{"id":138,"date":"2019-04-24T17:53:30","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T00:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ruthhayes\/?page_id=138"},"modified":"2019-04-24T17:54:05","modified_gmt":"2019-04-25T00:54:05","slug":"quantifying-and-visualizing-animators-styles-of-motion-an-analytical-and-pedagogical-tool","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.evergreen.edu\/ruthhayes\/quantifying-and-visualizing-animators-styles-of-motion-an-analytical-and-pedagogical-tool\/","title":{"rendered":"Quantifying and Visualizing Animators\u2019 Styles of Motion: an analytical and pedagogical tool"},"content":{"rendered":"

Art Babbitt is often quoted as saying that \u201canimators follow the laws of physics unless it is funnier otherwise.\u201d In the spirit of this idea, I collaborated with Krishna Chowdary, a physics colleague at\u00a0Evergreen, to design a project in which undergraduates in our program \u201cTrajectories in Animation, Mathematics and Physics\u201d subjected clips of animation to kinematics analysis. The goals of this were for students to strengthen the observational and analytical skills they\u2019d practiced on several real world phenomena using LoggerPro\u00a0and apply them to phenomena in animated worlds in order to begin to develop theories about how and why different animators use or alter the rules of physics in their works. In this presentation for the SAS annual conference at USC, in 2013, I described the project and reported on students\u2019 findings and how they applied them to their own animated works. I assessed this approach as a method for integrating the teaching of physics into the teaching of animation, and vice versa, and for beginning to quantify, visualize and identify stylistic differences in the ways different animators choose to represent motion.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You can see the actual assignment here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Various sources quote Art Babbitt, as saying that \u201cAnimation follows the laws of physics unless it is funnier otherwise.\u201d[1]\u00a0 To explore the limits of this statement as well as make use of it as a focus for our teaching, my co-teacher Krishna Chowdary, physics faculty at The Evergreen State College, and I collaborated on the design of an assignment in which undergraduates in our two quarter (20 weeks) program[2] \u201cTrajectories in Animation, Mathematics and Physics\u201d would analyze clips of animation using LoggerPro, an application for quantifying real world motion.\u00a0 Our goals were for students to strengthen the observational and analytical skills they\u2019d practiced on real world phenomena, apply them to motions in animated worlds and to derive theories from this data about how and why different animators use or alter the rules of physics in their works. \u00a0\u00a0In this paper I\u2019ll describe the specifics of the assignment, report on students\u2019 findings and how they applied them to their own animated works.\u00a0 I will conclude by assessing this approach as a method for integrating the teaching of physics into the teaching of animation, and vice versa, for furthering animation studies by quantifying, visualizing and identifying stylistic differences among different animators\u2019 representations of motion and for its potential for creative play by animators.<\/p>\n

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An animation timing chart<\/p><\/div>\n

A strategy of planning interdisciplinary programs is to organize syllabi around guiding questions.\u00a0 When we were planning Trajectories, Krishna brought up Babbitt\u2019s quote to help formulate the questions around the different ways in which physics, motion, our perceptions of movement and time and change are \u201cfunny\u201d, not only in terms of what makes us laugh but also what is odd or interesting or uncanny about these phenomena.<\/p>\n

Students began work in fall with a brief study of physical comedy in cinema, looking at Buster Keaton films and reading excerpts from Noel Carroll\u2019s Comedy Incarnate<\/em>and Henri Bergson\u2019s essay On Laughter<\/em>. I taught basic principles of animation, using zoetrope strip exercises for simple motions; bouncing ball (projectile), walks (rotational), staggers and waves (oscilliatory).\u00a0Students[3] animated short sequences representing physics concepts using drawn and cut-out techniques, practicing how to represent real world physics relatively accurately and how to exaggerate or manipulate motions so as to increase anticipation, for comedic effect, or other expressive purposes.\u00a0 In screenings of works by a variety of traditional and experimental animators, we asked students to observe what they could conclude about the physics of an animated world based on the motions and timing they\u2019d observed in a particular film.<\/p>\n

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A physics motion diagram<\/p><\/div>\n

At the same time Krishna taught students classical mechanics, including how to use motion diagrams to abstract out and quantify a motion[4], and how to observe and analyze real world physics using motion detectors to gather data in the lab and on a field trip to an amusement park.\u00a0 They subjected video clips to motion analysis using Logger Pro, attempting to derive mathematical formulae that described specific motions.<\/p>\n

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Screen grab from a Logger Pro analysis of a live-action motion with data columns and graphs of position\/time, velocity\/time and acceleration\/time with curve fit.<\/p><\/div>\n

While watching students apply Logger Pro analysis to live-action video clips it occurred to me that we could easily use this tool to analyze animated motion. So we designed the Animation Analysis Assignment, the final one for the quarter.\u00a0 In two parts, it asked students to analyze clips of animated motion to quantify them and then to base original animation on those kinematics.<\/p>\n

I hoped that this would kill a few birds with one stone:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. It would support our teaching of physics by having students practice applying physics analysis tools.<\/li>\n
  2. As they viewed and worked with different animated sequences frame by frame, students might sensitize themselves to the nuances of animation timing and would learn tricks of timing that they could then use in their own works.<\/li>\n
  3. There\u2019s a precedent in Visual Arts training to copy old master drawings and paintings.\u00a0 Having students attempt to replicate the kinematics of an animated motion would increase their understanding of timing.<\/li>\n
  4. It would shift\u00a0students out of a passive viewing mode that simply follows narrative to one that also pays attention to how design and styles of motion affect viewers\u2019 reception of the works.<\/li>\n
  5. Students would develop a more\u00a0objective descriptive language informed by physics as they studied and wrote about animated motion quantitatively.<\/li>\n
  6. I wanted them to investigate more specifically what deviations from real world physics might contribute to the humor of a work, and what other reasons besides humor animators might have for imposing different physical laws than we experience in the real world.<\/li>\n
  7. I saw this as an opportunity for myself to explore questions about how to describe different animator\u2019s styles of movement and timing, given an\u00a0apparent lack of literature on that in animation studies.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The films that we\u2019d screened during the first part of fall quarter were selected based on our readings of excerpts of Furniss\u2019 Animation Bible<\/em>, Wells\u2019 Animation: Genre and Authorship<\/em>, Place-Verghnes\u2019 chapter The Provisional Nature of the Averyan Universe<\/em>[5], and Sifianos\u2019 discussion of McLaren\u2019s comments about animation timing.[6]\u00a0 \u00a0I compiled clips from these films and divided them roughly into two categories, \u201ctraditional\u201d or \u201corthodox\u201d, and developmental or experimental, to use Well\u2019s terms. Students were assigned to compare films with different goals and different production conditions (for example, established studio as opposed to independent).<\/p>\n

    Group <\/u>A (\u201corthodox\u201d)<\/u><\/p>\n