Right behind you.
As this semester winds down and comes to an end, the time has come to reflect on my animation class as a whole, and how it has influenced how I look at animation as a tool for communication.
Animation is a powerful tool. It can be used to accomplish many things that standard film or radio could never hope to. In this light it can communicate messages in new ways and touch many more minds and hearts. At the same time, however, it requires a different mindset than the filmmaker. To create a completely fictional world from scratch and populate it with completely fictional characters who have to look and behave in a way that is believable or true to the world and to the audience takes skills that are very specific to the medium.
Throughout this semester I have seen many different forms of animation. From simple cell and drawing animations to CG work and forms that combine CG and cell drawings. From for-profit to artistic works. Recreations of classics, such as the Robotech series. All of these works featured various styles, techniques, and principles. Some utilized the ideas of Disney while some went in completely different directions. Animation in this way opens up in nearly infinite possibilities. It is similar to looking at a blank canvas, but at the same time it is very different.
In drawing and painting, you have the canvas. An infinite white expanse before you to create whatever you want. But once its created, you have a picture. An image, a veritable snapshot of a world. Sadly that's all you can achieve in painting and drawing pictures, snapshots. Animation on the other hand can create the world and have creatures and people move around in it, interact. In a sense it's like adding the dimension of time to the work. People experience their lives as the animators portray it. Time passes and the world can evolve. From this infinite expanse the message of the writer or director can be expressed in a way that is more true to the audience. They can relate to the world and can see themselves in the personalities, the expressions, even in the sounds of the characters and environments of the animation.
In conclusion, animation is an extremely powerful communication tool. I feel that its method of expressing messages through the experiences of created characters in a unique world is more true and meaningful than any other method. I can only see it becoming more advanced and intricate as time passes and new dimensions of expression will be explored within the medium.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Meeting the Spy: An Analysis, Part 7
Ahem....Gentlemen. Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
Fred Moore was one of Disney Studio's most imaginative and creative animators. His ability to really capture emotion and fluid movements while still giving a sense of wonder and whimsy to his characters really made him a sort of icon during his time in the studio. He was also the pioneer of the more fluid Mickey design, going from a rigid style (traced from coins) to a more pear-shaped version that allowed for much greater mobility. Truly Fred's talents put him among the best. He even had his own fourteen points of animation.
Another great animator was Bill Tytla. Famous for the devil in the "Bald Mountain" scene in Fantasia, and even more famous at the studio for Stromboli in Pinocchio, Bill was noted for his incredible ability to use lighting and extremely fluid motion to convey the deepest emotions of his characters. He actually had twelve points of his own that could be found in all of his works. In this segment of Meeting the Spy, I will list the fourteen points of Fred's animation and compare them to the Meet the Spy trailer, as well as Bill's twelve points. Some of these points have already been described and compared in Part 4 of the analysis. If so, I will still describe them but I won't detail the comparisons again.
Fred's Points:
1. Appeal in Drawing. From the original I believe this is a combination of the Solid Drawing and Appeal points. The characters should be well presented and enjoyable to look at even if they are frightening or "ugly". They should also be well drawn so that it is easy to tell what they are doing or trying to accomplish.
2. Staging. As described in point 3 of Part 4, staging means the placement of characters and objects in a scene so that the viewers have a clear understanding of what they should be focusing on and what is happening in the scene.
3. Most interesting way? [Would anyone other than your mother like to see it?]. When anybody makes something its hard for them to be able to look at it objectively, to be able to tell if other people would be interested in it. Simply put this point means that the animation should be interesting to the audience, not just the animator. Work should be done to make sure that the audience will enjoy what they're seeing. The Meet the Spy trailer was very entertaining for me, I enjoyed the humor and the character's movements. As I had described before, the way that each characters' actions conveyed their personalities and traits was very interesting and well done.
4. Is it the most entertaining way? To me this means that if a character's actions can be slightly modified to be entertaining (the goal of any animation should be to entertain to some degree) then it should be modified. Animation (especially in the case of Disney) is made to entertain, and if the animation isn't done in the most entertaining way then that goal might be met. I believe that in the context of people who play video games or even play Team Fortress 2, the animation is as entertaining as it can be. Outside of that, however, I feel that more could have been done.
5. Are you in character? It's very easy to tell if a person committed his or herself to something they made or worked on. This question asks if you invested yourself into your characters, your animation. I feel that in the trailer the animators were in their characters. The work was very well done and the animation as a whole felt like it had very invested workers behind it.
6. Are you advancing the character? This question asks if you are making sure your character doesn't get stuck into their ways. A character is more believable if they can evolve, change, grow, and learn. If a character doesn't do any of these they're more of an imprint than a character. The characters in the trailer didn't have a whole lot of time to develop but their relationship as teammates was apparent and had the tiny squabbling and clashing that long established teammates would have, giving the characters the depth of growth.
7. Is this the simplest statement of the main idea or the scene? It is possible to overly-complicate animation, when simple movements and expressions will do. It doesn't take as much work as one may think to get an idea across to the audience. The trailer as a whole had very simple animations and movements that allowed it to showcase the Spy's abilities effectively.
8. Is the story point clear? Can the audience tell what the animation is about? What the point of it all is? The trailer throughout is based around how the Spy thinks, acts, and what he is capable of. This is the focus of the animation and at no point did I feel like it was getting off track.
9. Are the secondary actions working with the main action? Like point 8 in Part 4, this point focuses on secondary action. In a more specific question, it means you should make sure the secondary actions make sense based on the main action, or that they look right. Like point 8, I wasn't able to see any truly defined main actions that took long enough to have secondary actions.
10. Is the presentation best for the medium? I had a hard time understanding this question, the best description I could come up with was this: Is your presentation style suited for animation? Or would it be better suited to painting or drawing stills or working in live television? Animation is a specific kind of medium with its own "rules" and workings. Although much of it is free and open to interpretation, certain ideas and styles of presentation would simply work better for other mediums. Being based on characters in a game (and using the same visual style that the characters are made in) I feel that the trailer's presentation could not have been better on any other medium.
11. Does it have 2 dimensional clarity? In the sense of a 2 dimensional animation is the work clear? Is there a lack of clutter and ability to clearly see everything that the audience should see? Being that this animation was a three dimensional animation, it didn't really have to worry about 2 dimensional clarity. In this case I think proper staging would be all that is needed.
12. Does it have 3 dimensional solidity? In the sense of a 2 dimensional animation, does it feel like it is a real 3 dimensional world? Does it feel like a ball you see on screen is in fact a sphere and not a circle? That you could walk onto the screen and pick it up and hold it in your hands like a ball and not a disc? Being that the trailer was actually made in a three dimensional space, this point is not quite as applicable.
13. Does it have 4 dimensional drawing? [Drag and follow through]. The fourth dimension mentioned is time. That being said, does the animation actually move in time as well as space? Does the follow through make the character appear to have moved earlier? Brought up in point 5 in Part 4, follow through was well done in the trailer and time had its place in the animation as a whole.
14. Are you trying to do something that shouldn't be attempted? [Like trying to show the top of Mickey's head] In animation, there are things that, if enough effort were put into it, could be done. This doesn't necessarily mean that they should be done however. Showing the top of Mickey's head, based on his design as a character, would take a lot of thinking and clever drawing, but to what end when it'd be much easier (and more appealing) to show his face? In animation, simply put, you can do anything, but it doesn't mean you have to. In the trailer I didn't see anything in particular that felt like it shouldn't have been done.
Bill's Points:
1. Inner Feelings and Emotion. Characters need to have feeling and emotion behind their actions, otherwise they look and seem robotic (unless that's what you're going for, but in some cases that can't be true). The characters in the trailer each had their displays of emotion that felt true. The Scout's feelings were most apparent as his mother's pictures were revealed and as he and the Spy "faced off"
2. Acting with clear and definite action. Similar to the solid drawing points of Fred and the original twelve, characters' actions need to be clear and made without hesitation (even if the action is hesitating) If a character, like an actor, has "made the decision" to perform an action, then they need to appear "sure" of it. Every action of the characters in the trailer had their decisions behind them, no decision was made without feeling like some thought went behind it.
