INITIAL RESEARCH | smkaczmarczyku13

TASK 3

Initial Research On Disney

Since my brief has ben set by Disney, I have decided to research their animation and traditional animation in general. I would like to understand my client and my client's work better so that I can prepare a better suited product myself. Another reason is my interest in the subject and learning how to animate like early-Disney, even if not for this project.

I started with researching Preston Blair - one of Golden's Age animator, who worked on movies like Fantasia, Pinocchio and Bambi and many other classing animations.

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Further examples of my research can be accessed in Task 5 as some of my pre-production includes sketches and tests.

This video shows a fragment of Disney's Fantasia. What struck me the most is the way characters build up their movement, which I later found to be called 'anticipation'. A technique that allows the audience to prepare for the action that is going to happen. It is supposed to make the movement more fluid and realistic.

Fortunately, one of Blair's books was available at college so I started reading it immediately.

From this book I learned that in the traditional Disney's animation there are some character designing rules like following character archetypes and thinking of them, especially their heads, as of a rounded mass shaped either like a ball, a pear or an egg. Supposedly, it helps animators by simplifying the framework and because they can imagine those characters more easily this way.

Another thing I learnt from Blair's book is that it is crucial to understand different facial expression and be able to put them onto characters. Also, those expressions should be easy to identify by the audience.

Character archetypes I mentioned before are groups that all traditionally animated characters fit into.

Blair called them "Cute", "Screwball", "Heavy" and "Goofy".

Every character animated by Disney artists followed a set of traits of an archetype. For example, all "Heavy" characters had huge bodies, arms and jaws, while having small heads, ears. According to Blair, they looked barrel-like.

Following those rules allowed Disney to produce countless characters that you can understand at the first glance - character above is obviously a "Heavy" character that looks very strong and powerful, while not looking evil nor scary (but stilll intimidating).

Finally, I learnt about the "bouncing ball" - how movement can change characters size and posture. Basically, to get more cartoony effect character should stretch or squash accordingly to their momentum and impact they receive because of movement (like hitting the ground after frog falls).

Obviously, there was much more in the book, however, if I were to document it all I would have to a synopsis or rewrite the book, which would be too time-consuming. I read the entire book thoroughly and decided to focus on the most important and the most impactful information included in it.

Having all that said, I found this book to be both very interesting, and most importantly, helpful. As I hoped, it gave me context on how my client tackles their animation and what they do not want me to pursue / copy. Thanks to reading this book and watching Disney's animation (which I documented on the next research page) I was able stray away of what I am not supposed to do, and consequently, come closer to what my client and audience wants.

In addition, I found tips in the book (and what I learnt from watching animations), like anticipation, to be something I would like to use in my future animations.

Here are some sketches I made while trying to reproduce Blair's tips.

Another traditional animator I researched was Richard Williams. I read his Animator's Survival Kit, which is a book filled with animating anecdotes and guides. This book is more detailed and specific than Blair's Animating 1.

First thing I learn from this book is that there are three different types of frames:

KEY FRAMES - The most important frames that tell the story. Even without other two types viewers will be able to understand what is going on.
EXTREME FRAMES - Biggest changes in poses and expressions.
INBETWEENS - Frames between extremes.

I found it very interesting since I have only known about Key Frames and Inbetweens so far.

Then, I learned about arcs of action, which are lines that show how character moves between frames to complete an action. They show that the way things move is not as obvious as it seems, like the pendulum above; as it moves horisontally it also moves vertically.

Timing and spacing are things I have learnt already but found it more detailed here. Timing is how you how often you put your key frames, while spacing is how clustered other frames are. It might change the movement from smooth to slower or faster at times.

Then, I learnt about different ways of putting emotions and personality into movement. Images above show how I tried to change walk through posture.

Overall, I found this book very helpful, as it showed me something relevant to the brief - giving characters strong personality, which is something I will definitely use in my final project.

Sebastian Kaczmarczyk

UNIT 13

TASK 3

Initial Research On Disney

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Further examples of my research can be accessed in Task 5 as some of my pre-production includes sketches and tests.

Obviously, there was much more in the book, however, if I were to document it all I would have to a synopsis or rewrite the book, which would be too time-consuming. I read the entire book thoroughly and decided to focus on the most important and the most impactful information included in it.

In addition, I found tips in the book (and what I learnt from watching animations), like anticipation, to be something I would like to use in my future animations.

Overall, I found this book very helpful, as it showed me something relevant to the brief - giving characters strong personality, which is something I will definitely use in my final project.

Sebastian Kaczmarczyk

UNIT 13

TASK 3

Initial Research On Disney

?

Further examples of my research can be accessed in Task 5 as some of my pre-production includes sketches and tests.

Obviously, there was much more in the book, however, if I were to document it all I would have to a synopsis or rewrite the book, which would be too time-consuming. I read the entire book thoroughly and decided to focus on the most important and the most impactful information included in it.

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In addition, I found tips in the book (and what I learnt from watching animations), like anticipation, to be something I would like to use in my future animations.

​

Overall, I found this book very helpful, as it showed me something relevant to the brief - giving characters strong personality, which is something I will definitely use in my final project.

​