Animation
…in spite of bending the laws of space, time, and reason to the limits of imagination, animated films tend to come over larger than life. This is because, above all other film techniques, animation allows concepts to be isolated, analyzed, reinforced, and presented in a direct form that is immediate and obvious.
Animation creates the appearance of inanimate objects moving.
Animation knows no limits as to what the process may accomplish; therefore, animation may use nonobjective and nonlinear plots and action sequences that live action finds difficult or impossible to complete without resorting to computer graphics imagery (CGI), which also is animation. Even though animation stories should have a recognizable form, the pattern of the beginning, middle, and ending format of normal dramatic structure is not as necessary. Audiences readily accept a more abstract pattern of animation storytelling than they do of live action.
The definition of animation for the purposes of this text includes such items as puppets, collages, sand and clay figures, found objects, painting and scratching on film stock, pin boards, and of course, cel and computer animation. This broad definition is both a blessing and a detriment to analyzing and understanding animation. Traditionally, a group of objects that could be shot on film at the rate of one or two frames at a time constituted animation. But today, with computer applications and digital equipment, no clear delineation exists between reality and a computer creation. For you, it just means there are no limits to your creativity.
Writing animation requires you to concentrate on visuals rather than dialogue. Again, a balance between the two must be maintained for a quality production. One of the advantages of animation is its ability to transcend language barriers when properly produced. Well-produced and well-conceived visual aspects tell the story in any language and culture, without narration or dialogue.
Animation depends upon characters as the basic building blocks of the story. Maintaining a balance between character development and the entertainment value of the story requires careful consideration of each in relation to the other. Animation characters must be strong, larger than life caricatures, with exaggerations of their personalities and actions. Voices also may add to the development of those characters, especially unique or unusual voices. But you must be careful to avoid letting characters and their personalities overpower the story.
Using motion picture film to animate objects coincided with the development of film itself. Many of the earliest films were produced in order to exhibit so-called mysteries and special effects. In order to do so, single-frame exposure of action, drawings, and double exposures created those effects. The fundamentals of animation comprised these techniques.
In the past, the animator was the director, producer, and often even the actor and the writer (since there were few scripts actually in place on paper). Animation was, and still is currently, an auteur medium. Although during the earliest days of animation all of the writing aspects of the production process were completed by one or two people for any single production, the process of assembling the information needed to reach a completed film remains the same today, regardless of who actually writes the script.
The first addition to the writer’s duties was to create storyboards, or at least sketches, of each scene before the cels were drawn. For some writers, drawing storyboards was not a problem, but with time, storyboard creation became an art in itself. The writer then concentrated on developing characters and action scenes, leaving the drawing of storyboards to artists hired for that function. Disney developed the “factory” system of producing animation beginning in the 1930s by creating individual departments, including separate scriptwriting and storyboard departments.
The storyboard artist then assumes some of the responsibilities of the director, interpreting the script, drawing each scene, and even drawing key frames and individual cels. The storyboard artist may also decide on the movement of both the characters and the camera. The ability to draw boards and to maintain the vision of the writer is critical for quality animation productions.
At the same time, groups of writers began writing by committee in gag meetings. A gathering of three to a dozen writers, led by a producer, work out story lines, character development, and the gags that build the action and the progress of the plot. With increased use of computers to create animation, the separation of writing and drawing became even more clearly defined. The value of quality writing in developing strong characters and stories that capture and hold the audience separates good writers from poor. All stories will be based on some kind of a conflict, but violence is not as important as the use of action that propels the audience into the story. Humor is crucial in most animation, even if a scene or two become heavy with dramatic action. The success of the Pixar animated films and Disney’s early features and shorts illustrates the value of well-constructed stories populated by believable characters, as opposed to the weak stories of some direct-to-video and television animation of today.
