The Abstract

Adam Thomson - MSc Animation and Visualisation 4/11/10 

Research Skills and Methods - Abstract 

Research Title: Research developing character and personality through movement, action, appearance and performance.

“When we speak of the illusion of life in animation, it boils down not to mannerisms and naturalistic movement, but to emotion.” - Ed Hooks  

As an animator I feel that I have reached a point where on a technical level I am quite advanced but in terms of character performance my work is far more functional than emotive. With this in mind I wish to become a more accomplished animator with a better understanding of performance animation with more of a focus on why something moves than how it moves. The production of animation exploring and experimenting with character and performance will help me to really be able to get to the heart of why characters move the way they do. 

These animation tests will include but not be limited to basic walks and runs to more complex performance based animations with single and multiple character interactions and dialogue pieces. Some of this work will be used to take part in the monthly 11 Second Club animation competitions. 

To support the practice based research I will be reading into different acting and movement theories such as Stanislavsky and The Actors Studio, Ed Hooks Acting for Animators and Laban Movement Analysis and will also talk to local actors and performers to find out about their approaches. 

The work I want to create is very much based within the context of researching and producing animation focusing on developing my understanding of character performance and then applying this to short character led animations.

Hooks, E. (2003) Acting for Animators: a complete guide to performance animation. Revised Edition. Porstmouth, NH, Heinemann