Animation – Research

Research

20/11/2020

 

Lisa Hanawalt

Lisa Hanawalt was the main designer on the show ‘Bojack Horseman’. Which is the main focus of my research into animation. When I first started watching Bojack Horseman I hadn’t thought much about the fact that the show is made up of both anthropomorphic animals (the head of an animal and the body of a human) and humans. I might have thought it odd but it was very easy to forget about it in my case. But of course there was a reason for Lisa Hanawalt to design the characters his way, and it wasn’t until I read about it that I actually realised just how brilliant she was.

Some of the characters in the show are based around the animal that their character is, and these animals can tie into the show’s main ideas and plot points. There are three main anthropomorphic animal characters. A depressed alcoholic horse (the main character), a cheerful and optimistic dog (that only exists to make the viewers happy) and a snarky and sly cat. Where the cat and dog are both animals that are still very present in current times. Horses have become less useful over time. A horse used to symbolise power and was used for transportation. But now they don’t exactly fit into society. Which is exactly what the character Bojack is made to feel like. He was a well-known actor back in his youth, but in the current day of the show he has been forgotten and is more like a relic and a reminder of an older era.

I love that Lisa Hanawalt intentionally created this animated world with humans and anthropomorphic animals to emphasise parts of their characters. And these animals are constantly being brought back to the main plot of the show time and time again throughout. I think that it’s a very unique and different approach to animated adult cartoons and she has clearly thoroughly thought out each anthropomorphic character.

 

 

The 12 Principles of Animation

1. Squash and Stretch – The purpose of this step is to give the animation a sense of weight and flexibility to drawn objects. Taken to an extreme, a figure stretched or squashed to an exaggerated degree can have a comical effect. In realistic animation it’s important that an object’s volume does not change.
2. Anticipation – This is used to prepare the audience for an action to make it appear more realistic. For example a golfer needs to swing their arm back before they can hit the golf ball. Or a dancer needs to bend their knees before they can make a jump. This technique can also be used for a character looking off screen as someone is arriving or focusing on an object before it is picked up.
3. Staging – The purpose of this step is so that the audience are aware of what their main focus should be off in the scene. This can be done by character placement in a frame or the use of lighting and shadow. Keeping focus on what is relevant and avoiding unnecessary detail.
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose – These are two different approaches to the drawing process. Straight Ahead Action scenes are animated frame by frame from beginning to end. Whereas Pose to Pose starts with drawing a few key frames and filling in the rest at a later stage. The first is more fluid and dynamic and is better for producing realistic sequences but it is harder to maintain proportions and create exact convincing poses. The second works better for dramatic or emotional scenes where composition is most important. Usually a combination of the two is used.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action – These two techniques help to render movement more realistically and help give the impression that characters follow the laws of physics. Follow through means that loosely tied parts of the body should continue moving after the character has stopped only to be pulled back towards the centre of mass. Overlapping action is the tendency for parts of the body to move at different rates. For example  an arm will move at different timing of a head.
6. Slow In and Slow Out – The movements of objects in the real world need time to accelerate and slow down. More pictures are drawn at the start and the end of an action to create more realistic movements.
7. Arc – Most natural action tends to follow an arched trajectory, and animation should adhere to this principle by following implied ‘arcs’ for greater realism. This technique can be applied to a moving limb by rotating a joint or a thrown object moving along a parabolic trajectory.
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 swing their arms at the same time or keep them in their pockets, speak or whistle or express emotions through facial expressions.
9. Timing – This refers to a number of drawings or frames for a given action, which translates to the speed of the action on film. On a purely physical level, correct timing makes objects to appear to obey the laws of physics. Timing is critical for establishing a characters mood, emotion and reaction.
10. Exaggeration – Animated motions that strive for the perfect imitation of reality can look static and dull. The level of exaggeration depends on whether one seeks realism or a particular style like a caricature or the style of a specific artist. 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 the audience.
11. Solid Drawing – This means taking into account forms in a 3D space, or giving them volume and weight. The animator needs to be a skilled artist and has to understand the basics of 3D shapes, anatomy, weight, balance, light and shadow, etc.
12. Appeal – Appeal in a cartoon character corresponds to what would be called charisma in an actor. A character who is appealing is not necessarily sympathetic, villains and monsters can also be appealing. The important thing is that the audience feels the character is real and interesting.