Straight-ahead animation:
considered the natural way by Richard Williams
Basically drawing one frame after another
used predominantly in early animations
feels natural
animation version of improv
disadvantages:
can go off-model easily
hard to time
hard to assist
time consuming
still has its applications, though PTP is used more often in modern animation
best for dynamic objects e.g. fire, smoke, cloth, hair etc
also used for stop-motion
Pose-to-pose animation:
used for planning
great for storyline events
can also be used for animation dialogue
start with key poses and fill in the blanks after
good for timing
"work on twos" - means dividing a section of the animation in half to get key poses
there are three stages:
keys - main actions
breakdowns - what happens in between keys
inbetweens - even more frames to make the animation smoother
disadvantages:
can feel unnatural
may cause issues with flow
doesn't mimic real life methods of movement
Key poses become the story-telling frames
"Limited animation" is based on keys only
keys define the extreme points in a pose, or accents in expression
should always have weight and balance
always start with thumbnail sketches first, to get the line of action and make the animation feel right
Breakdowns define how the animation transitions between keys
These help define mood, timing and weight
Inbetweens are the frames between keys and breakdowns
Like a less influental version of breakdowns
These will tend to create arcs of movement
Timing and weight are more important in expressing emotion than actual expression e.g. walking slowly and heavily implies sadness more than a sad face
Keys: 1 + 9
Breakdown: 5
In-betweens: all the rest
consider giving project a title and maybe credits as well - this counts toward the time total!
so long as the animation itself doesn't go for longer than 10s, it's fine if the whole thing goes a bit over