3. Character and personality. Characters should have (what else?) character! Their very existence being believed is based on them having personality and having a "life" all their own. As I stated in the Part 1, the characters in the trailer have clear personalities that are defined in everything that they do, from how they walk to how they speak and non-verbally communicate with each other.
4. Thought process through expression changes. Characters can't "think" on their own. They're shapes and drawings. They still need to appear to think, they need to have minds that process information and make decisions based on that information. To demonstrate the idea of "thought" characters can have expressions, on their face or through their body language. An excellent example of this in the trailer takes place at 0:42. When the Spy asks if anyone happened to kill a Red Spy on their way to the room, watch his expression as they all say no.
5. Ability to analyze. Characters interacting with their world is just as hard as "thought" considering it's all just drawings and shapes. A character's ability to "analyze" is similar to their thoughts, brought on through changes of expressions. Around 0:20 when the Soldier is trying to open the door with the passcode 1, 1, 1....1, the way his fingers move as he tries to figure out the last number give an idea of him trying to think of the right number.
6. Clear Staging. Just like in previous points, staging means that the characters and objects are placed in ways that make it obvious to the audience what is important and relevant to the scene.
7. Good composition. A character is a whole that is the sum of its parts. Each of those parts needs to be well made for the character as a whole to be accepted and liked. In the trailer the character's all had good composition, although I felt that the Spy's head could have had better textures or design to give a more fabric-ish feel to his balaclava.
8. Timing. Due to advances in animation technology, timing is much less an issue nowadays. The framerate multiplied by the time an animation is going to take gives you a good idea of how many frames you're going to need.
9. Solidity in drawing. Like previous points, Solid drawing means that a character's actions are easily determined through effective drawing or modeling (in computer generated work).
10. Power in drawing. Animation is powerful work. It can convey a hundred ideas and feelings without much effort. It can evoke emotions and create worlds and characters that audiences fall in love with or grow to hate, even though they're completely fictional. Maximizing this power of animation will create a very believable and true world, one that can bring tears or laughter to any who watch it. Being that the trailer was a fairly light-hearted one, I wouldn't say it was really powerful.
11. Strength in drawing. Watch just about any angry character in a Disney work. The power in each step, the strength of their stride, the expression on their face. All of these components work together to make sure you know exactly what they're thinking. A great example of power in drawing (or in this case modeling) is how the Heavy moves throughout the animation. Go through and focus on him as much as possible. Listen to him talk, watch him run and move.
12. Imagination. With all the possibilities of animation, it should go without saying that imagination plays a huge role. Being able to come up with stories, characters, worlds, and even new rules for how the world works. All of these require imagination. The world of Team Fortress 2 is simple compared to many others, but has imaginative elements all its own. The Spy's ability to turn into his enemies, the strange yet familiar of the character builds and the comically unrealistic nature of the world at large all meld to create an imaginative world that the audience can truly appreciate.
Animators, as they work, will often come up with their own ideas for what makes good animation. In many cases they are similar, and in many cases they are different. This gives us a good look at how their styles differ and how they use common elements in different ways. This also gives us perspective when we go to work on our own animations.
Fred Moore was one of Disney Studio's most imaginative and creative animators. His ability to really capture emotion and fluid movements while still giving a sense of wonder and whimsy to his characters really made him a sort of icon during his time in the studio. He was also the pioneer of the more fluid Mickey design, going from a rigid style (traced from coins) to a more pear-shaped version that allowed for much greater mobility. Truly Fred's talents put him among the best. He even had his own fourteen points of animation.
Another great animator was Bill Tytla. Famous for the devil in the "Bald Mountain" scene in Fantasia, and even more famous at the studio for Stromboli in Pinocchio, Bill was noted for his incredible ability to use lighting and extremely fluid motion to convey the deepest emotions of his characters. He actually had twelve points of his own that could be found in all of his works. In this segment of Meeting the Spy, I will list the fourteen points of Fred's animation and compare them to the Meet the Spy trailer, as well as Bill's twelve points. Some of these points have already been described and compared in Part 4 of the analysis. If so, I will still describe them but I won't detail the comparisons again.
Fred's Points:
1. Appeal in Drawing. From the original I believe this is a combination of the Solid Drawing and Appeal points. The characters should be well presented and enjoyable to look at even if they are frightening or "ugly". They should also be well drawn so that it is easy to tell what they are doing or trying to accomplish.
2. Staging. As described in point 3 of Part 4, staging means the placement of characters and objects in a scene so that the viewers have a clear understanding of what they should be focusing on and what is happening in the scene.
3. Most interesting way? [Would anyone other than your mother like to see it?]. When anybody makes something its hard for them to be able to look at it objectively, to be able to tell if other people would be interested in it. Simply put this point means that the animation should be interesting to the audience, not just the animator. Work should be done to make sure that the audience will enjoy what they're seeing. The Meet the Spy trailer was very entertaining for me, I enjoyed the humor and the character's movements. As I had described before, the way that each characters' actions conveyed their personalities and traits was very interesting and well done.
4. Is it the most entertaining way? To me this means that if a character's actions can be slightly modified to be entertaining (the goal of any animation should be to entertain to some degree) then it should be modified. Animation (especially in the case of Disney) is made to entertain, and if the animation isn't done in the most entertaining way then that goal might be met. I believe that in the context of people who play video games or even play Team Fortress 2, the animation is as entertaining as it can be. Outside of that, however, I feel that more could have been done.
5. Are you in character? It's very easy to tell if a person committed his or herself to something they made or worked on. This question asks if you invested yourself into your characters, your animation. I feel that in the trailer the animators were in their characters. The work was very well done and the animation as a whole felt like it had very invested workers behind it.
6. Are you advancing the character? This question asks if you are making sure your character doesn't get stuck into their ways. A character is more believable if they can evolve, change, grow, and learn. If a character doesn't do any of these they're more of an imprint than a character. The characters in the trailer didn't have a whole lot of time to develop but their relationship as teammates was apparent and had the tiny squabbling and clashing that long established teammates would have, giving the characters the depth of growth.
7. Is this the simplest statement of the main idea or the scene? It is possible to overly-complicate animation, when simple movements and expressions will do. It doesn't take as much work as one may think to get an idea across to the audience. The trailer as a whole had very simple animations and movements that allowed it to showcase the Spy's abilities effectively.
8. Is the story point clear? Can the audience tell what the animation is about? What the point of it all is? The trailer throughout is based around how the Spy thinks, acts, and what he is capable of. This is the focus of the animation and at no point did I feel like it was getting off track.
9. Are the secondary actions working with the main action? Like point 8 in Part 4, this point focuses on secondary action. In a more specific question, it means you should make sure the secondary actions make sense based on the main action, or that they look right. Like point 8, I wasn't able to see any truly defined main actions that took long enough to have secondary actions.
10. Is the presentation best for the medium? I had a hard time understanding this question, the best description I could come up with was this: Is your presentation style suited for animation? Or would it be better suited to painting or drawing stills or working in live television? Animation is a specific kind of medium with its own "rules" and workings. Although much of it is free and open to interpretation, certain ideas and styles of presentation would simply work better for other mediums. Being based on characters in a game (and using the same visual style that the characters are made in) I feel that the trailer's presentation could not have been better on any other medium.
11. Does it have 2 dimensional clarity? In the sense of a 2 dimensional animation is the work clear? Is there a lack of clutter and ability to clearly see everything that the audience should see? Being that this animation was a three dimensional animation, it didn't really have to worry about 2 dimensional clarity. In this case I think proper staging would be all that is needed.
