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Showing posts from 2012

Ask Why

In every step of the production of your animation, the story, the design, the staging, the animation, the editing, the lighting, the sound, etc., ask yourself why? Why is this here? Does it further the story? Does it support the whole? To create successful animation, you must understand why an object moves before you can figure out how it should move. Character animation isn’t the fact that an object looks like a character or has a face or hands. Character animation is when an object moves like it is alive, when it looks like it is thinking and all of its movements are generated by its own thought process. It is the change of shape that shows that a character is thinking. It is the thinking that gives the illusion of life. It is the life that gives meaning to the expression. 3 As Saint-ExupĂ©ry wrote, “It’s not the eyes, but the glance - not the lips, but the smile...”  Every single movement of your character should be there for a purpose, to support the story and the personality of y

Andrew Stanton: The clues to a great story

INTRODUCTION: In February 2012, Andrew Stanton presented his now familiar story talk at the TED Conferences forum.  Once again, Andrew drives home the keystones of great storytelling. This time we learn about a deeply personal story connection between Andrew's birth and Finding Nemo . READABILITY TIP:  For easier reading and to prevent eye strain, narrow the width of your browser tab to reflow the text into shorter lines. I recommend a words-per-line count of 12 to 15. A tourist is backpacking through the highlands of Scotland, and he stops at a pub to get a drink. And the only people in there is a bartender and an old man nursing a beer. And he orders a pint, and they sit in silence for a while. And suddenly the old man turns to him and goes, "You see this bar? I built this bar with my bare hands from the finest wood in the county. Gave it more love and care than my own child. But do they call me MacGregor the bar builder? No." P