Today’s quickly produced television animation tends to depend on dialogue rather than visual action because it is cheaper to let the characters tell the story rather than to show the action, which requires more time and effort, raising costs. Music, sound effects, voice-over narration, and dialogue without lip synchronization describe the story, rather than acting out the action to show the audience the story. Making certain voices match lip synchronization also becomes an increased financial commitment.
The production process varies depending on the length of the production, the type of animation used, the size of the studio, and the budget. The independent animator today may raise the funds needed, write the script, draw the cels or use a computer program, assemble the story, and prepare it for distribution. But even if all of the work is accomplished by one person, the production process follows a reasonably parallel path regardless of whether the product is the simplest or the most complex.
Sound
Once the concept has been fleshed out and a complete script written, then production may begin. Recording the soundtrack must be completed first. Once recorded, the track is carefully analyzed and timed, word by word. A dope sheet lists each frame to be created, along with the three accompanying tracks: dialogue, music, and sound effects (SFX). The dope sheet consists of a chart based on scenes broken down into increments of 1/24 of a second. Film and some digital recordings are normally exposed at the rate of 24 frames per second. Most animation uses exposures of two or three frames per cel, rather than one cel for each frame. This reduces the number of cels needed without decreasing the flow of the visual.
Drawing
Backgrounds and key frames are drawn separately. Depending on budget, the inbetween frames are completed within the studio or drawn overseas, where lower labor costs help maintain budget levels. The images are entered into a computer file that parallels key and inbetween frames of a cel-drawn production. In a 3-D computer production, 3-D wire frames are constructed within the computer or are captured from a motion capture (MoCap) process or from digitally photographing 3-D models of characters.
Figure 7.1 A dope sheet breaks the entire animated production down into 1/24th-second segments for accurate drawing and shooting.
In cel production, the outline of the character or object is drawn in black on the front of the individual cel, and then painters add the color on the backside of the cels, frame by frame. In the computer world, each space is labeled a color, and that space will carry that assigned color in each frame wherever that shape appears. In 3-D, texture mapping creates solid surfaces and surface textures.
Once the painting process has been completed in the cel production, then the cels are photographed, sandwiched over a background. Each movable part of a character appears on a separate series of cels that are changed for each new camera exposure. A parallel process occurs in computer animation by assembling individual scene files into a final and permanent form.
Each of these same stages is followed if the production uses dimensional materials (e.g., sand, clay, or paper cutouts) instead of cels or a computer program, except that each frame is a physical set-up. Once the characters and objects are arranged on a dimensional set, they must be lit. Then the camera operator shoots individual frames before moving each character or object and making the next exposure.
One of the most difficult animation techniques, regardless of the medium, is creating and maintaining synchronization between the sounds, especially voices and the movement of the character on screen. This process is called maintaining lip sync. Each set of vowels and consonants requires a different shape of the mouth for a realistic action, and the changes of the shapes must match the voice on the track.
Postproduction
The postproduction stage may consist of simply printing a copy of the edited film combined with a mix of the soundtracks or a frame-by-frame recording, adding visual effects and rearranging shots to remove unwanted images, such as power lines, or unwanted sounds. The final stage for computer production involves rendering the original virtual files into a conformed final file that may be duplicated or converted to film or videotape.
Figure 7.2 The postproduction process for film and digital formats follows a parallel but differing path from raw footage to finished product for distribution.
The exact process used in writing for an animated production will depend partially on the size of the production, the budget, the crew, and the client’s desires. But the following step-by-step process covers the critical areas, regardless of the complexity of the product. Several of the steps may be combined, again depending on the type of production.
An Idea
A basic concept of what the production is to do or say has to start with a simple idea. It could arise from within an experience, from an observation of the world about you, or from brainstorming with others. Other sources may come from modifying an existing story by reversing images or characters, or else from modernizing a myth, fairy tale, or traditional story. And there is always the possibility of you adapting a published work if you can gain permission from the copyright holder.