12. Does it have 3 dimensional solidity? In the sense of a 2 dimensional animation, does it feel like it is a real 3 dimensional world? Does it feel like a ball you see on screen is in fact a sphere and not a circle? That you could walk onto the screen and pick it up and hold it in your hands like a ball and not a disc? Being that the trailer was actually made in a three dimensional space, this point is not quite as applicable.
13. Does it have 4 dimensional drawing? [Drag and follow through]. The fourth dimension mentioned is time. That being said, does the animation actually move in time as well as space? Does the follow through make the character appear to have moved earlier? Brought up in point 5 in Part 4, follow through was well done in the trailer and time had its place in the animation as a whole.
14. Are you trying to do something that shouldn't be attempted? [Like trying to show the top of Mickey's head] In animation, there are things that, if enough effort were put into it, could be done. This doesn't necessarily mean that they should be done however. Showing the top of Mickey's head, based on his design as a character, would take a lot of thinking and clever drawing, but to what end when it'd be much easier (and more appealing) to show his face? In animation, simply put, you can do anything, but it doesn't mean you have to. In the trailer I didn't see anything in particular that felt like it shouldn't have been done.
Bill's Points:
1. Inner Feelings and Emotion. Characters need to have feeling and emotion behind their actions, otherwise they look and seem robotic (unless that's what you're going for, but in some cases that can't be true). The characters in the trailer each had their displays of emotion that felt true. The Scout's feelings were most apparent as his mother's pictures were revealed and as he and the Spy "faced off"
2. Acting with clear and definite action. Similar to the solid drawing points of Fred and the original twelve, characters' actions need to be clear and made without hesitation (even if the action is hesitating) If a character, like an actor, has "made the decision" to perform an action, then they need to appear "sure" of it. Every action of the characters in the trailer had their decisions behind them, no decision was made without feeling like some thought went behind it.
3. Character and personality. Characters should have (what else?) character! Their very existence being believed is based on them having personality and having a "life" all their own. As I stated in the Part 1, the characters in the trailer have clear personalities that are defined in everything that they do, from how they walk to how they speak and non-verbally communicate with each other.
4. Thought process through expression changes. Characters can't "think" on their own. They're shapes and drawings. They still need to appear to think, they need to have minds that process information and make decisions based on that information. To demonstrate the idea of "thought" characters can have expressions, on their face or through their body language. An excellent example of this in the trailer takes place at 0:42. When the Spy asks if anyone happened to kill a Red Spy on their way to the room, watch his expression as they all say no.
5. Ability to analyze. Characters interacting with their world is just as hard as "thought" considering it's all just drawings and shapes. A character's ability to "analyze" is similar to their thoughts, brought on through changes of expressions. Around 0:20 when the Soldier is trying to open the door with the passcode 1, 1, 1....1, the way his fingers move as he tries to figure out the last number give an idea of him trying to think of the right number.
6. Clear Staging. Just like in previous points, staging means that the characters and objects are placed in ways that make it obvious to the audience what is important and relevant to the scene.
7. Good composition. A character is a whole that is the sum of its parts. Each of those parts needs to be well made for the character as a whole to be accepted and liked. In the trailer the character's all had good composition, although I felt that the Spy's head could have had better textures or design to give a more fabric-ish feel to his balaclava.
8. Timing. Due to advances in animation technology, timing is much less an issue nowadays. The framerate multiplied by the time an animation is going to take gives you a good idea of how many frames you're going to need.
9. Solidity in drawing. Like previous points, Solid drawing means that a character's actions are easily determined through effective drawing or modeling (in computer generated work).
10. Power in drawing. Animation is powerful work. It can convey a hundred ideas and feelings without much effort. It can evoke emotions and create worlds and characters that audiences fall in love with or grow to hate, even though they're completely fictional. Maximizing this power of animation will create a very believable and true world, one that can bring tears or laughter to any who watch it. Being that the trailer was a fairly light-hearted one, I wouldn't say it was really powerful.
11. Strength in drawing. Watch just about any angry character in a Disney work. The power in each step, the strength of their stride, the expression on their face. All of these components work together to make sure you know exactly what they're thinking. A great example of power in drawing (or in this case modeling) is how the Heavy moves throughout the animation. Go through and focus on him as much as possible. Listen to him talk, watch him run and move.
12. Imagination. With all the possibilities of animation, it should go without saying that imagination plays a huge role. Being able to come up with stories, characters, worlds, and even new rules for how the world works. All of these require imagination. The world of Team Fortress 2 is simple compared to many others, but has imaginative elements all its own. The Spy's ability to turn into his enemies, the strange yet familiar of the character builds and the comically unrealistic nature of the world at large all meld to create an imaginative world that the audience can truly appreciate.
Animators, as they work, will often come up with their own ideas for what makes good animation. In many cases they are similar, and in many cases they are different. This gives us a good look at how their styles differ and how they use common elements in different ways. This also gives us perspective when we go to work on our own animations.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Meeting the Spy: An Analysis, Part 6
Hey, it's still here! Link to Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
In mass media a question is often posed, and is hard to answer. The question is "Is content 'dumbed down' to be accessible to mass audiences? Is it a dumbing down of the mental aspect or is it a warming up of the emotional aspect?" When creating media-related works for mass audiences, you have to be able to reach out to as many people as you can so that the work is well recieved.
In reaching out to so many people, certain aspects of the work usually have to be modified. Many factors can keep a work from being correctly interpreted by different people. A media work that made a reference to New York culture would not have a very sound impact on somebody who lives in Wisconsin. Because of this ideas that are brought into the work often need to be more generalized for the larger audience. In many cases this also involves simplifying the work, which is where the "dumbing down" question comes in. But this doesn't mean that the work is necessarily "dumber." A piece of media can still be "clever" or "witty" while appealing to a mass audience in a general and simple way.
In animation the simplifying of ideas can (in my opinion) be more easily mistaken for "dumbing down" because of animation's already inherently simple nature. But at the same time it may not be that it is being made simpler, but that the characters are being made more endearing, or that the environments are being made more likable. In this way instead of lowering the mental experience the emotional experience is being enhanced. In this way the response from the audience can still be positive across the masses without sacrificing the intellectually stimulating side of the animation.
I feel that while Disney has a tendency to simplify many aspects of their content, they also offer a wide variety of intellectual works. An example for me would be Aladdin. When I was a child the bright visuals, endearing characters and silly humor (especially of the Genie) made the movie very enjoyable. I recently watched the movie again, and the deeply woven storyline, well-established characters and relationships, and the simple but well-presented plot entertained me in a way that I wasn't aware of when I was younger. For me, Disney found a way to create simple and amusing stories for one section of the mass audience and a well told action/love story for another section. In this way I feel that Disney can effectively stimulate the emotional and intellectual aspects of their audiences simultaneously.
The Meet the Spy video, in my opinion, did not simplify or generalize its content in any way to appeal to larger audiences. At the same time, however, the characters (likable and entertaining as they were) were designed for a specific purpose and they lacked mass appeal as a result. The Meet the Spy trailer was designed to get people interested in the game Team Fortress 2, and to that extent (the idea that anyone who watches it would be at least somewhat familiar with the game or at least the Valve game company) it works because it appeals to that sort of audience. However, taken out of its context and put into the general public's space it would not be well received due to its specific and targeted message, ideas, and even humor.
In mass media a question is often posed, and is hard to answer. The question is "Is content 'dumbed down' to be accessible to mass audiences? Is it a dumbing down of the mental aspect or is it a warming up of the emotional aspect?" When creating media-related works for mass audiences, you have to be able to reach out to as many people as you can so that the work is well recieved.
In reaching out to so many people, certain aspects of the work usually have to be modified. Many factors can keep a work from being correctly interpreted by different people. A media work that made a reference to New York culture would not have a very sound impact on somebody who lives in Wisconsin. Because of this ideas that are brought into the work often need to be more generalized for the larger audience. In many cases this also involves simplifying the work, which is where the "dumbing down" question comes in. But this doesn't mean that the work is necessarily "dumber." A piece of media can still be "clever" or "witty" while appealing to a mass audience in a general and simple way.
