Animation Principle

Description - How does the animator apply it? Be specific, referring to timestamps and on-screen actions. What effect does the principle have on the actions within the shot?

Visual Evidence - Screenshot of the animation where the principle is applied.

Squash and Stretch

The animator applies the Squash and Stretch technique to all three characters, all in different stages of the principle. In this part of the scene, Fang gets crumbled up as she crashes into the Wooly Mammoth, the Mammoth being hard as a rock, being resilient to Fang. But as a result, Spear gets thrown off of the Mammoths back, and as a result, being stretched, but not too much as he was knocked off, not shot off from a cannon.

0:21

Anticipation

Anticipation is used here effectively, we are given a brief second to take in Spear, about to bash into the Mammoth with a rock. This is to give us, the Audience, a moment to know what is going to happen next, as if he struck without any ‘build up’ to his attack, then the ‘payoff’ wouldn’t have been as exciting or impactful. Which would have been akin to a soft, quick attack that does very little damage.

0:57

Arc

Arc is used here for Spear to roll to his side. It follows an imaginary curved line that loops, which the body follows through, and goes with the path of the line. It makes it look more dynamic and smooth, as if he rolled on his side without any line, it would look rigid and robotic.

0:35

Secondary Action

The main action here is the wooly mammoth trying to walk away, and preparing to throw him off, with the secondary action being Spear stabbing the mammoth constantly on his/her back. This adds more depth and complexity to the scene, this scene could have had the wooly mammoth still being in distress, and Spear being on the other side doing the stabbing. But it would have lessened the visual density of the scene.

0:15

Overlapping Action

Spear’s Hair, and a bit of his pants are overlapping action, when he drifts a bit on the snow to slow down. His hair is “dragging” and is the furthest from the body, and when it has slowed down, the hair moves further than the body a bit, then resets back to where it was. If the hair was stationary and didn't move a bit, it would have shown that the hair is very stiff, hasn’t been washed, or just isn’t “realistic”.

0:41

Exaggeration

Exaggeration is used here effectively, as when Fang gets thrown off, and starts rolling down the snow onto Spear, he is shown to be frightened and scared. As his face lights up instantly, the audience knows the oncoming danger being thrown onto him, and must act fast to save himself.

0:35

Staging

The staging here is really effective. Even though they aren’t directly facing the audience, and not in 3/4th angle, with only the Wooly Mammoth shown as the one in the 3/4th angle. And the way he is positioned and framed, it indicates he is the main character we should be focusing on, with Fang and Spear on the other sides, trying to knock him off, not facing the camera.

1:31

Timing

The Wooly Mammoth appears to have slightly more frames than Spear and Fang. Which indicates it's slow, which gives the characteristic of it being an old and noble animal. Meanwhile, Spear has the lowest frames for his run animation, almost running in twos, as he catches up to the Mammoth. Then Fang being slightly less in frames than the Mammoth, which infers, she is fierce and agile.

0:40

Slow in/Slow out

Slow in/Slow out is used quite effectively here, Spear taking out his Spear from the Mammoth. Usually motion is not at a constant rate, but rather it slowly accelerates, then slowly decelerates. This makes sure that the action isn’t robotic and more human-like.

0:14