ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #10

For my final scene analysis, I'm going to look at a scene from the Buzz Lightyear of Star Command TV series.

[DISCLAIMER: High quality footage of this clip is not available]

(Buzz Lightyear of Star Command remains as Pixar's only venture into television series - credit: Pixar Animation Studios)

EXAGGERATION
We mostly see exaggeration from Buzz in this clip, especially after getting knocked back by Zurg. He hits his back against a wall, causing him to fall forwards, hit the ground, and bounce back up only to fall down a pit. In the brief moments between bouncing back up and falling down the pit, we see Buzz's face is pushed to an extreme, making a silly expression to show how disoriented the hits made him. This exaggerated look also works on the basis that this isn't a face Buzz would normally make; he's fairly stoic, and only smiles when genuinely proud or when smug.

EASE IN / EASE OUT
Ease in and out can be seen during the fight between Buzz and Zurg, as they strike each other's weapons. The weapons, meant to homage Star Wars' lightsabers, require the characters to swing them about like a sword. The effort the characters have to put into each swing can be seen by how they draw it slightly outwards before making the major movements, and then slowing down again. The tail-ends of each swing aren't too slow, suggesting the beams they're fighting with aren't too heavy; about as heavy as a plastic pipe.

SQUASH AND STRETCH + SECONDARY ACTION
When Buzz hits the floor, we see his body squash and stretch from the impact. When hitting the ground, he becomes flatter, with his body stretching outwards and pushing downwards. He only squashes this one way, and doesn't have the inverse (inwards stretch, upwards pull) happen to oppose to this. A secondary action can also be seen with his arms, as they flop around in response to his body's hitting the ground. Unlike Buzz's body, the arms do go upwards towards the end of the squash and stretch.

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #9

For this analysis, I'm going to look at the Robot Chicken sketch We Drink Hot Chocolate.

(The sketch parodies the characters Batman and Two-Face from DC Comics - credit: adult swim)

ANTICIPATION
As Two-Face explains the rules of his new three-sided die to Batman, he prepares to roll it. Just as he finishes up saying "Three: we drink hot chocolate together", he backs up the hand holding the die, and swings it forward, releasing it mid-swing to make the die's distance travelled further.

STAGING
There are two great examples of staging in this sketch; first is the very first establishing shot, showcasing Batman, Two-Face and the vat of hot chocolate. It gives the audience everything they need to understand everything that is going to happen in the beginning, and acts more functionally than it looks pretty. But functional shots will always have a purpose; films, shorts, and even sketches like this can't be all style and no substance.

The second great staging here is as Batman apologises to "Three-Face" for the hospital incident. The audience and Batman are both in the same boat of not knowing the true extent of what happened to Three-Face at the hospital, so we see him with his back turned. It creates a sense of mystery, leaving the audience to wonder what actually happened. Granted, it could be easily figured out what happened by following the trend earlier in the sketch, but the reveal is more comedically effective because of the mystery.

SECONDARY ACTION
The main secondary action going on in this sketch is from Batman's cape. It's nothing too complex, it just flows around as he runs, usually with a delayed reaction to whatever Batman himself is doing. 

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #8

For this scene analysis, I'm going to look at a scene from Alice in Wonderland, released in 1951.

(Alice re-encounters the Cheshire Cat - credit: Walt Disney Animation)

SOLID DRAWING
There are sequences that involve the Cheshire Cat morphing and transforming, that require the character's drawings to be solid. They should remain consistent in terms of volume, and seem somewhat plausible, even for a character like the Cheshire Cat. We can see very clearly where any transformations happen, and nothing feels like it's out of nowhere. We see the cause and effect, and they get paired up with the drawings themselves very effectively.

EXAGGERATION
When the Cheshire Cat gets happy or excited, we see physical signals of his emotions. When hearing that Alice hasn't met the Queen of Hearts, he seems shocked at first. But he very quickly becomes very excited at the prospect, and shows it in his body. As he exclaims "YOU HAVE-N'T!", his head splits off from his body, and his ears even split from his head, showing how extreme the excitement is.

STAGING / MISE-EN-SCENE
Mise-en-scene works hand in hand with the staging in this scene. The whole location is dark and gloomy, with no bright colours, apart from the two characters. In the film, Alice is upset and afraid, saying she wants to go home. This is meant to be a sad place, and the lighting shows that. But as she talks to the Cat, he offers her a shortcut to the Queen's castle; a door opens from the tree he's sitting on, revealing a colourful, bright castle grounds! The contrast between the two speaks to the theme of the scene; going from a dark, gloomy place to somewhere that promises to be brighter (evidenced by Cheshire Cat saying how "delighted" the Queen would be to see Alice).