In animation the simplifying of ideas can (in my opinion) be more easily mistaken for "dumbing down" because of animation's already inherently simple nature. But at the same time it may not be that it is being made simpler, but that the characters are being made more endearing, or that the environments are being made more likable. In this way instead of lowering the mental experience the emotional experience is being enhanced. In this way the response from the audience can still be positive across the masses without sacrificing the intellectually stimulating side of the animation.
I feel that while Disney has a tendency to simplify many aspects of their content, they also offer a wide variety of intellectual works. An example for me would be Aladdin. When I was a child the bright visuals, endearing characters and silly humor (especially of the Genie) made the movie very enjoyable. I recently watched the movie again, and the deeply woven storyline, well-established characters and relationships, and the simple but well-presented plot entertained me in a way that I wasn't aware of when I was younger. For me, Disney found a way to create simple and amusing stories for one section of the mass audience and a well told action/love story for another section. In this way I feel that Disney can effectively stimulate the emotional and intellectual aspects of their audiences simultaneously.
The Meet the Spy video, in my opinion, did not simplify or generalize its content in any way to appeal to larger audiences. At the same time, however, the characters (likable and entertaining as they were) were designed for a specific purpose and they lacked mass appeal as a result. The Meet the Spy trailer was designed to get people interested in the game Team Fortress 2, and to that extent (the idea that anyone who watches it would be at least somewhat familiar with the game or at least the Valve game company) it works because it appeals to that sort of audience. However, taken out of its context and put into the general public's space it would not be well received due to its specific and targeted message, ideas, and even humor.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Meeting the Spy: An Analysis, Part 4
Er uh let's see here....one, one, one....errrr...one!
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
According to the Disney "Animation Bible" there are twelve basic principles that define how effective an animation is at seeming lifelike. For the next part of my analysis I'm going to briefly describe the principles and see if the "Meet the Spy" trailer fits with any of them.
1. Squash and Stretch. The human body is malleable and can therefore change its shape in small ways as it moves, an animated character's ability to effectively do this creates the sense that there is truly something there in space. The animation of the trailer really doesn't show that much squash and stretch. While the characters' movements are fluid and realistic, their bodies do not change shape very much. However in the facial expressions of each character it is very apparent. The way the eyebrows condense and the way the mouth moving causes the jawline and chin to change shape and seem very flexible, very malleable.
2. Anticipation. Living creatures have very elegant muscles and movements that openly broadcast what they are doing before they actually do them. Another way to put it is that before someone performs an action, there is almost always some sort of minor action that alludes to the main one. A person's eyes will point in a direction before they tilt their head that way. Their arms will move back before moving up in a stretch. A small but significant example of how this applies to the trailer is around 0:27, the Scout has been knocked over and is reaching up to put is hand on the briefcase, but before he does his hand goes straight up, then moves down onto it. This allows a person to first acknowledge that the Scout is back in the scene (after being knocked out of it) and is about to do something else.
3. Staging. In terms of animation staging refers to placement of characters and objects so that the viewer has a clear idea of what is important and what is going on. Personally I feel that the trailer accomplishes this idea throughout its entirety, the main points of each scene are very well established in spacing and framing. I as a viewer never felt like I was looking at something unimportant.
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose. These are two varying styles of animation, the first is editing an action from its beginning to its end, tweaking the characters frame by frame, while Pose to Pose has the animator setting up key frames where the character is in the most important poses of the action, and letting the computer fill in the rest, making minute changes where they're needed. I did a little research but could not find out whether the trailer was made in SAA or PtP. Because of the intricate actions each character made my assumption would be Straight Ahead Action, but I may be wrong.
5. Follow through and Overlapping action. Follow through can be best described by watching a baseball pitcher, after the ball leaves their hand they still have a large amount of motion in their body. In an animation, even though the ball being pitched is most likely the action the viewer is meant to see, obviously the pitcher can't just stop moving at that point. Follow through gives the viewer an idea of the amount of force a character put into a movement. As the Sniper swings his machete at the Red Spy, notice how his whole body flies into each swing due to the force he puts into them. Overlapping action isn't really seen much in more modern or realistic animations (And is rarely if at all seen in the trailer) But as a character moves their clothing, hair, jewelry etc will move with them. If a character makes an abrupt change in motion these items will tend to continue to move in the original direction. This kind of overlapping action happens a bit in the trailer with shirts, the Soldier's grenades, and the Scout's dogtags. Another version tends to appear in more comical animations where a character will move their legs off camera while their upper half remains in space, still attached to the legs by a constantly stretching torso.
6. Slow in and Slow out. As a character moves in an animation they may have a certain "floaty" attribute, this is the idea of Slow in and Slow out. More realistic movements are "snappy" they have definite beginnings and ends, a character who moves in a more flowing style appears mysterious when compared to others. In the trailer the Spy moved in a very flowy manner, making him very mysterious and clearly separated him from the other characters.
7. Arcs. Simply put, things naturally move in arc shapes, very rarely does anything move in a straight line or make corners. Animations should be gradual, when a character throws a ball, for example, the ball should arc, even if a little bit, as it rises up then slowly comes back down due to gravity. Obviously there are exceptions but this is the general rule. An excellent example of this shows up at 00:50 in the trailer. Notice how when the Spy throws the Sniper's body onto the table he arcs downward instead of just dropping straight down. This is due to the Spy's arms pushing the body up off of him, so naturally the Sniper's body moves up just a bit before falling back down in an arc.
8. Secondary Action. Think about how you or anyone you know walks, they swing their arms, maybe bob their head a certain way, or fiddle with something while they go. Secondary actions in animation are seemingly unnecessary movements used to give more definition to the main actions. They can be little quirks that allow a character to be better defined and realized. Due to the short cuts in the trailer there weren't really any full motions that I could tell Secondary Actions within.
9. Timing. Due to advances in animation technology, timing is much less an issue nowadays. The framerate multiplied by the time an animation is going to take gives you a good idea of how many frames you're going to need. I was not able to find any information regarding the framerate or the timing of the trailer.
10. Exaggeration. Because many animated characters only resemble humans (or not even that much) their emotions are a bit harder to communicate, to make up for this their actions tend to be overdone a bit, or exaggerated. This way the characters can better express themselves to the viewers. In the trailer each character's subtle actions are exaggerated to further show their personalities. The Spy acts just a little too "calm and cool." The Scout has just a little too much attitude, etc.
11. Solid Drawing. In terms of animation Solid Drawing simply means that the character's actions can be easily determined without much effort. In computer animation a great way to test this is to view only a character's silhouette and see if you can still tell what the character is doing. For the most part I believe that the modeling/drawing in the trailer was very solid. The only part that got a little hectic for me was the scene in which the Red Spy fought the Sniper.
12. Appeal. Simply put, in animation a character has to look nice, something or someone that the viewer will enjoy looking at or at least not be hideously repulsed by (unless that's what the animator is going for) Appeal can make a fairly bad animation look much better. I personally believe that the characters in the trailer, while not winning any beauty pageants, were very appealing in their design and very likable.
All in all I'd say the trailer pertained quite well to the twelve principles. Obviously every animation does not need to follow these ideas but they will definitely help an animation be realized and be truthful to its viewers.
Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
According to the Disney "Animation Bible" there are twelve basic principles that define how effective an animation is at seeming lifelike. For the next part of my analysis I'm going to briefly describe the principles and see if the "Meet the Spy" trailer fits with any of them.