The Premise
Another name for the premise is the log line. The premise must state in one sentence the entire concept, without dialogue or narration. Reduce the idea to its simplest form. From this point, then your idea can be developed and expanded without losing sight of the original concept. If the idea cannot be summarized in one concise statement, then the you have not accurately thought through the concept.
A Proposal
At some point, you must decide who will pay for the production. Even if is self-produced, you must worked out a budget, at least tentatively. If it is not self-produced, then someone else will need to be convinced to provide the funding. Your proposal is a sales tool to provide the potential bankroller a rational for loaning the funds for the production. The proposal should be no longer than two pages. It should describe what the production will look like, without dialogue or narration, and the briefest of scene descriptions. An approximate budget should included a timeline, outlining the progression of the production day by day, from scripting through to the completed film or computer file.
Figure 7.3. A log line defines the project; the proposal explains in more detail what the animator has in mind to create.
Once the concept is firmly in mind, then you must list the scenes addressing key plot points of the production, acting as a guide to establish characters, locations, and basic actions. The outline may be expanded to provide a storyboard frame for each item of the outline.
The Bible
A tool that determines many aspects of an animated production is the bible. The bible is a listing of characters by name; a fairly complete description of their appearance, characteristics, personality, and type of voice for casting; and, most importantly, the relationships among the characters. You must also create a list of locations, scene descriptions, music, and SFX required to provide the basis for planning backgrounds and other settings and props needed during the production. And, finally, you will need model sheets for each of the characters. A model sheet consists of pencil drawings of a character in different poses viewed from different angles, as well as close-ups (CU) of the head, hands, and other distinguishing body parts. The model sheet guides the many different artists involved in the production to maintain consistency in drawing each character.
The Treatment
Once all of the characters and details of the production are known, then a complete description of the production should be written in narrative form, without dialogue, avoiding technical media or animation terminology. The treatment accompanies the proposal to the pitch.
A pitch is a meeting with the potential funding source, who listens to you describe in detail the entire production, often with you reciting the dialogue and acting out some of the action. The proposal and treatment are left with the funding source as a reminder of where their money is about to be spent until a firm contract is written. The treatment provides the second step in the funding request sales presentation.
Figure 7.4. The treatment describes the entire production in greater detail than the proposal, using a narrative format without technical jargon. The treatment should tell the story as if it were a short story without dialogue.
The Storyboards
An important stage in an animation production rests with the accurate creation of the storyboards. Storyboards must be drawn, even if just simple stick figures are used to indicate characters, movement, and framing, along with accompanying dialogue for each board. With storyboards as a guide, you can approach the critical facet of animation: the visual approach to the story. With individual boards drawn, you may pin them to a wall to show the progress of the story, particularly where scenes begin and end. If necessary, you may rearrange them if the original plan does not work. It is important for you at this stage to think visually. You need to think about what the frames are going to look like, what the pictures will tell the audience, what will happen in the action, and how the action will move the story forward.
Figure 7.5. Storyboards may take different forms, but they must show the accurate frame aspect ratio for the chosen medium.
Figure 7.6. The final frame reached after shooting may not appear as described in the original script.
Full-sized storyboards work better if drawn on separate sheets from the script. Eventually, the storyboard frames will be separated and pinned on a wallboard or other surface for rearranging and modifying as the production process moves forward. The storyboard frame should be accurately drawn to indicate either the 3 × 4 aspect ratio of standard 16-mm, 35-mm film, and NTSC video or the 9 × 16 aspect ratio of wide-screen film or HDTV. Each frame should be numbered to match the shot, with notes indicating pans, zooms, tilts, and other movements, and if necessary, the background arrangement as well as matching audio.
The First Draft
Writing the rough draft follows the completion of the storyboards. The written script now is critical in order to develop the sound of the production, including the dialogue, narration, music, and SFX. Once you complete the first acceptable draft, the voice track may be recorded. After the voice track has been recorded, individual cels and the number of cels needed to cover the track may be calculated.
