Hey guys your friendly neighborhood spiderman here to shot shoot webs and whatnot. I think it may be a decent idea to post notes on here so everyone can have a grand old time reviewing. so post whatever notes you feel like sharing and we can all benefit as a group. (Jonathan typed this^)
12 principles of animation
1. squash and stretch
2. slow in slow out
3. arcs
4. solid drawing
5. timing
6. anticipatio n
7. staging
8. straight ahead v. pose to pose
9. exagerationnnn
10. secondary action
11. appeal
12. follow through/ overlapping action

mise/en/scene is everything in the frame.
for example setting, decor, staging, blocking, framing, composition, lighting, focal depth of feild, camera movement, and your mom
mantage is how shots are cut together
for example a man gazing longingly at his lunch and a man gazing longinly at your mother in bed
ps kevin is a sick douche

Extremes: Start & Stop Action
Squash & Stretch
Slow – in/ slow – out
Arcs
Solid Drawing
Timing
Break Down: Point in between action that helps explain time spacing better.
Keys = Thumbnails

Characteristics of Animation:
1. Anticipation
2. Staging
3. Straight-Ahead vs Pose to Pose
4. Secondary Action
5. Exaggeration
6. Appeal

Montage: How are things edited

Tex Avery: Early Warner Brothers
-Red Robbin Hood
-Who framed Roger Rabbit

Chuck Jones:
Worked on Warner Brothers Short
30 year run with Warner Brothers

Hanna & Barbara: Worked for MGM
– Original Tom & Jerry

United Pictures of America (1950s)
– Simplified animation via TV

Edwards Maybridge: The horse in motion
-Images in sequence ie. naked man/woman walking in frames

Emil Cohl did first animation

Timing Charts: use to plan out movements

this was a funny video of the principles of animation

Here are some of my notes hope it helps someone

Principles of Animation

Squash & Stretch
Subject should change shape as it moves
It happens in teal life
Animation should over do it

Slow in/ out
Acceleration – deceleration

Arcs
Most things in real life don’t move in strait lines

Solid drawing
Impart realistic mass into drawings
Strong silhouettes
Showing action
Best action angles

Timing
Anticipation
Character anticipates up coming action
Staging
Straight ahead vs. pose to pose
Follow through/ overlapping Actions
Continuing movements from start to stop action
Secondary action
Other things that are moving on characters other than the main motions
Examples – how cloths react to actions
- how arms swing when walking
Exaggeration

Character motivation

Setting/ conflict/ resolution/ character

Animation story should tell itself not relying on words but rather visualization to tell the story

Process for animation
Actions
Extremes
Starting and stepping points of the actions
Defining points of actions
Break down – because extremes can’t tell the whole story

Used to describe time and space between extremes

Exposure Sheet/ X-sheet/ dope- sheet
Used to plan productions

Key framing – software helps create the in between frames

Play Blast
Rough draft of animation

Secondary Anticipation

Actions that tell the story
Extreme poses (The Limits of actions)
Breakdown poses (In between extremes)

Extreme poses and breakdown poses become the key (poses) or key frames

Mise-en-scene
- setting
- décor
- staging/ blocking 9planar, depth, multi0
- framing
- composition
- lighting
- focus/ depth-of-field
- camera movement

Montage (editing)
- Transitions, cut, dissolve
- Rhythmic pace of shots
- Temporal relationship
- Kuleshov effect
- Graphic relationship of frames
- Parallel action
- Continuity
- Cut to action
- Establishing shot
- Master shot
- Reaction shot
- Shot/ Reverse
- Shot/ framing
- Distance

Blackton Funny faces 1st animation
Winsor McKay 1913-1919
Gerty the Dinosaur
Pat Sullivan
Felix the Cat
Olive Wallace
Music accompaniment
Max Fletcher
1920’s biggest next to Disney

Late 1920s early 1930s Disney gets the idea to do a feature

Principles of animation (WIKIPEDIA)

1)Squash and stretch:
The most important principle is “squash and stretch”,[4] the purpose of which is to give a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects. It can be applied to simple objects, like a bouncing ball, or more complex constructions, like the musculature of a human face.[5][6] Taken to an extreme point, a figure stretched or squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a comical effect.[7] In realistic animation, however, the most important aspect of this principle is the fact that an object’s volume does not change when squashed or stretched. If the length of a ball is stretched vertically, its width (in three dimensions, also its depth) needs to contract correspondingly horizontally.[8]

2)Anticipation
Anticipation is used to prepare the audience for an action, and to make the action appear more realistic.[9] A dancer jumping off the floor has to bend his knees first; a golfer making a swing has to swing the club back first. The technique can also be used for less physical actions, such as a character looking off-screen to anticipate someone’s arrival, or attention focusing on an object that a character is about to pick up.[10]
Anticipation: A baseball player making a pitch prepares for the action by moving his arm back.
For special effect, anticipation can also be omitted in cases where it is expected. The resulting sense of anticlimax will produce a feeling of surprise in the viewer, and can often add comedy to a scene.[11] This is often referred to as a ‘surprise gag’.[12]