1. Squash and Stretch. The human body is malleable and can therefore change its shape in small ways as it moves, an animated character's ability to effectively do this creates the sense that there is truly something there in space. The animation of the trailer really doesn't show that much squash and stretch. While the characters' movements are fluid and realistic, their bodies do not change shape very much. However in the facial expressions of each character it is very apparent. The way the eyebrows condense and the way the mouth moving causes the jawline and chin to change shape and seem very flexible, very malleable.
2. Anticipation. Living creatures have very elegant muscles and movements that openly broadcast what they are doing before they actually do them. Another way to put it is that before someone performs an action, there is almost always some sort of minor action that alludes to the main one. A person's eyes will point in a direction before they tilt their head that way. Their arms will move back before moving up in a stretch. A small but significant example of how this applies to the trailer is around 0:27, the Scout has been knocked over and is reaching up to put is hand on the briefcase, but before he does his hand goes straight up, then moves down onto it. This allows a person to first acknowledge that the Scout is back in the scene (after being knocked out of it) and is about to do something else.
3. Staging. In terms of animation staging refers to placement of characters and objects so that the viewer has a clear idea of what is important and what is going on. Personally I feel that the trailer accomplishes this idea throughout its entirety, the main points of each scene are very well established in spacing and framing. I as a viewer never felt like I was looking at something unimportant.
4. Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose. These are two varying styles of animation, the first is editing an action from its beginning to its end, tweaking the characters frame by frame, while Pose to Pose has the animator setting up key frames where the character is in the most important poses of the action, and letting the computer fill in the rest, making minute changes where they're needed. I did a little research but could not find out whether the trailer was made in SAA or PtP. Because of the intricate actions each character made my assumption would be Straight Ahead Action, but I may be wrong.
5. Follow through and Overlapping action. Follow through can be best described by watching a baseball pitcher, after the ball leaves their hand they still have a large amount of motion in their body. In an animation, even though the ball being pitched is most likely the action the viewer is meant to see, obviously the pitcher can't just stop moving at that point. Follow through gives the viewer an idea of the amount of force a character put into a movement. As the Sniper swings his machete at the Red Spy, notice how his whole body flies into each swing due to the force he puts into them. Overlapping action isn't really seen much in more modern or realistic animations (And is rarely if at all seen in the trailer) But as a character moves their clothing, hair, jewelry etc will move with them. If a character makes an abrupt change in motion these items will tend to continue to move in the original direction. This kind of overlapping action happens a bit in the trailer with shirts, the Soldier's grenades, and the Scout's dogtags. Another version tends to appear in more comical animations where a character will move their legs off camera while their upper half remains in space, still attached to the legs by a constantly stretching torso.
6. Slow in and Slow out. As a character moves in an animation they may have a certain "floaty" attribute, this is the idea of Slow in and Slow out. More realistic movements are "snappy" they have definite beginnings and ends, a character who moves in a more flowing style appears mysterious when compared to others. In the trailer the Spy moved in a very flowy manner, making him very mysterious and clearly separated him from the other characters.
7. Arcs. Simply put, things naturally move in arc shapes, very rarely does anything move in a straight line or make corners. Animations should be gradual, when a character throws a ball, for example, the ball should arc, even if a little bit, as it rises up then slowly comes back down due to gravity. Obviously there are exceptions but this is the general rule. An excellent example of this shows up at 00:50 in the trailer. Notice how when the Spy throws the Sniper's body onto the table he arcs downward instead of just dropping straight down. This is due to the Spy's arms pushing the body up off of him, so naturally the Sniper's body moves up just a bit before falling back down in an arc.
8. Secondary Action. Think about how you or anyone you know walks, they swing their arms, maybe bob their head a certain way, or fiddle with something while they go. Secondary actions in animation are seemingly unnecessary movements used to give more definition to the main actions. They can be little quirks that allow a character to be better defined and realized. Due to the short cuts in the trailer there weren't really any full motions that I could tell Secondary Actions within.
9. Timing. Due to advances in animation technology, timing is much less an issue nowadays. The framerate multiplied by the time an animation is going to take gives you a good idea of how many frames you're going to need. I was not able to find any information regarding the framerate or the timing of the trailer.
10. Exaggeration. Because many animated characters only resemble humans (or not even that much) their emotions are a bit harder to communicate, to make up for this their actions tend to be overdone a bit, or exaggerated. This way the characters can better express themselves to the viewers. In the trailer each character's subtle actions are exaggerated to further show their personalities. The Spy acts just a little too "calm and cool." The Scout has just a little too much attitude, etc.
11. Solid Drawing. In terms of animation Solid Drawing simply means that the character's actions can be easily determined without much effort. In computer animation a great way to test this is to view only a character's silhouette and see if you can still tell what the character is doing. For the most part I believe that the modeling/drawing in the trailer was very solid. The only part that got a little hectic for me was the scene in which the Red Spy fought the Sniper.
12. Appeal. Simply put, in animation a character has to look nice, something or someone that the viewer will enjoy looking at or at least not be hideously repulsed by (unless that's what the animator is going for) Appeal can make a fairly bad animation look much better. I personally believe that the characters in the trailer, while not winning any beauty pageants, were very appealing in their design and very likable.
All in all I'd say the trailer pertained quite well to the twelve principles. Obviously every animation does not need to follow these ideas but they will definitely help an animation be realized and be truthful to its viewers.
Monday, September 13, 2010
Meeting the Spy: An Analysis, Part 3
INCOMING!!!!! Link to Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
“I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.” --Walt Disney.
This statement, to me, defines the relationship between realism and caricature, as I described in the previous post. It means that somebody couldn't make a table be able to walk like a dog without knowing both how a table is usually built, and how a dog walks. A person must be able to understand the world around them before they can truly make a new world, one that has different rules, different laws, or even the same rules.
The above quote from Disney appears in Chapter 4 of the book "The Illusion of Life." Part of this post will look into whether there is a contradiction between this quote and the ideas presented in Chapter 2, which I discussed in the last post.
I personally don't believe there is a contradiction. To be able to effectively exaggerate something without insulting it an animator would have to know what that something was actually like. To understand "the real" means to understand the world around us, to understand what is real. Once this is accomplished an animator can take any of the real objects or traits in the world and do whatever he wants with them, creating fantastic caricatures or even just effectively mimicking the real. Either way it's very important to comprehend what the world around us is like. This will give us the ability to create things based off that knowledge, and we can use traits from all sorts of parts of the real to create our world. A creature in the created world can have traits like a cat's walk, a bull's temper, a human's facial expressions, and so on. In short without understanding any of those ideas, how could an animator hope to work them into anything they ever made?
In that sense I don't believe there is anything to really reconcile. Disney's quote pretty much summarizes the idea that realism and caricature both work off of each other and that it takes extensive knowledge of how our world works to be able to accomplish either of them effectively.
“I definitely feel that we cannot do the fantastic things based on the real, unless we first know the real.” --Walt Disney.
This statement, to me, defines the relationship between realism and caricature, as I described in the previous post. It means that somebody couldn't make a table be able to walk like a dog without knowing both how a table is usually built, and how a dog walks. A person must be able to understand the world around them before they can truly make a new world, one that has different rules, different laws, or even the same rules.
The above quote from Disney appears in Chapter 4 of the book "The Illusion of Life." Part of this post will look into whether there is a contradiction between this quote and the ideas presented in Chapter 2, which I discussed in the last post.
I personally don't believe there is a contradiction. To be able to effectively exaggerate something without insulting it an animator would have to know what that something was actually like. To understand "the real" means to understand the world around us, to understand what is real. Once this is accomplished an animator can take any of the real objects or traits in the world and do whatever he wants with them, creating fantastic caricatures or even just effectively mimicking the real. Either way it's very important to comprehend what the world around us is like. This will give us the ability to create things based off that knowledge, and we can use traits from all sorts of parts of the real to create our world. A creature in the created world can have traits like a cat's walk, a bull's temper, a human's facial expressions, and so on. In short without understanding any of those ideas, how could an animator hope to work them into anything they ever made?
