Body Language use in a project

As I have stated at the top of this blogs page that I try to cater the uses of non-verbal communication to both business people and animators alike. In this particular post however, I will show what in essence body language is about while simultaneously presenting business and animation as together as they can get.

      What this video from the movie “Horton hears a who” shows, is the business of animation. One of the many jobs of the animator as any good animator would tell you, is to be an actor. Acting for an animator isn’t just about moving the mouth. You must match the attitude, energy and sometimes the intention of the dialogue to what is being said or implied. To do this you need to use knowledge of body language to match the proper mood of what needs to be animated.

      Lets look at the clip and analyze a bit. For times sake I will focus on the very first of clips, that of the animator acting out reference for the scene where the mayor speaks to another character. We see the actor with arm crossed over his chest and tucked under his arm, a sign of defensiveness or perhaps nervousness.

His other arm lifted, hand open and it is pointed in the direction of whomever the character is supposed to be talking to. This is helpful in multiple ways. It can remind an audience of where the character is in relation to the character of whom he or she is talking to. Also the open hand gesture is one of a positive nature. Had the hand become clenched we might get a feeling of anger or frustration. The last thing I will analyze is the actor rubbing his hands together in a clasped together fashion. What this tells us is that the character is supposed to be nervous. This could be either for what the character is saying or in anticipation of ridicule from whomever that character is talking to.

Now you may be saying to yourself, “I don’t think that this animator is thinking that hard about body language when he is acting.”

To that I will say that I somewhat agree. While the animator may or may not be thinking about body language as deeply as we have here, they do however use what they know of emotion. After all, if asked to make an angry look and pose. Most everyone will furrow their eyebrows and clench their fists. Which mean that animators use what they know about emotions like anyone else, except that they have more of a tendency to pay attention to such things as clenched fists, furrowed eyebrows and cross body gestures.

Well that is a “short” look into the business world of animation. Tune in next time for more tips and tricks to non-verbal communication. Good bye.

This video is brought to us from YouTube posted by the user BobAMTV. 
The animation clips are from Horton hears a who, by Blue Sky Studios.