Figure 7.7. The two-column script format must accurately list all sound sources, as well as accurate sequence descriptions.
Corrected and final drafts follow as changes are made during the production. In some cases, an actual final script will not be written until after the postproduction stage has been completed.
The very nature of the variety of different materials used to create animated productions demands different formats in script and storyboard layout.
Script Formats
The script format may be either patterned after the two-column television format or after the single-column dramatic film format. Because animation is more visually than aurally dependent, the two-column format allows for greater space and alignment of visuals for animated productions. The visuals are listed shot by shot in a column on the left side of the page, with the audio aligned with the matching shots on the right side of the page. All visual and production instruction, SFX, and music are entered in capital letters (caps), whereas all dialogue is entered in uppercase and lowercase letters. A column of storyboard frames, if included in the same page, is usually aligned down the center of the page. Two pages of finished script may equal approximately 1 minute of screen time.
The structure of an animated story will vary with the intended length. Animated shorts commonly run 7, 11, or 22 minutes long. Three 7-minute, two 11-minute, or one 22-minute short make up a half-hour of television programming. Animated features run from 60–90 minutes long.
A 7-minute short consists of one act. A crisis is established and then resolved, with a quick gag saving the hero. An 11-minute short moves with two acts. During the first act, the crisis or problem is introduced, with the hero reacting, setting the first action. A short second act may contain a new crisis, but all problems are resolved by the end of that segment. A 22-minute short consists of three acts. The first is longest, to establish characters, location, and the basic story line. The conflict must be paramount in the first act. During the second act, the immediate crisis may be resolved, but unexpected changes in action introduce the major problem or a new crisis. The third act builds to a climax, followed by a resolution of all of the crises.
Features follow the same pattern as a 22-minute short, but each act lasts longer and becomes more complex as the story progresses, with increasingly more important or dangerous crises building to the final climax and resolution. The action rate must increase as the plot progresses; since animation is action and visually oriented, the pace of action is important, if not critical. A feature should include several subplots, some involving the main characters and some with secondary characters for added interest and comic relief. The action of features occurs in several different locations. Each change of location adds new interest and plot possibilities. A feature also will require many more characters than a short, with different levels of importance to the plot and to the action. But each character must be defined and have a reason for existing in the production to help move the plot forward, directly or indirectly.
Direct-to-video productions vary from features originally released for public theaters in that they are produced with smaller budgets, often are shorter in length, and have lower production values to short, low-budget features produced specifically for direct-to-video sales. As studio marketers become aware of the income value of direct-to-video, the production values and the care taken in the producing these quick-to-market animation features and packages of shorts may improve.
Internet animation generally uses shorter formats and less-complicated production techniques. Internet animation will be discussed in Chapter 10 in greater depth.
Developing the Plot
Before a story may be told, you must write a central concept. You concentrate on a hero or a heroic action or incident. The plot and story develop around the hero or key character as the center of the action. The plot and characters must match or mesh, or they will distract the audience from following the plot. Write an outline or plot a graph showing each key scene and how each sequence relates to other sequences. In moving the story forward, follow the golden rule of KISS, “Keep It Simple and Succinct”; do not overwhelm the audience with words, but rather use the power of visuals to show the audience your story. Show the audience what is going to happen, with hints of coming actions before they occur so that the audience can be expecting something to happen and will be prepared to understand the gag.
Another approach to plot development depends on a pattern of alternating dynamic and static sequences. As an example, a story starts with the characters in happy, satisfied relationships, with all going well (a static position); then, suddenly, something happens that destroys or threatens the relationship. It can be the intrusion of a new character or an old competitor, or even a physical change such as an earthquake. The plot now is in a dynamic position, and the protagonist must move the story to a new static position. Alternating between static and dynamic positions makes for an interesting manner of approaching and solving crises. A story may start in total dynamism, leaving you the challenge to create stativity by the end of the production. Stativity does not necessarily mean a happy ending, but rather just an ending that satisfies the audience with resolution of the primary crisis.