In that sense I don't believe there is anything to really reconcile. Disney's quote pretty much summarizes the idea that realism and caricature both work off of each other and that it takes extensive knowledge of how our world works to be able to accomplish either of them effectively.
Meeting the Spy: An Analysis, Part 2
We need to protect the briefcase! Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
Continuing my Animation analysis of the "Meet the Spy" trailer, this post will focus on caricature and its use (or lack thereof) in the video.
Caricature in terms of animation is defined as exaggerating movement or character designs to a point that they are not realistic. An example of this would be an exaggerated walk, one that the movements are far more complex and extravagant than they really need to be. Caricature is often used in animation to give characters more unique traits, such as unique walks, gestures, facial expressions, and similar facets. The argument against caricature is often that if a character is too far exaggerated they become less believable and the audience will not relate or even like them. Arguments in support of caricature often state that the exaggeration is what makes the characters more endearing. The subtle mockery of small things the individual does in life allows the character to be more "lifelike" in their own way.
An argument of what is more true, caricature or realism is a hard one to take a side on. Both sides have their own merit to relate to the audience and allow them to become immersed in the created world. I believe that neither are really "more true" than the other. Having seen both realistic animation and heavily caricatured works I can see the truth that both can convey.
On the one hand realism creates a world much like our own, with all of the "rules" and "laws" that come with it. Because of this many of the characters, objects, even backgrounds will fit with how our minds perceive reality and we'll become immersed in the idea that what's happening in the created world could happen in ours as well. Characters will resemble people we've actually met, or aspects of our personality that we experience in every day life. A person's walk, the way a box falls out of a window, the way a car makes a jump. Even if exaggerated a tiny bit, they still feel real to the viewer, and that's what ultimately makes the experience true to them.
On the other hand, caricature taps into another section of the audience's minds to create an experience. While often used for comedic effect, caricature's exaggerating style can also be used to really bring out parts of a serious character's personality. For example, it might be used to give a villainous character a much more twisted demeanor than would be "normal" making the audience uncomfortable or uneasy when that character is around. Caricature can give fantastic qualities to even mundane objects, like stove equipment or cutlery. It can help to reinforce a theme or a feeling that realism would need far more dialogue or environment working to convey. Caricature's strengths also lie in it giving a new life to characters. In realist works characters may have slight differences in how they walk but in the end all people really have a similar walk. With caricature each character's movements can completely represent their personality, from simple things like how they move their hands to how they exclaim in joy or fear. In this way each character can become absolutely unique and the audience will usually have a clear cut idea of whether they like a them or not. By creating an environment that extends past the idea of what is "real" caricature brings audiences into an entirely new world with its own physics, characters, and movements. In this way it creates a sense of wonder and awe that can define truth in its own way.
The "Meet the Spy" trailer is interesting in that it uses caricature in the designs and general movements of each character, but at the same time many designs are also realistic, as well as the physics of the world the animation takes place in. As explained before in the last entry, each character (The Spy, Soldier, Scout, and Heavy) moves in a way that is completely their own. The Spy moves slowly, deliberately, reflecting his entire way of thinking. The Soldier muscles through clumsily but efficiently. The Scout is fast-talking, fast-moving. His movements carry his attitude and his penchant for being a bit of a loud-mouth. The Heavy's lumbering movements even when not excited show his power, and when he moves with purpose (as when he charges through the door at the beginning) he seems unstoppable. In this way the characters are exaggerated to truly portray their personalities. Their designs also rely on caricature, from the small frame of the Scout to the monstrous form of the Heavy (His hand is easily larger than the Scout's head). Each character's design from voice to movement to their general appearance was created to convey that small set of ideas they are built around, Power and Efficiency for the Soldier, Speed and Attitude for the Scout, Power and More Power for the Heavy, and Tactics and Slyness for the Spy.
Alternatively realism is used within the world in subtle ways to keep it from seeming to ridiculous. Each character has two legs, two hands, five fingers per hand and so on. The items on each character move realistically in relation to them. When the Soldier stumbles down the stairs the grenades on his chest and his helmet hop around accurately, when the Spy slaps the files on the Scout's mother on the table the pictures slip out like we think they should. These subtle movements give the audience the feeling that while this world is very different from ours, many parts of it work the same. This makes it easier to relate to their world and allows the viewer to concentrate more on the situation at hand. While the animation relies more on caricature than realism, it uses both in a mixture that works well for creating a world that is entertaining but also believable.
What is more true? Caricature creates exaggerated worlds that are amusing and still believable. Realism creates worlds that mirror our own in many ways, allowing us to know how things will happen without needing much explanation. Both styles create a path to a true experience, they're just paved differently. In the end it really comes down to taste. Some people prefer characters and worlds that closely resemble our own, while other people want to be lost in a new and fantastic world. Its an argument that will most likely never be settled, and that's fine. Both styles provide an exciting and entertaining look into the world of animation and ultimately that is what is more true.
Continuing my Animation analysis of the "Meet the Spy" trailer, this post will focus on caricature and its use (or lack thereof) in the video.
Caricature in terms of animation is defined as exaggerating movement or character designs to a point that they are not realistic. An example of this would be an exaggerated walk, one that the movements are far more complex and extravagant than they really need to be. Caricature is often used in animation to give characters more unique traits, such as unique walks, gestures, facial expressions, and similar facets. The argument against caricature is often that if a character is too far exaggerated they become less believable and the audience will not relate or even like them. Arguments in support of caricature often state that the exaggeration is what makes the characters more endearing. The subtle mockery of small things the individual does in life allows the character to be more "lifelike" in their own way.
An argument of what is more true, caricature or realism is a hard one to take a side on. Both sides have their own merit to relate to the audience and allow them to become immersed in the created world. I believe that neither are really "more true" than the other. Having seen both realistic animation and heavily caricatured works I can see the truth that both can convey.
On the one hand realism creates a world much like our own, with all of the "rules" and "laws" that come with it. Because of this many of the characters, objects, even backgrounds will fit with how our minds perceive reality and we'll become immersed in the idea that what's happening in the created world could happen in ours as well. Characters will resemble people we've actually met, or aspects of our personality that we experience in every day life. A person's walk, the way a box falls out of a window, the way a car makes a jump. Even if exaggerated a tiny bit, they still feel real to the viewer, and that's what ultimately makes the experience true to them.
On the other hand, caricature taps into another section of the audience's minds to create an experience. While often used for comedic effect, caricature's exaggerating style can also be used to really bring out parts of a serious character's personality. For example, it might be used to give a villainous character a much more twisted demeanor than would be "normal" making the audience uncomfortable or uneasy when that character is around. Caricature can give fantastic qualities to even mundane objects, like stove equipment or cutlery. It can help to reinforce a theme or a feeling that realism would need far more dialogue or environment working to convey. Caricature's strengths also lie in it giving a new life to characters. In realist works characters may have slight differences in how they walk but in the end all people really have a similar walk. With caricature each character's movements can completely represent their personality, from simple things like how they move their hands to how they exclaim in joy or fear. In this way each character can become absolutely unique and the audience will usually have a clear cut idea of whether they like a them or not. By creating an environment that extends past the idea of what is "real" caricature brings audiences into an entirely new world with its own physics, characters, and movements. In this way it creates a sense of wonder and awe that can define truth in its own way.
The "Meet the Spy" trailer is interesting in that it uses caricature in the designs and general movements of each character, but at the same time many designs are also realistic, as well as the physics of the world the animation takes place in. As explained before in the last entry, each character (The Spy, Soldier, Scout, and Heavy) moves in a way that is completely their own. The Spy moves slowly, deliberately, reflecting his entire way of thinking. The Soldier muscles through clumsily but efficiently. The Scout is fast-talking, fast-moving. His movements carry his attitude and his penchant for being a bit of a loud-mouth. The Heavy's lumbering movements even when not excited show his power, and when he moves with purpose (as when he charges through the door at the beginning) he seems unstoppable. In this way the characters are exaggerated to truly portray their personalities. Their designs also rely on caricature, from the small frame of the Scout to the monstrous form of the Heavy (His hand is easily larger than the Scout's head). Each character's design from voice to movement to their general appearance was created to convey that small set of ideas they are built around, Power and Efficiency for the Soldier, Speed and Attitude for the Scout, Power and More Power for the Heavy, and Tactics and Slyness for the Spy.
