4 Principles of Animation

Squash and Stretch

Squash and stretch is a technique in animation used to give an object weight and/or movement. A person moving there whole head and even body around as they talk would be an example of squash and stretch. Basically, squash and stretch is the exaggeration of movement in animation.

Anticipation

Anticipation is a visual preparation for the audience to know what is going to happen next. In an animation of a frog leaping, instead of it suddenly flying through the air and landing, there would be a moment where it readies itself as it coils like a spring before making its leap. That would be an example of anticipation. So, instead of a movement occurring without warning, there would be a smaller movement before that, letting you know what is going to happen.


Staging

Staging is the compilation of camera angles, background, lighting, and poses to create the mood of the story and convey the message. It influences how you feel while you watch, and what you think the story will be about. In staging it is important that it should not be too complex, as it will distract the audience from the story. The key to successful staging is cohesiveness with the set and the animation.


Straight-ahead and pose-to-pose animation
Straight-ahead animation is an animation technique done by making drawing-after-drawing of an movement from beginning to end. It is sloppy though because in each image proportions, position, and size are changed more drastically. It is however preferred for wild action scenes.
   A cleaner way of doing an animation is pose-to-pose animation. Instead of drawing each image until the animation is over, several key poses throughout the animation are drawn, and then the space between each pose is filled in with slightly altered images.

How To: Stop-motion Animation

In this tutorial a different approach to shooting stop-motion animation is used. Instead of using a camera to take a picture for every frame the speaker used a camcorder and took a video of the subject. He would slightly modify the subject and remove himself from the frame so only the subject was there, wait a few seconds, and then repeat the process. Afterwards he took a snapshot of all the brief moments in the video when the subject was isolated and slightly modified and then compile them all together in an animation.

   He also gave a basic introduction to clay and Lego animation. For clay animation he created a wire frame to build a clay figure off of, giving it more stability so it wouldn't fall over or apart altogether. He also showed a trick on how to make the clay look as if it is flying by sticking it to a wall and then slightly moving it, so in the final animation it looks like it is moving by itself.

   He also explained the basics of Lego animation, a simple process done by moving the figures' heads, arms, and legs slowly for each screenshot.

   The speaker even used another person's animations as examples of stop-motion animation and useful techniques to create certain effects, such as using white fluff to create the effect of splashing water.

I think the tutorial is useful, especially for beginners because it gives a simple introduction to stop-motion animation and how to do it. It provides multiple animation styles, examples of stop-motion animation, and even introduces a new filming technique, so overall it is a very informational video.

Zoetrope Optical Illusion Toy

I like how the layout of the site is simple and has only the optical illusion toys as part of it besides the title and description of the site. This way it is easier to find what I am looking for. It's also nice how there are no advertisements, links, etc. at the side of the page to distract me from what I am looking for. My only suggestions would be to include the title of the device and maybe a brief description next to the picture, and to update the links the author posted because they are no longer working.

The Zoetrope is an old illusionary toy invented in 1834 by William Horner. He originally named it the Daedalum, which meant "wheel of the devil," until the name was changed to Zoetrope by William F. Lincoln who patented it in 1867, meaning "wheel of life."
      The Zoetrope uses the persistence of motion principle to create the illusion of motion. It is a drum with an open top that sits on a central axel, which is what makes it spin around. Hand-drawn images on strips of paper are placed on the inside of the drum walls sequentially so when it spins a simple animation is created. Slits are cut in equal distance apart around the drum so the image can be viewed from anywhere around the device, meaning multiple people can observe it simultaneously. To make the device work you would need to spin a wheel with a handle attached to the Zoetrope, making the drum spin around. The faster it spun, the clearer the image appeared. (At the bottom of the post there is a link leading to a video demonstrating how the device is used)

      I find this toy interesting because unlike the phenakistoscope, multiple people could view the animation at once instead of only one. I also find it interesting how the toy became forgotten for nearly thirty years until it was re-discovered and patented by British M. Bradley and American William F. Lincoln. I understand that it probably was forgotten because it became obsolete, but the fact that it became popular again nearly three decades later I didn't expect. The thing I find most intriguing is how Horner was able to come up with the idea of creating this. Obviously it must have taken quite a bit of time to think up the idea and develop it.

      This device is significant because it was one of the final steps towards modern cinema, the praxinoscope coming after along with flexible photographic film, and finally modern cinema in 1895. Although cinema is different from the Zoetrope they both run off the same concept of a wheel with multiple static images spinning rapidly to to create the illusion of movement. This was a small but important invention in the history of animation because of its technological advance after its predecessors.

Fresh Guacomole by PES

A very creative stop-motion animation with a funny concept to it.

Stop-Motion Animation

I enjoyed watching DOT because of how creative it was. After watching how it was made I realized stop-motion is much more tedious and complicated than I imagined. The process of creating DOT was especially challenging for the creators because it was the world's smallest stop-motion film.
         They used a simple camera phone with an attachable microscope to film the 9mm protagonist because a regular camera would not be able to zoom enough to capture the film. Instead of using a camera specifically designed for microscopic filming the creators used a camera phone because of its ease of use, ability to share media, and cheapness.
         They also set the camera in place on a stand facing down facing the set which moved for the animation. This made the camerawork accurate so the placement of the set or character wouldn't be jumping around in every frame, and also easy to pick up from where they left off the next day.
         To create the main character they made many gel moulds of her in different poses, painted them, and attached a rod to her so they could move her. They created several models because they were so small that they were impossible to manipulate into different poses. You can see all of the different models being used in the animation as she runs. For example, each time she took a step forward a different model was used in each frame that was slightly different from the other to make her running more fluid. In the original pictures you could see the rod that was attached to her head for manoeuvring purposes, but was easily edited out with computer software.
         DOT was an interesting stop-motion film with an even more intriguing creative process. I enjoyed  watching both how it was made and the actual production itself.