Unit 33: Task 1

Principles of animation

Anticipation
The anticipation of an action will help the audience understand what it happening. For example anticipation in animation could be an arm moving backward before it strikes something. This will give people the full understanding they would need to ensure that they are getting their point across. This was used in animations extensively when they did not have sound to help the audience understand what is going on.
Another good example of anticipation is in the start of the scene for Luxo, Jr. The father lamp looks off screen and this gives us the indication that he has seen something and that something is about to happen in the scene. Here are some pictures to show my point.

This part is the anticipation. These are the actions that happen after it.
Anticipation is also good for actions that happen more quickly. For example preparing to run and then sprinting off. This could be unexpected without the anticipation animation before the action.
Showing anticipation to someone’s/ something’s weight is also very helpful to the audience because it will show the character more realistically. This could be done in many ways for example a heavier person would use their hands to stand up. On the other hand a lighter person might just stand up. This would be a sign to show the persons weight.
 
Squash and Stretch
This is good to show the audience the mass and/or weight. For example if you bounce a ball through animation and it doesn’t squash or stretch then it would look unnatural. But when you apply squash and stretch to the ball when it hits the floor you realise the power it has been thrown by the amount it has squashed. This gives a lot of realism to many objects.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvCWPZfK8pI

Staging
Staging will ensure that the audience will be looking at the right thing at the right time. This will make the audience aware of what is going on. Due to the angle and the position of the stage it will give better effect to the actions that are occurring and that are about too. Also this will link in with anticipation because of how the camera/stage will move.

Follow-through
A good example for follow-through is walking. This is because first you have the movement of the hips and then you have the movement of the legs and then feet. What I am trying to explain is that different parts of the body are still moving and that is follow-through. Also it gives realism to the animation or if used in the right way can be used for exaggeration.
Secondary Action
This reinforces the primary action and gives more realism to the scene. For example when Luxo moves you see the wire move too this is a secondary action. The secondary action is always caused from a primary action and shouldn’t compete with it