Alternatively realism is used within the world in subtle ways to keep it from seeming to ridiculous. Each character has two legs, two hands, five fingers per hand and so on. The items on each character move realistically in relation to them. When the Soldier stumbles down the stairs the grenades on his chest and his helmet hop around accurately, when the Spy slaps the files on the Scout's mother on the table the pictures slip out like we think they should. These subtle movements give the audience the feeling that while this world is very different from ours, many parts of it work the same. This makes it easier to relate to their world and allows the viewer to concentrate more on the situation at hand. While the animation relies more on caricature than realism, it uses both in a mixture that works well for creating a world that is entertaining but also believable.
What is more true? Caricature creates exaggerated worlds that are amusing and still believable. Realism creates worlds that mirror our own in many ways, allowing us to know how things will happen without needing much explanation. Both styles create a path to a true experience, they're just paved differently. In the end it really comes down to taste. Some people prefer characters and worlds that closely resemble our own, while other people want to be lost in a new and fantastic world. Its an argument that will most likely never be settled, and that's fine. Both styles provide an exciting and entertaining look into the world of animation and ultimately that is what is more true.
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Meeting the Spy: An analysis, Part 1
A Red Spy is in the Base! Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnuYi-nzE90
As part of an ongoing animation analysis project, I will be using the "Meet the Spy" trailer for the Team Fortress 2 computer game to explain or demonstrate various ideas presented in the book "The Illusion of Life." This first post will cover how chapter one in the book relates to the video.
First a brief description of the video.
The actual video starts at 0:04. An alarm in a base is going off, panels on a wall display what is wrong as a voice over the intercom also shout them, saying "Intruder Alert! A Red Spy is in the Base!" A man at the controls for the panels (who is simply referred to as the Soldier in the game itself) repeats the alert in a question then grabs a shotgun and clumsily but quickly makes his way down the stairs. The voice yells "Protect the briefcase!" to which the Soldier replies "We need to protect the briefcase!" As he stops he sees another person (who is referred to as the Scout) trying to get past a locked door. The Scout asks for help and the Soldier pushes him out of the way, trying to use the keypad lock on the door he enters the key "1, 1, 1, 1," As the lock doesn't open the Scout gets impatient. Behind them running towards them is a huge man (known as the Heavy) who yells "INCOMING!" The other two scream as he plows through them and the door. As the Heavy charges in while the other two stumble and ultimately fall to the floor the briefcase is revealed as being safe. The Scout mentions the briefcase is safe and the Heavy calms down. Somebody clears their throat and the two on camera look behind them to see a new character (Named the Spy) carrying a dead body. He cooly says "Gentlemen." The camera then cuts to a title screen for the animation. When it cuts back the Spy shifts the load on his shoulder and walks slowly towards the briefcase, mentioning that it is safe. The three others agree, to which the Spy asks if anyone "killed a Red Spy on the way down here?" The three gesture in their own ways that they didn't. The Spy replies "Then we still have a problem" and drops the dead body on the table, shown now with a butterfly knife sticking out of its back. The Soldier points out the knife, and the Scout pulls it out mocking the Spy, bringing up that he's killed plenty of them and that they are "A dime a dozen back stabbing scumbags, like you (To their Spy)." As he talks he spins the butterfly knife clumsily and knicks himself, dropping the knife and saying "No offense." The Spy picks up the knife, expertly flips it shut and hands it back to the Scout saying that if he managed to kill any spies they were not like him, and nothing like the one loose in their base. The Scout asks if the Spy is "President of his fan club." The Spy turns around and says, "No, that would be your mother." As he talks he holds up a file and slaps it onto the table, causing the photos within to fall out. The photos are of a man wearing a red version of the spies mask (but nothing else) holding a petite looking woman with done up hair. As the pictures are shown the Scout can be heard stuttering in shock. The Spy then says "And now he's here to fu-(bleeped out) us! So listen up boy or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing that happens to you today." As he says this the music begins to get much more ominous. The spy pulls a cigarette pack from his suit jacket and gets a cigarette out, meanwhile the Scout starts grabbing all of the pictures, snatching some from the Soldier and the Heavy. The Spy takes a drag then says that the Red Spy has already breached their defenses. The camera fades to a Red Spy moving through the shadows and coming up on an automated turret and a man watching it (He is called the Engineer) The Spy moves towards them, sliding a device across the floor that fries the turret and destroys it, the Engineer yells "Sentry Down!" as he tries to get his gun ready the Spy aims with his revolver and fires, blasting the Engineer in the head and causing him to tumble through the door behind him, the Spy aims and takes another shot at a target off camera, which causes the transition back to the Blue Spy to occur. The Blue Spy motions to the dead body and says "You see what he's done to our colleagues!" As he does the camera fades to another flashback in which the man who is now dead is peering out of a very cramped space with a sniper rifle (he is called the Sniper). The Red Spy is slowly creeping up on him with his knife in hand. The Sniper turns around and sees the Spy. He tries to attack him with his rifle but the Spy kicks him back. The Sniper grabs a nearby machete and swings at the Spy but the Spy dodges around him, slices him a few times then jams the knife into his back and adjusts his tie as the Sniper falls over a rafter. The camera fades back to the Blue Spy looks around the room saying that the Red Spy could be any one of them. The camera again fades to a flashback of a man in a doctor's labcoat (Called the Medic) attacking the Red Spy with a bonesaw. The Spy grabs his arm and locks him to himself, when he does a closeup of the Red Spy shows him turning into the Medic. When the transformation is finished the Medic rears back in shock and fear and the Spy slams his head with his forearm, causing the Medic's glasses to fly into the air. The Spy grabs them and puts them on, completing his disguise. The camera cuts back to the Blue Spy saying that he (the red spy) could be in the room with them, it could be you (as he points to one of the three off camera) it could be him. As he goes to finish his line with "It could even be---" he is cut off by his head exploding. As the body slumps to the ground the camera cuts to the Soldier holding his shotgun and the Scout and the Heavy exclaiming their shock at what just happened. The Soldier asks what they're bothered about and says "It was obvious, he was the Red Spy." He kneels down with the Heavy to inspect the body and says "Watch, he'll turn Red any second now........any second now....." The camera cuts to show the Soldier and the Heavy and behind them the Scout. The Scout looks to the side then starts cooly walking towards the other two, the camera cuts to his hand, expertly flipping out the butterfly knife as the Heavy says "So, we still got problem." As the knife locks into place the Soldier says "Big problem." The final shot shows the Soldier and the Heavy standing over the camera, the Scout shimmers and turns into the Red Spy as the Soldier asks who wants to start looking for the spy. The Red Spy raises his knife and says "Right behind you." The next shot pulls back from focusing on the spy in a group shot of all the different characters in the game also showing the logo for it. As the theme music for the game plays the sounds of a stabbing noise can be heard in time with the music as the Soldier and Heavy cry out in pain. Finally the Red Spy sweeps away some of the pictures and picks up one with him and the woman walking holding hands (and clothed) and says something along the lines of "Ah, my petite flower" In french before walking away.