Pace, Tempo, Rate, and Rhythm
The perceived feeling of the passage of time in animation depends on a sense of rapid motion. Animated productions control time better than live-action production because you control time with each individual frame. Therefore, time and the sense of passage of time in animation become critical. Time is subjective, but the perception of time is controllable. To one audience member, a scene may appear to be moving rapidly; to another, time passes at a much slower rate. A method of measuring time factors considers pace, tempo, rate, and rhythm. Pace is the perceived speed of an overall production: fast, medium, or slow. Tempo is the perceived speed of individual sequences or scenes. Rate is the speed of individual performance, such as the shot length and the comparison of adjacent shot lengths. A series of shots are short if the series ends quickly and the audience perceives a sense of a rapid rate.
Rhythm develops with variations in pace, tempo, rate, or a combination thereof. Rhythm gives the audience a sense of the flow of the action within individual scenes, sequences, and an entire production. Rhythm may be calculated in beats. A pattern of beats is a combination of the lengths of individual segments and the number of segments that make up a sequence.
Character Development
Even though action, movement, and the visuals provide the key to pleasing an audience in animation production, you must properly develop characters that the audience wants to believe in, or at least believes fit the plot. In every drama, including animation, whether the plot is serious or comic, a conflict must exist or be created. The conflict depends on the relationship between an antagonist and a protagonist. The antagonist may be a natural event, a human, or a machine, depending on your decisions and the direction of the plot. The antagonist will oppose the protagonist, the main character or the hero of the plot, providing the crisis or the conflict necessary for a drama.
Animated humanized characters, animals, creatures from space, or mythological figures must communicate among themselves as if they were humans so that the human audience can relate to the characters and understand why the relationships exist and why the actions develop as they do. There must be recognizable, strong personalities that are good, bad, or (preferably not) in between, but they also must be characters that the audience can accept as existing within the story line of the production. Some characters will dominate the plot, and others will be subservient or even just neutral, but all characterization must be clear enough for the audience to understand exactly what type of personality a given character exhibits.
All characters must be recognizable to the targeted audience. Whether the audience is children watching morning or afternoon television, prime time or late-night adult viewers, or casual viewers, the character must make sense to the audience. The direction the character moves in the story and the motivation for that movement lets the audience feel part of the story through its understanding of what is happening and what might happen next. Anticipation keeps an audience interested and tuned to the program. The characters also must grow to show a change in how they have felt, learned, or reacted to others in the cast and to the actions that occur to them as individuals.
Some of the basic recognizable traits of characters are age, physical size, strength, appearance, gender, and relationship to others as a leader, follower, or sidekick. Animation productions depend upon at least one character taking a leadership role. An animated series requires a leader plus a leader’s sidekick or buddy. That sidekick may be a goof-off, a devoted friend, or an idiot, but the story’s action needs to show a contrast between the lead character and the supporting character or characters.
A three-dimensional character will show intelligence, stupidity, like-ability, loyalty, destructiveness, dejection, supportiveness, uncooperativeness, aloofness, friendliness, unpredictability or predictability, or a combination of several of these traits. Without such recognizable traits, the characters become a two-dimensional cardboard cutouts.
Stereotyping
One danger in developing strong characters may depend on stereotyping. Stereotyping uses the technique of counting on the audience’s preconceived notion of what a person or location will do because of appearance, gender, ethnicity, religion, or economic and social status. Especially in animated shorts with limited time to develop three-dimensional characters, you may use stereotyping to quickly establish a portion of a character’s personality. The danger comes from using stereotypes in a negative manner, creating a character based on the worst negative characteristics of a group. Negative stereotypes must never be used. Instead, use stereotyping to quickly establish a location or some aspect of a character, but remain with positive characteristics, not the negative. Avoid depicting any member of a group as having the same actions or personality characteristics attached to a group by bigots.
