12 Principles of Animation

After I knew what I was going to be doing I wanted to be sure that I knew some background to the animation industry starting with the 12 main principles of animation. I wanted to be able to know these principles so that I could then apply to them to my own work when I start to create it.

Squash and Stretch:
This first principle is used to exaggerate movement in an object that usually doesn't have a lot of movement to it, such as a ball. This also gives the object a comedic effect and I will be able to use this in my own work to be able to give more movement to the ball in my animation. 

Anticipation:
This principle is used in animation to be able to guide the audiences eyes to where action is about to happen. It is used for creating surprise and also adds suspense when watching the animation as the audience will try to anticipate what is about to happen. A good example of this principle is horror and thriller films as these will constantly switch back and forth between anticipation and surprise.

Staging:
Staging is about creating a mood in an animation based on the scene and relating to specific character positions and action. Staging can also be added with cinematic techniques such as slow motion, frozen time, motion loops and hand held camera moves.

Straight-Ahead and Pose-to-Pose:
During the days of hand-drawn animation pose-to-pose action became a standard animation technique as it broke down the motion into key poses, whereas in straight-ahead action the character move spontaneously through the action one step at a time.

Follow-Through and Overlapping Action:
These two techniques give an animation a much richer and fuller look to it by adding in extra detail and subtlety. Follow-through consists of the reactions of the characters after an action and it usually happens to let the audience know what the character is feeling. In overlapping action multiple motions influence, blend and overlap the position of the character, such as motions of the characters hair and clothing.

Slow-In and Slow-Out:
This principle consists of slowing down at the beginning and the end of an action, rather like you would so in real life, as this will bring that appearance to my own animation. This principle can be seen most effectively with a car, it will be slow at the beginning while it is speeding up, fast in the middle when it will have reached the speed it wants to, and will slow down at the end to be able to stop.

Arcs:
Arcs are used to animate the movements of characters to be able to achieve a natural look as most real creatures move in curved paths, never in perfectly straight lines. These curves can also be edited using graph editors to be able to fine tune them and make them look as real as possible.

 Secondary Action:
This consists of smaller motions that can be used along side a dominant one. This can be for example a layer of hair, a layer for the characters hat or other item of clothing.

Timing:
Timing is something that is not only essential in animation but also for the rest of the film industry as it is the amount of time a character spends on a particular action. Timing also adds to any emotion that the character is trying to portray. This can be added to facial expressions or can be something added to the way they move or how long they spend on an action, for example if they are scared they make take longer to complete an action as they do not want to move.

Exaggeration:
This principle is something usually found on cartoon characters to add to the essence of an action and make it seem more exciting to the audience; the most common example of this being achieved by using the squash and stretch principle as this is very over-exaggerated to see as objects will be stretched in a way they are not usually done so. This can definitely be applies in my animation due to the fact that I definitely want to add some kind of comical value to the final piece.

Solid Modeling and Rigging:
This was originally called solid drawing in the 1930s, emphasizes shapes in an animation that brings the character to life. This helps to convey the weight, depth and balance of the character so that again they look as realistic as possible to the audience. This is also something that I will need to think about during the process of my animation as I want the skittles in my final piece to fall over in a way in which real skittles would if they were knocked over.

Character Personality:
Character personality, or appeal as it was originally called, is the emotional connection between the character and the audience. This means that the characters must be well developed and have an interesting personally to be able to show there true nature so that the audience can connect with them better.