The point of the preview was to give an entertaining look into how the Spy acts in the game and of his various abilities. His ability to disable automated turrets was shown in the first flashback, and his ability to disguise himself as the other characters was mentioned by the Blue Spy then demonstrated in the third flashback and then again at the end of the preview. His personality is shown as a clam calculating demeanor, and one who respects the skill of his adversaries. The way he moves in contrast to the other characters is much more floaty and deliberate, and his enunciation makes his point clear at all times. The video communicates these aspects of the Spy well based off of the principles presented in chapter one of the book. Each character in the game has a unique personality that is accurately portrayed in every way that they move and act. From the clumsy but powerful movements of the Soldier to the overpowering lumbering movement (and even the voice) of the Heavy to the quick and full of attitude movements of the Scout. Each character's motions are completely their own and allow them to be seen as completely different people.
The Spy's movements accomplish the same goal, giving his personality and everything about him a certain uniqueness that none of the other characters can imitate. It allows the animators to really explore the thought processes of the different characters and come up with even small gestures that they would naturally do.
It is in this way that the Meet the Spy trailer successfully communicated its ideas. The Spy is a cool and suave character who is also deadly to just about anyone he can fool, and he can fool just about anyone.
As part of an ongoing animation analysis project, I will be using the "Meet the Spy" trailer for the Team Fortress 2 computer game to explain or demonstrate various ideas presented in the book "The Illusion of Life." This first post will cover how chapter one in the book relates to the video.
First a brief description of the video.
The actual video starts at 0:04. An alarm in a base is going off, panels on a wall display what is wrong as a voice over the intercom also shout them, saying "Intruder Alert! A Red Spy is in the Base!" A man at the controls for the panels (who is simply referred to as the Soldier in the game itself) repeats the alert in a question then grabs a shotgun and clumsily but quickly makes his way down the stairs. The voice yells "Protect the briefcase!" to which the Soldier replies "We need to protect the briefcase!" As he stops he sees another person (who is referred to as the Scout) trying to get past a locked door. The Scout asks for help and the Soldier pushes him out of the way, trying to use the keypad lock on the door he enters the key "1, 1, 1, 1," As the lock doesn't open the Scout gets impatient. Behind them running towards them is a huge man (known as the Heavy) who yells "INCOMING!" The other two scream as he plows through them and the door. As the Heavy charges in while the other two stumble and ultimately fall to the floor the briefcase is revealed as being safe. The Scout mentions the briefcase is safe and the Heavy calms down. Somebody clears their throat and the two on camera look behind them to see a new character (Named the Spy) carrying a dead body. He cooly says "Gentlemen." The camera then cuts to a title screen for the animation. When it cuts back the Spy shifts the load on his shoulder and walks slowly towards the briefcase, mentioning that it is safe. The three others agree, to which the Spy asks if anyone "killed a Red Spy on the way down here?" The three gesture in their own ways that they didn't. The Spy replies "Then we still have a problem" and drops the dead body on the table, shown now with a butterfly knife sticking out of its back. The Soldier points out the knife, and the Scout pulls it out mocking the Spy, bringing up that he's killed plenty of them and that they are "A dime a dozen back stabbing scumbags, like you (To their Spy)." As he talks he spins the butterfly knife clumsily and knicks himself, dropping the knife and saying "No offense." The Spy picks up the knife, expertly flips it shut and hands it back to the Scout saying that if he managed to kill any spies they were not like him, and nothing like the one loose in their base. The Scout asks if the Spy is "President of his fan club." The Spy turns around and says, "No, that would be your mother." As he talks he holds up a file and slaps it onto the table, causing the photos within to fall out. The photos are of a man wearing a red version of the spies mask (but nothing else) holding a petite looking woman with done up hair. As the pictures are shown the Scout can be heard stuttering in shock. The Spy then says "And now he's here to fu-(bleeped out) us! So listen up boy or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing that happens to you today." As he says this the music begins to get much more ominous. The spy pulls a cigarette pack from his suit jacket and gets a cigarette out, meanwhile the Scout starts grabbing all of the pictures, snatching some from the Soldier and the Heavy. The Spy takes a drag then says that the Red Spy has already breached their defenses. The camera fades to a Red Spy moving through the shadows and coming up on an automated turret and a man watching it (He is called the Engineer) The Spy moves towards them, sliding a device across the floor that fries the turret and destroys it, the Engineer yells "Sentry Down!" as he tries to get his gun ready the Spy aims with his revolver and fires, blasting the Engineer in the head and causing him to tumble through the door behind him, the Spy aims and takes another shot at a target off camera, which causes the transition back to the Blue Spy to occur. The Blue Spy motions to the dead body and says "You see what he's done to our colleagues!" As he does the camera fades to another flashback in which the man who is now dead is peering out of a very cramped space with a sniper rifle (he is called the Sniper). The Red Spy is slowly creeping up on him with his knife in hand. The Sniper turns around and sees the Spy. He tries to attack him with his rifle but the Spy kicks him back. The Sniper grabs a nearby machete and swings at the Spy but the Spy dodges around him, slices him a few times then jams the knife into his back and adjusts his tie as the Sniper falls over a rafter. The camera fades back to the Blue Spy looks around the room saying that the Red Spy could be any one of them. The camera again fades to a flashback of a man in a doctor's labcoat (Called the Medic) attacking the Red Spy with a bonesaw. The Spy grabs his arm and locks him to himself, when he does a closeup of the Red Spy shows him turning into the Medic. When the transformation is finished the Medic rears back in shock and fear and the Spy slams his head with his forearm, causing the Medic's glasses to fly into the air. The Spy grabs them and puts them on, completing his disguise. The camera cuts back to the Blue Spy saying that he (the red spy) could be in the room with them, it could be you (as he points to one of the three off camera) it could be him. As he goes to finish his line with "It could even be---" he is cut off by his head exploding. As the body slumps to the ground the camera cuts to the Soldier holding his shotgun and the Scout and the Heavy exclaiming their shock at what just happened. The Soldier asks what they're bothered about and says "It was obvious, he was the Red Spy." He kneels down with the Heavy to inspect the body and says "Watch, he'll turn Red any second now........any second now....." The camera cuts to show the Soldier and the Heavy and behind them the Scout. The Scout looks to the side then starts cooly walking towards the other two, the camera cuts to his hand, expertly flipping out the butterfly knife as the Heavy says "So, we still got problem." As the knife locks into place the Soldier says "Big problem." The final shot shows the Soldier and the Heavy standing over the camera, the Scout shimmers and turns into the Red Spy as the Soldier asks who wants to start looking for the spy. The Red Spy raises his knife and says "Right behind you." The next shot pulls back from focusing on the spy in a group shot of all the different characters in the game also showing the logo for it. As the theme music for the game plays the sounds of a stabbing noise can be heard in time with the music as the Soldier and Heavy cry out in pain. Finally the Red Spy sweeps away some of the pictures and picks up one with him and the woman walking holding hands (and clothed) and says something along the lines of "Ah, my petite flower" In french before walking away.
The point of the preview was to give an entertaining look into how the Spy acts in the game and of his various abilities. His ability to disable automated turrets was shown in the first flashback, and his ability to disguise himself as the other characters was mentioned by the Blue Spy then demonstrated in the third flashback and then again at the end of the preview. His personality is shown as a clam calculating demeanor, and one who respects the skill of his adversaries. The way he moves in contrast to the other characters is much more floaty and deliberate, and his enunciation makes his point clear at all times. The video communicates these aspects of the Spy well based off of the principles presented in chapter one of the book. Each character in the game has a unique personality that is accurately portrayed in every way that they move and act. From the clumsy but powerful movements of the Soldier to the overpowering lumbering movement (and even the voice) of the Heavy to the quick and full of attitude movements of the Scout. Each character's motions are completely their own and allow them to be seen as completely different people.
The Spy's movements accomplish the same goal, giving his personality and everything about him a certain uniqueness that none of the other characters can imitate. It allows the animators to really explore the thought processes of the different characters and come up with even small gestures that they would naturally do.
It is in this way that the Meet the Spy trailer successfully communicated its ideas. The Spy is a cool and suave character who is also deadly to just about anyone he can fool, and he can fool just about anyone.
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