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #7

For this scene analysis, I'm going to look at a clip from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, directed by Peter Ramsey and released in 2018.

(Peter Parker and Miles Morales making an escape from Oscorp - credit: Sony Pictures Animation)

STAGING
Spider-Verse has really effective staging and camera angles across the entire film; an example that stands out to me in this particular clip is right at the beginning. There's nothing fancy or flashy going on, it's just the two Spider-Men surrounded by unknowing Oscorp scientists. The camera pans out, revealing just how many there are. The employees of Oscorp have been antagonised up until this point, so they are, essentially, the "bad guys". Revealing just how many there are, compared to how small the Spider-Men feel in comparison, tells the audience that they're about to see the two either successfully evade every single scientist... or preparing them for a grand fight scene.

TIMING
When Miles and Peter are both running away from the scientists, they're animated in a fairly unconventional way. They're both animated on twos, as are most characters in the film when there's no giant action set-piece. But the interesting thing is that they're both animated with an offset to each other. Every frame has a new position, but only for one of them. Miles will change one frame, but not the next; but when Miles doesn't change poses, Peter does. 

SECONDARY ACTION + ANTICIPATION
One action Miles performs in the same shot is throwing the bagel at a scientist. This can be seen as a secondary action; his primary action is his running, which is a constant during this shot. However, the bagel throw is something he does on top of the throwing. We can also see anticipation in this action, as he winds up the throw, bringing his arm in, only to swing it back out with a twist of the body.

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #6

For this analysis, I'm going to look at a scene from the Spider-Man (1994) episode Make A Wish.

 

(I'm looking at the fight scene between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus & his drone - credit: Marvel Television)

EASE IN / EASE OUT
We can see an example of easing in and out when Spider-Man swings onto a building to save Taina, and needs to swing back around to fight Doctor Octopus after dropping her off. As he reaches the furthest his web will allow him to go, he starts slowing down. He takes the opportunity to start turning around to face the way he'll be heading back in, and confront Doctor Octopus.

SECONDARY ACTION
Doctor Octopus gets a lot of secondary actions, mostly due to his mechanical limbs also needing to move and do their own thing alongside his actual arms and legs. However, I chose a shot that represented a time where it was the opposite way around; the mechanical legs were doing the primary actions, grabbing the ledge of the building's roof and climbing up. At the same time, Ock is monologuing to Spider-Man, making gestures with his hands and slightly tilting his head about as he does.

ANTICIPATION
Spider-Man best shows off anticipation when he's performing some flips and gymnastic moves for Taina. One such trick involves him going from a run into a handstand, and then from there into a flip onto a roof. As his jump approaches the ground, his body is stretched out and slightly curved; only when his hands come into contact with the roof itself does his body start to recoil. His arms bend further and further, building up enough energy to bounce back up from his hands.

ANIMATION PRINCIPLES - SCENE ANALYSIS #5

The scene I'm analysing in this post is the Steamed Hams scene from the Simpsons episode 22 Short Films about Springfield. 

(Steamed Hams has become more popular in the past year due to memes and internet culture - credit: 20th Century Fox)

SECONDARY ACTION
We see a lot of secondary action from Skinner, especially in his arm movements. He talks a lot with his hands, and often gestures to things when trying to illustrate a point. One example is when offering Superintendent Chalmers to join him in some "isometric exercise", he swings his arm across his body. He also turns his head slightly, in juxtaposition with his arm movement.

SQUASH AND STRETCH
Squash and stretch is mostly used on characters for sudden changes in emotion; in the case of the Steamed Hams clip, we see this from Superintendent Chalmers. He walks in to see Skinner climbing out the window, and goes from surprised to suspicious. As his facial expression changes, it squashes up tall and thin, before relaxing back down.

ANTICIPATION
The movements in this scene are quite small, and so the anticipation for them are very small. There is one notable exception that stood out to me, which was for one of Skinner's biggest movements. He decides to climb out the window, which has it's lowest climbable surface at hip height. Skinner depresses his body downwards, mostly through the legs, in order to bounce back upwards and start making his way out the window.