Animation Theory: Traditional Hand-Drawn Animation Process and Theories of Movement

Introduction

• Lecture Overview: Split into two sections
  • Process of creating traditionally hand-drawn animated movie
  • Theories about movement in animation
• Caveat: Discussion focuses on traditional hand-drawn animation, not digital/CGI

Traditional Hand-Drawn Animation Process

1. Storyboards and Layouts

• Storyboards: Hand-drawn images outlining shot-by-shot sequence
  • More directly translated into animation vs. live action
• Layouts: Expanded, more detailed versions of storyboards
  • Provide details about colors, silhouettes, backgrounds

2. Key Animation and In-Betweens

• Key Animators: Draw key frames indicating major changes ( e.g., part of a run cycle)
• In-Betweeners: Fill in gaps between key frames for fluid motion

3. Foreground and Background Animation

• Foreground Animation: Characters, objects, etc., drawn and animated
• Background Artists: Create static backgrounds (background plates)
  • Multi-Plane Layering: Combining cells and background plates to suggest depth

4. Tracing and Coloring Cells

• Tracing onto Celluloid (Cells): Artists trace outlines/details from key and in-between animations
• Coloring: Colors are added, finalizing the animated cells

5. Filming and Compositing

• Compositing: Layering cells over background plates to create a final multi-planar image
• Recording: Cells and background images filmed frame-by-frame
  • Cinematography: Role includes handling cameras for traditional animation

6. Post-Production

• Editing: Footage sent to editor, cut together like live-action film
• Sound and Music: Scoring, ADR for voices, sound effects, Foley

Animation Theory and Movement

1. Sergey Eisenstein's Contributions

• Essence of Animation: What distinguishes animation from live action
• Term: Plasmaticity
  • Definition: Hyper-exaggerated expressiveness in animation
  • Examples: Mickey Mouse's flexible, exaggerated movements

2. Line and Animator's Expression

• Role of Line: Conveys motion and emotion
• Disney's 12 Principles: E.g., squash and stretch, exaggeration
• Animators' Gestures: Expressiveness translates into animation
  • Signature Style: Unique line work can become an animator's signature (e.g., Gendy Tartakovsky)

3. Animating with the Animator's Body

• Modeling: Animators mimic actions, use real models (e.g., lions in The Lion King)
• Time Investment: Affects audience's emotional connection

4. Thomas LaMarre's Concepts

• Cinematic vs. Animetic Movement
  • Cinematic: Moves with energy, kineticism (e.g., Steadicam shots in live action)
  • Animetic: Horizontal/lateral movement due to drawing difficulties
• Full vs. Limited Animation
  • Limited Animation: Only part of the scene moves to save time
  • Full Animation: Entire scene moves, more time-consuming

5. Movement Techniques

• Moving Drawings: Physically manipulate cels and background plates (e.g., Nausicaä flying)
• Drawing Movement: Fully animate character's movements (e.g., Nausicaä's hand movements)

Conclusion

• Goodbye and Best Wishes: End of semester, final thoughts