3)Staging:
This principle is akin to staging as it is known in theatre and film.[13] Its purpose is to direct the audience’s attention, and make it clear what is of greatest importance in a scene; what is happening, and what is about to happen.[14] Johnston and Thomas defined it as “the presentation of any idea so that it is completely and unmistakably clear”, whether that idea is an action, a personality, an expression or a mood.[13] This can be done by various means, such as the placement of a character in the frame, the use of light and shadow, and the angle and position of the camera.[15] The essence of this principle is keeping focus on what is relevant, and avoiding unnecessary detail.[16][17]

4)Straight ahead action and pose to pose:
These are two different approaches to the actual drawing process. “Straight ahead action” means drawing out a scene frame by frame from beginning to end, while “pose to pose” involves starting with drawing a few key frames, and then filling in the intervals later.[14] “Straight ahead action” creates a more fluid, dynamic illusion of movement, and is better for producing realistic action sequences. On the other hand, it is hard to maintain proportions, and to create exact, convincing poses along the way. “Pose to pose” works better for dramatic or emotional scenes, where composition and relation to the surroundings are of greater importance.[18] A combination of the two techniques is often used.[19]
Computer animation removes the problems of proportion related to “straight ahead action” drawing; however, “pose to pose” is still used for computer animation, because of the advantages it brings in composition.[20] The use of computers facilitates this method, as computers can fill in the missing sequences in between poses automatically. It is, however, still important to oversee this process, and apply the other principles discussed.[19]

5)Follow through and overlapping action:
These closely related techniques help render movement more realistically, and give the impression that characters follow the laws of physics. “Follow through” means that separate parts of a body will continue moving after the character has stopped. “Overlapping action” is the tendency for parts of the body to move at different rates (an arm will move on different timing of the head and so on). A third technique is “drag”, where a character starts to move and parts of him take a few frames to catch up.[14] These parts can be inanimate objects like clothing or the antenna on a car, or parts of the body, such as arms or hair. On the human body, the torso is the core, with arms, legs, head and hair appendices that normally follow the torso’s movement. Body parts with much tissue, such as large stomachs and breasts, or the loose skin on a dog, are more prone to independent movement than boner body parts.[21] Again, exaggerated use of the technique can produce a comical effect, while more realistic animation must time the actions exactly, to produce a convincing result.[22]
Thomas and Johnston also developed the principle of the “moving hold”. A character not in movement can be rendered absolutely still; this is often done, particularly to draw attention to the main action. According to Thomas and Johnston, however, this gave a dull and lifeless result, and should be avoided. Even characters sitting still can display some sort of movement, such as the torso moving in and out with breathing.[23]

6)Slow in and slow out:
The movement of the human body, and most other objects, needs time to accelerate and slow down. For this reason, animation looks more realistic if it has more drawings near the beginning and end of an action, emphasizing the extreme poses, and fewer in the middle.[14] This principle goes for characters moving between two extreme poses, such as sitting down and standing up, but also for inanimate, moving objects, like the bouncing ball in the above illustration.[24]

7)Arcs:
Most natural action tends to follow an arched trajectory, and animation should adhere to this principle by following implied “arcs” for greater realism. This can apply to a limb moving by rotating a joint, or a thrown object moving along a parabolic trajectory. The exception is mechanical movement, which typically moves in straight lines.[25]
As an object’s speed and momentum increases, arcs tend to flatten out in moving ahead and broaden in turns. In baseball, a fastball would tend to move in a straighter line than other pitches; while a figure skater moving at top speed would be unable to turn as sharply as a slower skater, and would need to cover more ground to complete the turn.
An object in motion that moves out of its natural arc for no apparent reason will appear erratic rather than fluid. Therefore when animating (for example) a pointing finger, the animator should be certain that in all drawings in between the two extreme poses, the fingertip follows a logical arc from one extreme to the next. Traditional animators tend to draw the arc in lightly on the paper for reference, to be erased later.

Follow though/Overlapping Action: as the horse runs, its mane and tail follow the movement of the body.

