Empathy is the core element of acting. If the audience does not empathize with your character, all is lost. No matter how short the shot is, there must be empathy. Empathy takes place when the audience sees some- thing in that character they have experienced. Empathy is also when the viewer wants for your character the same thing the character wants for himself. The viewer is rooting for the character! Carlos Baena explains why he roots for the characters that are engaging in a movie:
If the audience doesn’t relate to the characters, then they’ll either get bored or will not believe what’s happening. From personality traits to everyday situations, mannerisms, and conversations, I love it when I go, “I’ve been in that exact same situation!” Right there, a connection gets started.
Animators are observers of life. Many take mental notes of people in their lives. For example, the crazy uncle who likes to drink strawberry milkshakes and make shadow puppets on the wall. The sweet grand- mother who makes scrapbooks of everything her grandchildren do. Remember the bully who beat you up every day in the school yard? These are the characters in your day-to-day life that you can pull from to add empathy to your scenes.
By using various people and the impressions they have made on you in life, you can add to your stockpile of experience. You did not have to have the experience yourself; however, by adding human elements to the character that you see in people you have met or are related to, you add that extra little something that makes the character seem more real. Remember when we talked about observation and reference earlier?
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AMERICAN POPRELEASED:American Popwas a 1981 Ralph Bakshi animated film.The primary animation technique used was rotoscoping, but the film also used a variety of other mixed media, including watercolors, com- puter graphics, live-action shots, and archival footage.The film was rediscovered after animation went through a Renaissance upon the release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
1981
OSCAR FOR TANGO(ZINGIER RYBCZYNSKI): Tangowon the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It had 36 characters from different stages of life— representations of different times—interact in one room, moving in loops, observed by a static camera. Zingier had to draw and paint about 16,000 cel-mattes and make several hundred thousand exposures on an optical printer.
1982
Ethan Hurd says:
I believe that the audience needs to identify with either the characters or the situation. This doesn’t mean that the characters need to be like the audience or that the situation has to be familiar to something the audience has experienced. It just has to have that ring of truth to it. You could tell a story about a hardened coal miner. I’m sure none of the audience has ever mined coal before. But if you do your research, find out how these people live, what they eat, what they listen to, how they get along with their families, friends, et cetera, you can uncover enough truth to connect with the audience. If the situation feels believable and has that ring of truth to it, audiences will connect.
Empathy is one of the strongest elements to breathing life into your characters and the scene. Picture your character as a longtime friend or an actor you would work with on set and get to know his personality. Many animators see the characters they work on as a family friend, a relative, or even a famous movie star they always wanted to work with. It’s like hanging out with old buddies. If you empathize with the character you are animating, even if he happens to be a villain, you will infuse that character with the personality that the audience will relate to as well. If you animate through feeling first without worrying about how it looks, you will create empathy. Once you find your own empathy with the character you are animating, the audi- ence will follow.
Simplify
The old saying Keep It Simple Stupid, or K.I.S.S., has been around for years. Simplicity applies to every sin- gle part of your animation: simplicity in rhythm, simplicity in poses, simplicity in your ideas, and simplicity in acting. Too many poses and acting choices will not communicate clearly. Animation is a visual communi- cation, as in any art form. Paul Wood says:
A memorable character is created through strong and deliberate acting. Stay clear of charac- ter behavior that is not important to the development of that character. You don’t want the character to appear wishy-washy or overly complicated.
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THE SECRET OF NIMHFROM BLUTH STU- DIOS:The Secret of NIMHgarnered critical acclaim for being one of the most vibrantly animated films ever made.This is surprising considering a handful of inde- pendent animators led by Don Bluth animated the entire film in a garage over the course of two years.
1982
TRON RELEASED WITH MORE THAN 15 MINUTES OF CG:Tron was one of the first movies to contain 15 minutes and 235 scenes of computer-generated images.Though the movie has been criticized for poor acting and incoherence of plot, it is celebrated as a milestone of computer animation.
