idea. The chapter describes when Walt Disney himself acted out Pluto and Norm Ferguson who drew Pluto observed his actions. Ferguson never drew Walt in Pluto but rather drew the expressions and attitudes that Walt was acting out. Pluto was also not so much about drawing a real dog but more about drawing what a real dog did. The mind being the pilot is seen here when the action of Pluto was based on real dog characteristics. Thoughts and emotion from the mind are the pilot. Animation is not about having mechanical or too real of a drawing. 

      Flexibility in character movement showed the mind of a character. Symbols like frowns or expression are signs of the body that show the mind of a character. Hamilton Luske was also an animator for Walt discussed in the chapter who was very organized. He knew the exact poses he wanted and did them with clarity, definition, and caricature. Caricature, clarity and definition of poses are also signs of the body that show the mind of a character. Every time Luske came across a weak action he turned it into a clear action with a strong accent. The strong accent too showed the mind of the character. Emphasizing an action, emphasizes a sign of the body, which in turn shows mind of character.

In the following clip from Space Jam, Lola Bunny’s signs of her body show her mind:

The way she goes up to Bugs Bunny and pulls him shows the confidence behind her character. Her walk was a confident one with a hand on her hip. The hair flip at the end also shows her confidence and that is showing up to Bugs was easy. She is not afraid or unassertive and this is shown by how close she gets to Bugs but she makes sure she gets his attention which putting her finger on his face. Her walk, hair flip, and actions toward Bugs showed the mind of Lola. She’s one assertive and confident female character.

      

      The mind is the pilot is the sense that a character cannot be a character without a mind. This mind is shown through a character’s actions. The actions of a character are based on its personality and attitude, its mind. Movement and expression show the thinking and feelings of a character. Animation is not just a drawing. Just like the audience who watches him Bugs Bunny has feelings too.