I’ve been back in animator mode since the summer, and collecting thoughts about the work…
Spoiler, it’s still complicated. And, spoiler, I still have feelings about it all. Mostly about the way performance is handled in animation (which keeps getting stoked by acting classes.)
I’m lucky not to be working on pre-school material, but I’ve still found myself bumping against the “no angry eyebrows” mantra… If you’ve worked on pre-school shows, you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t, consider yourself lucky. Characters are often not allowed to be angry or even scared.
Pause.
What’s with that? What are we selling, here?
You hear of parents annoyed at their kids for emulating certain cartoon character behaviours. I say maybe don’t let screens babysit your kids. But, ultimately that’s what the industry’s aiming for. And so the industry tends to not want characters that have a broad range of emotions, because we don’t want the children watching to have a broad range of emotions. We don’t want to deal with that. We’d rather have them be happy all the time.
Isn’t that better?
Isn’t it easier?
You know who always smiles? Doesn’t cry. Doesn’t get angry?
Fucking clowns.
And kids love clowns, right? Clowns? Famously popular with kids?
Children are afraid of clowns (2016, anyone?) And for good reason! They’re terrifying because they smile all the time, no matter what’s happening. It’s unnatural. It’s sociopathic. So why are we so dead set on having characters who smile all the time in animation?
Speaking of clowns…
Have you ever stumbled on internet videos where influencers will walk and move like an animated character? Jesus Christ, I’ve never felt a more visceral ick in my life.
They’re creepy as hell. And they’re bang on. Animation movement is more formula than acting.
A focus on line breaks over poses, on clean graphs over what’s actually on screen… There’s a tendency to miss the forest for the trees. How often is the mechanical action favoured over its emotional driving force? Animation being such a technical medium (and honestly, that topic deserves its own blog post), there’s plenty to distract from visual storytelling and performance while the sausage is getting made. But at the end of the day, we’re building something for the screen, and most people tune in for stories and performances, not what the graph editors look like.
I may be biased, but I do think that 2D has an edge over 3D. Yes 2D animation can be very (overly) technical these days, but I think it’s easier to approach things in an overly analytical way if you’re not drawing. And, conversely, I think it’s easier to come at things more emotionally if you’re drawing. I’m convinced that the act of drawing shrinks the distance between you and the character when you draw them. It’s less about control, it’s less external… and therefore less judgemental. I think.
Speaking of judgement, I had such a great chat with my pal Ashlyn the other week. We both mused on how judgemental animation can be, both as an industry and as a medium. There’s such a focus on getting everything “right.” Being trained on spotting “mistakes.” A culture of rules blindly being followed to the point that people often can’t explain why…
(Can we talk about the obsession of things not being allowed to touch?? Overlap is a fundamental principle of visual arts, my dudes!)
This obsession of things being clean and “right” at the expense of expression and truth is…
Well, honestly, it’s in line with the times.
Lately, one of the things I’ve been having a lot of fun thinking about and observing in acting class is tonal dissonance. Or as my teacher calls them, the un-obvious choices. Consider the difference between having an insult screamed at you in anger, and one said through laughter while the person has their arm around your shoulder in an overly chummy manner.
Which one’s more likely to get your blood boiling?
If you don’t go beyond the surface and the obvious, you’re denying yourself (and the audience) so much fun. Truth. Surprises.
Or just keep them smiling all the time.
See how that works out.