1982
Simplicity will give the viewer’s eye time to rest and appreciate the moment. The eye follows what is moving the most. Make the most amplified motion mean something. Be clear about your ideas first and lay them out simply, and then add any seasoning and life to those poses after you have ensured the ideas are clear. Otherwise, you can get lost in the madness of too many notes in the composition. Follow the directive of the scene.
Bert Klein tells us how to keep simplicity in mind:
I guess the trick is to be clear first, then add interest second. Clarity is the most important but overlooked aspect.
Also, when you have more than one character in a scene, keep the poses simple so viewers can concentrate on what they should be looking at. You have control over this! It’s best to take charge of the more aggressive character first when two interact. Keep the motion simple when you want to draw the focus. The eye will look for movement. If the audience should be hearing the dialogue of one character but observing the reac- tion of another, simplicity will help you focus the eye on that moment.
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“When supervising, the thing I do most often is have the animator simplify what they’ve done. Time and again, animators—especially on the computer—will have too many things in motion, with too many conflicting pulls on the eye. Keep it simple and in order. A viewer can really only follow one motion at a time comfortably, so you need to have all movements work into each other and together to draw focus to the one thing that matters.”
—Larry Weinberg
In addition, a character can hold completely motionless and still show emotion. Remember Tony Fucile’s scene of Mr. Incredible in the early teaser trailer when he is looking at his belt on the floor? When Tony handed over his animation file to be rendered and lit, the lighter freaked out, thinking he had lost all of the
STAR TREK II:THE WRATH OF KHANGENESIS EFX:ILM’s computer graphics division developed Genesis effects for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.It was the second feature film based on the popular Star Trek
science-fiction television series. It is widely regarded by fans as the best film of the series.
1982
VINCENTSHORT FILM BY TIM BURTON:Vincentis a 1982 short film written, designed, and directed by Tim Burton. It is a stop-motion tale set to a poem written by Burton.There is currently no individual release of the film, although it can be found on The Nightmare Before ChristmasDVD as an extra.The film was narrated by Vincent Price, a lifelong idol and inspiration for Burton.
1982
animation in the file. In truth, there was only one key frame for the entire scene. Talk about simplicity. Motion does not always equal emotion. Troy Saliba explains the need for simplicity:
When you first start, the tendency is, “I am going to animate the crap out of this thing! I am going to put blood, sweat, and tears into this scene. I am going to move everything, and everything is going to be offset, and there is going to be overlapping action on top of over- lapping action.” It’s the hardest thing to sit back and go, “Sometimes I really need to see what is going on in his eyes in this scene.” So, I have to keep things still. It’s the hardest thing to just not move it sometimes. What is important in this scene? Is it a physical comedy scene? Or is it a moment where I need to keep things still and just focus on one subtle thing? It’s hard.
Simplicity results when you have exhausted all the other steps. Once you have experimented to find the best ideas, really listened to all of the input you are given, and gathered to find the heart of the scene, simplicity will rise to the top and stare you straight in the face. Give simplicity a big ol’ hug and dump all that extra nonsense.
Texture
Texture is another broad term that can be applied specifically to different parts of animation. There is tex- ture in timing. There is texture in poses. There is texture in contrasting the motion of two characters against one another. There is also texture in acting choices.
Talking first about texture in acting choices, psychological gesture is one of the most powerful tools an ani- mator is armed with. An example of psychological gesture would be when a flight attendant is going through her normal everyday routine of telling passengers to put their seats and tray tables in their upright position, and then she sniffles and wipes her nose or yawns and puts her hand in front of her mouth. These gestures add texture to the initial directive of the scene. The scene is about the flight attendant. However, you may have a previous scene in which it was apparent that she was going through a lot. You can show this through psychological gestures such as yawns. Or, maybe she scratches her head because it’s her first day and she is