#identify each animator’s style but the director sets the overall tone of the short) so having that sort of hands on experience has been

[ducktracy]

What shorts are you most excited to review?

TOO MANY!!! The Great Piggy Bank Robbery for sure will absolutely be my #1 i’m excited for, along with other favorites like Baby Bottleneck and Kitty Kornered… i’ll warn you in advance that i already KNOW those are going to be insanely long because i really want to talk about the most minute details (like watching Piggy Bank the other day i spent about 10 minutes thinking about why does Daffy have a mailbox? does he own the farm? that’s weird if he does. but why would only he have the mailbox if he’s a farm animal? and look! it has his name on it! he used a stencil. there was not at all intended to be so much thought put behind this but the implication is fascinating. these are the kinds of things i like to scrutinize)

HARD TO SAY THOUGH there truly are so many… 99% of the Porky and Daffy entries for sure HAHA. i try to focus on the present, but like… right now, i’m really looking forward to reviewing Porky’s Last Stand, which was the first short of 1940 and one of my favorites—before that i was excited for Wise Quacks, before that The Daffy Doc, etc. i do tend to think in terms of “what’s my next favorite” BUT i’ve learned to love many cartoons i never would have liked had i not dug super deep into them, so it’s really hard to say!! i enjoy surprising myself with shorts i didn’t know i would like in the first place… pretty much all of the Daffy and/or Porky shorts though without a doubt though

[kmortonba2ainanimateobjects]

Primary Research:

For my project I researched books on direction and storyboarding. By understanding the purpose of using a storyboard for direction, I will be able to incorporate this into my own work, helping me to create a storyboard and animatic that will reflect my final animation.

I researched how direction is important with a story, and how a director works with a vision in their head that is shared across the whole animation team. “Always have an original idea in your head in case you are asked by a producer, executive etc...” (Bancroft, 2013, p.200) “Think of something that people have never seen before, something that you would want to see in a movie and go from there,” (Bancroft, 2013, p.201). This idea of creating something that you would want to see is a unique way of looking at an idea and understanding whether or not it might work. If we (the directors) are not interested in the idea, then the audience will not be either. This is important as with a team project, every detail is needed to assure that the idea comes across as the director imagined it. If the mood is wrong, the whole scene may not work.

There are two types of directing:

Auteur Style Directing - To follow a director’s ideas and visions throughout the project.

Corporate Style Directing -  To follow a group of writers/company’s vision to maintain the same factors as all films and shorts within the company (p.18).

“A director should be keen enough to assess the scene and imagine it to be what he wants it to be and understand the difference” (Bancroft, 2013, p.146-147).

In addition to direction style, I also looked at direction for recording dialogue. Some key factors to check before a recording session are:

To go over the story animatic

Work over the script one last time - Usually during a pre-recording session (with scratch (temporary) voices)

Use cardboard pieces for each piece of script (to avoid noisy paper-turns in the recording)

Make notes on the script of any extra coaching that the actor may need for certain lines, i.e. tone. This helps to make the action more believable (p.148-149).

A recording session is important as it is likely to be the final dialogue that ends up in the animation. Therefore it is crucial that everything is right, and that the actor’s time is not wasted. Extra time may be needed to re-record certain lines.

During a recording:

Decide whether to show the animatic with the scratch voices, or just storyboards - the latter helps the actor find direction. (p.149).

Animatics are also an important part of the pre-production process, as they are the closest to the final version of the story before it begins production. Director Nick Park states: “When we came to do feature length films, that was a really great way of seeing the shape of it all before you start filming. That obviously saves you a lot of time and money in terms of re-recording, so you can see how it works, or doesn’t work.” (Nick Park, Bancroft, 2013, p.62)

I also looked at timing within animation, as I felt that this would help me to understand how I can make my characters build up their actions (anticipation). I researched Action Analysis for Animators (Webster, 2011) to understand how I can use timing effectively within my animations. Webster states that timing is “not good, but appropriate,”(p.42), showing that there is no ‘right way’ to animate timing, it is down to the action and how it is performed that makes timing appropriate - it is down to experience.

Pacing - Describes the variations in the dynamics of a film narrative. The manner in which a story is expressed (p.42).

Phrasing - The variation in the speed and dynamics of a series of movements over a short time period (p.43).

Webster states that: “Acting is a matter of thinking, and this thinking then leads to action,”(p.43) showing how movement in animation is similar to an actor or a dancer; he calls this “animation choreography” (p.43).

Animation Timing - The speed of a single movement of a character, object or animated effect (p.44), Does not deal with the overall narrative...acting or performance, but deals with things like the speed of an object’s actions (p.44).

This shows me that there are many elements to animation timing, and that the best way to understand timing is to experiment with it. I will continue to experiment with my animations so that I can practice animating timing, as this will make my animation more appealing, and will strengthen my animation skills.

Additionally, I researched how to create thumbnails and storyboards using Maya, as I wanted to see other methods and understand how I could use these for future projects.

I looked at Tradigital Maya (Montgomery, 2011) to understand the purpose of storyboarding and thumbnailing, and how this can be used to help me animate in Maya:

Storyboarding - Used to clearly outline what the major shots will be in a sequence (p.193-194).

Animatic - Used in 3D animation in layout for a sequence. Often set-up with basic models without final lighting and shading. A ‘bridge’ between storyboard and final animation (p.194).

Thumbnail - Used to work out individual shots and can be considered as an extension of the animators’ thought process as ideas are developed and refined. Used for planning out individual poses and body motion (P.194-195). Quick and simple sketches which help to establish or layout the motion in a shot (p.196).

Overall Motion Planning - Used to block in animation from pose-to-pose (p.196).

Character Posing - Rig balance and weight, can be used to figure out the pose in a particular frame (p.197).

An extension of your thought process (p.197).

From this, I understand that a thumbnail, storyboard and animatic are different, and all of these can be altered to show a new angle, or scene within a story. I should consider drawing multiple storyboards of different possible outcomes for my animation, as this will help me to be more creative with my scenario, but it will also help me to explore the mood of my animation, and this can affect how the characters react to each other. I can consider storyboarding in Maya to help me create a rough animation - I can also use this as my blocking stage of my animation if I decide to keep the characters’ actions the same. I will also look at different scenarios that characters can be part of, as this will help me to identify which scenario best suits the characters personalities.

Bancroft, T. (2013) Directing for animation: behind the scenes with animation greats. Oxford: Focal.

Webster, C. (2011) Action analysis for animators. Oxford: Focal.

Whitaker, H., Halas, J. and Sito, T. (2009) Timing for animation. 2nd edn. Amsterdam;; London ::Focal.

Montgomery, L. (2011) Tradigital Maya: a CG animator's guide to applying the classical principles of animation. Oxford: Focal.