8)Secondary action:
Adding secondary actions to the main action gives a scene more life, and can help to support the main action. A person walking can simultaneously swing his arms or keep them in his pockets, he can speak or whistle, or he can express emotions through facial expressions.[26] The important thing about secondary actions is that they emphasize, rather than take attention away from the main action. If the latter is the case, those actions are better left out.[27] In the case of facial expressions, during a dramatic movement these will often go unnoticed. In these cases it is better to include them at the beginning and the end of the movement, rather than during.[28]

9)Timing:
Timing refers to the number of drawings or frames for a given action, which translates to the speed of the action on film.[14] On a purely physical level, correct timing makes objects appear to abide to the laws of physics; for instance, an object’s weight decides how it reacts to an impetus, like a push.[29] Timing is critical for establishing a character’s mood, emotion, and reaction.[14] It can also be a device to communicate aspects of a character’s personality.[30]

10)Exaggeration:
Exaggeration is an effect especially useful for animation, as perfect imitation of reality can look static and dull in cartoons.[14] The level of exaggeration depends on whether one seeks realism or a particular style, like a caricature or the style of an artist. The classical definition of exaggeration, employed by Disney, was to remain true to reality, just presenting it in a wilder, more extreme form.[31] Other forms of exaggeration can involve the supernatural or surreal, alterations in the physical features of a character, or elements in the storyline itself.[32] It is important to employ a certain level of restraint when using exaggeration; if a scene contains several elements, there should be a balance in how those elements are exaggerated in relation to each other, to avoid confusing or overawing the viewer.[33]

11)Solid drawing:
The principle of solid drawing means taking into account forms in three-dimensional space, giving them volume and weight.[14] The animator needs to be a skilled draughtsman and has to understand the basics of three-dimensional shapes, anatomy, weight, balance, light and shadow, etc.[34] For the classical animator, this involved taking art classes and doing sketches from life.[35] One thing in particular that Johnston and Thomas warned against was creating “twins”: characters whose left and right sides mirrored each other, and looked lifeless.[36] Modern-day computer animators draw less because of the facilities computers give them, yet their work benefits greatly from a basic understanding of animation principles, and their additions to basic computer animation.[35]

12)Appeal:
Appeal in a cartoon character corresponds to what would be called charisma in an actor.[37] A character who is appealing is not necessarily sympathetic — villains or monsters can also be appealing — the important thing is that the viewer feels the character is real and interesting.[37] There are several tricks for making a character connect better with the audience; for likable characters a symmetrical or particularly baby-like face tends to be effective.[38] A complicated or hard to read face will lack appeal, it may more accurately be described as ‘captivation’ in the composition of the pose, or the character design.

A little late, but as promised:

my notes from “Pencils to Pixels:”

Imagine – From Pencils to Pixels (2003)

First character-animated film – “Little Nemo”
-1911, Winsel McKay
-projected

Finding Nemo – $70 million at box office

Pixar – Started out as Lucas Films?

John Lasseter – Genius behind Toy Story, Finding Nemo…etc.

-”To be a great animator, you have to be a child that never grows up.”
-”If computers can make it cheaper or faster, then we’re interested.”(1981)
-”Back then, all of the computer animation was done by the people who made
the software.So that’s like a world where all the paintings are done by
the chemists who made the paint.”

Andre and Wally B. (1984) – Lucasfilm, Lasseter, first character animation ever
done on the computer.

Lasseter – Here’s an art form that’s growing out of a science with no knowledge of
the principles of animation developed at the Disney studios.

First cartoon film ever made – James Stuart Blackton (1906): Humorous Phases of
Funny Faces

First animated movie star -Gertie (19
-Winsel McKay
-projected onto a screen, talked along with the animation

The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) – Winsel McKay
-Never made any money from his animations
b/c he didn’t see it as a business.
-exceptional drawings.

Walter Lance – Mixed animation with live-action film.
-created Woody Woodpecker

Coco the Clown – Rotoscoping; tracing frame-by-frame from live footage

Felix the Cat (1919) – Otto Mesmer
-Didn’t own the character

Walter Disney – 1928: Steamboat Willy would work with sound
-Snow White (1937)
-600 employed to work on Snow White
-Individual characters: revolutionary
-First year $8 million around the world
-Bambi

Toy Story (1995) – Disney/Pixar
– 60 years in between Snow White and Toy Story
– John Lasseter
-First fully computer animated feature, highest grossing
film of the year $400 million worldwide
-Emotional range of the characters

Luxo Jr. (1986)
-John Lasseter
-Steamboat Willy of computer animation
-First time a computer animated film’s story and characters
were appealing

Tin Toy – John Lasseter
-first computer animated film to win an academy award

Wallace and Gromet – The Wrong Trousers (1993)
-characters made out of plaster
-Chicken Run (2000)
-Nick Park
-A Close Shave (1995)

Looney Tunes Back in Action (2004)
-Combine live action with looney tunes
-”It all begins with a pencil”
-”Animators are actors with pencils” (Eric Goldberg)

Rabbit Seasoning – Directed by Chuck Jones

“Line-drawn animation is dead?”
“The appeal of watching a line move..”

Spirited Away (2003) -
-storytelling
-his films celebrate the quiet moments
-produced all of the artwork himself
-didn’t show up to accept his oscar

Hey, good job to Kevin for having a great idea for this forum