Humor Versus Drama
Humor, the basis of most, but not all animation, is a subcategory of drama. All of the rules of dramatic structure hold true for humorous animation, as well any other genre of drama. In many ways, writing humor is much more difficult than writing straight drama. In addition to all of the other requirements of a well-written drama, a humorous production, including animation, must also appeal to the funny bones of the audience. The audience may be carried along with the strength of the animated characters, the believability of the plot, and the excitement of seeing crises develop and disappear, but most importantly, the audience must want to laugh, or at least be highly amused.
Writing animation requires an understanding of human and animal physiology and movement, as well as a strong sense of visual creativity.
The definition of animation in this text is intentionally broad to include all media productions that meet the criteria of inanimate objects seeming to move. The history of animation began with the beginning of motion pictures as an early production technique, and it continued as a format unique from live action.
The production process starts with the preproduction steps in writing, beginning with the idea expressed in a premise, continuing on through stages including the proposal, the outline, the bible, storyboards, and a more-detailed treatment and drafts of the script. Preproduction paperwork of animation needs to be more detailed than live action since each frame is shot individually. Once a script is written, storyboards and the soundtrack determine the progress of assembling the individual cels, frames, or shots of dimensional characters.
Strong stories, recognizable character development, interesting and exotic locations, and stimulating actions in animation provide you and the director with unlimited possibilities for creativity. Any action or description may be created in an animated form, from photorealism to the abstract, and animation may encompass any material that may be manipulated, including cels, clay, sand, toys, collages, and 2-D and 3-D computer frames.
The scriptwriting process follows the traditional dramatic writing structure, with the added requirement of making the audience laugh. A conflict of some sort must exist to develop the plot and to give the characters a reason for their actions.
1. Think your story concept through completely.
2. Create strong, contrasting characters.
3. Rely on humor and action instead of violence.
4. Think visually and create accurate storyboards.
5. Carefully consider your target audience.
6. Avoid negative stereotypes and use positive stereotypes judiciously.
1. Write a log line and a proposal for a 7:00 short. Provide all details needed to sell the idea and an approximate budget.
2. Write and record the soundtrack for your proposal. Then analyze how many frames will be needed to complete the animation.
3. Create a bible for your proposal, including character descriptions and a model sheet.
4. Draw simple storyboards for each sequence (stick figures will do).
5. Explain how you will use stereotyping in a positive manner in your character development.
6. Using the original proposal, rewrite the log line so that the production may be completed without using any violence—only action.
7. ANIMATION
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Beck, Jerry, ed. Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the History of Cartoon, Anime & CGI. London: Flame Tree Publishing, 2004.
Bendazzi, Giannalberto. Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994.
Canemaker, John. Storytelling in Animation: The Art of the Animated Image, Vol. II. Los Angeles: American Film Institute, 1988.
Furniss, Maureen. Art in Motion: Animation Aesthetics. London: John Libbey & Company Pty. Ltd., 1998.
Hayward, Stan. Scriptwriting for Animation. New York: Hastings House, 1978.
Kanfer, Stefan. Serious Business: The Art and Commerce of Animation in America from Betty Boop to Toy Story. New York: Scribner, 1997.
Maltin, Leonard. Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons. 2nd ed. New York: New American Library, 1989.
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Patmore, Chris. The Complete Animation Course: The Principles, Practices, and Techniques of Successful Animation. Hauppauge, NY: Barrons Education Service, 2003.
Peary, Gerald, and Danny Peary, eds. The American Animated Cartoon: A Critical Anthology. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1980.
Scott, Jeffrey. How to Write for Animation. Woodstock, NY: The Overlook Press, 2002.
Webber, Marilyn. Gardner’s Guide to Animation Scriptwriting: A Writer’s Road Map, the Secret to Writing Successful Animation. Fairfax, VA: GGC, Publishing, 2000.
Winder, Catherine, and Zahra Dowlatabadi. Producing Animation. Boston: Focal Press, 2001.
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