anticipation is preparation for an action, that gets the audience ready to expect it
there are two types:
physical - e.g. the character is winding up to make a big movement
acting - e.g. alerting the audience that something is about to happen, to ensure they're looking at the right place
an action occurs in three stages - anticipation, the action itself, and the follow-through
like squash and stretch, anticipation is key to creating a believable action
few movements occur without a windup of some sort, in real life
transferral of energy
before starting an action, the character must build up enough momentum/energy to make it believable
this often results in moving the entire body or large sections of the body
anticipation is the opposite action that transfers weight to the main action
the size of the anticipation must equal the size of the action
big anticipation = big action
small anticipation = small action
anticipation should also affect the speed of the action
if the audience is not prepared, they might miss the action entirely
if a character of action is moving too fast, the eye may not perceive it in perfect detail
to compensate for this, we often use smear frames
the purpose of a smear is to show the audience the direction of the movement without losing any speed
these typically only last for 2 or 3 frames
types of smears:
character - where the body stretches or distorts
multiple features - duplicates of a limb, head, etc. can be drawn into one frame
blurring - applies a motion blur to simulate a lower shutter speed
other - uses miscellaneous objects to create a blur effect (e.g. the lego movie)
it's always good to keep an eye on silhouettes
anticipation can also indicate heavy weight
when a person goes to lift a heavy object, their body bends over more and they widen their stance
before a character can jump, they must first bend their legs and swing their arms to counter-balance
acting anticipation is used to direct the audience's attention to the right part of the screen at the right moment
having a character look off-screen and react is a good way of executing this
generally, the audience will look where the character looks