Acting for Traditional Animation Notes

• The 12 basic principles of animation should once again be taken into account
• "Animators should focus on the acting… make the characters think and act… start with the body first, next focus on the eyes, and last focus on the mouth. When reviewing reels we are look at the acting first." ~ John Lasseter
• It is not just technical skills that are required but also skill to perform
• In classic Disney films, characters can be understood, felt and related to simply through movement

• It isn't necessary to hear the soundtrack to understand what is being portrayed, animators would create these simple tests to familiarise themselves better with the personalities of the characters they create, and without the use of any dialogue
• "Walt Disney created his own educational program and it included action analysis… They examined films of artists such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, frame by frame and discussed how the gags were set up and how they communicated with the audience." ~ John Canemaker

• There is no dialogue but we can still sort of understand what his motivation is and how he is feeling
• In the climax of Ringu, Hiroyuki Sanada as Ryuji does a great job in using mainly his actions to portray absolute terror at the sight of Sadako, while also struggling to get away despite how his feet feels planted to the ground
• Rie Ino who portrayed the infamous Sadako, a Kabuki Theater actress, was filmed walking backwards in a jerky, exaggerated motion, this is then played in reverse in the film to portray her unnatural looking walk)
• Little extra trivia here that doesn't really relate to the post's subject, the heart stopping close up scene of Sadako's glaring eye was not of Rie Ino's, but was that of a male crew member

• It is not just body language that is important but also facial expressions (Hence why these slapstick comedies are such great examples to refer to even to this day)
• Classic Disney films would normally set up a whole scene with actors (All dressed up in costumes) and props to act out scenes from the script, so that they could these recordings as reference later on when working on the animation (Eg, Alice in Wonderland and Sleeping Beauty)