Release. Pressure. Animate.

with my current programming knowledge and/or available time - are still inclusive for the
conclusion as the research is a work towards this near future.
Though, as mentioned shortly, stop motion animation is always animated in a straight
forward method applying changes to the character chronologically on a frame-by-frame
basis. This method is maybe, so I feel, an even more important reason why the animator
feels the bond with the character while animating. The WYSIWYG effect of a stop motion
character on set is amplifying this bond even more, as the animator starts to „feel‟ the
poses in an almost similar state as to how the audience – who watches the animation in
the end – will be affected by the character as it‟s already looking like a living character
with his own mind and story on screen. This constant awareness while chronologically
posing the movement of the character is crucial for believability, personality and high
quality animation.
Movement can easily be achieved by drawing the same thing in two different
positions and inserting a number of other drawings between the two. The result
on the screen will be movement, but it will not be animation. In nature, things do
not just move. Newton's first law of motion stated that things do not move unless
a force acts upon them. So in animation the movement itself is of secondary
importance; the vital factor is how the action expresses the underlying causes of
the movement. With inanimate objects these causes may be natural forces,
mainly gravity. With living characters the same external forces can cause
movement, plus the contractions of muscles but, more importantly, there are the
underlying will, mood, instincts and so on of the character who is moving.
(Halas, Whitaker, 2002)
For believable 2 animation any motion on screen should obey to rules that either we know
from real-life or the rules that have been explained and made believable to the audience
by watching the (rest of the) film. But – especially if he chooses not to obey the rules -
the animator should always be aware of the fact that a large mass can‟t suddenly come
to a hold. If he chooses to do so anyway he should be aware of the fact that he‟s
breaking the rule. If he does it as stylization throughout a whole film, for perceiving a
certain effect or any other reason he should still know what he‟s bringing over to the
audience in effect. In animation the animator should constantly be aware of the
character‟s mood and how he will „pull the next move‟ in correspondence with his
thoughts, emotional state and personality at that moment. Even more he should keep in
mind the style of the film, continuity of the scene and progression of the story as well. In
effect there‟s a lot for the animator to focus on. If the animator starts to animate without
any planning whatsoever he‟ll have to constantly be aware of all these and any
technicalities or problems that might come up. Focusing on so many things at the same
time can distract from the focus on the actual movement and living of the character.
At Pedri-Animation they have their own strict pipeline and workflow for getting
2 Believable refers to the realism as developed at Disney like the principles of animation. An in-depth discussion
on this development at Disney and meaning of realism can be found in the following paragraph.
2. The difference in Animation fields
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