If Animators Worked Like Mechanics:
I don’t know about you but I hate
taking my car to the mechanic. It’s this feeling of being taken advantage
of due to my lack of knowledge of car repair and the cost that comes along with
it. There is a lot going on under the hood and in the dash and behind
your wheels and under the carriage. They could easily explain that to get this to
work, you gotta buy that,, and on top of that you’ll need this too. It
always feels like one thing after the another. Likewise, if I were to
explain animation to someone who was not versed in the lingo and the details of
what it takes to actually make an animation, then I would have the upper hand
when they walked into my shop/desk and asked for one.
I wonder, if this were the case with
animators, how would it go? Well every animation is different but they
all need to have the principles of animation to work, right? Nope! There
are lots of examples where professional animation is shown but there are a lack
of principles, potentially due to time, budget, or ‘style.’ Hanna Barbara’s style
of animation was derived from a lack of time and budget. but nevertheless was a
style of animation. So, the idea is to charge per animation principle.
I imagine it would go something like
this:
“Looks like you’re missing some
S&S in that animation. I could get in there and clean it up but this
particular animation will need quite a bit to work correctly,”
“Uh, okay.”
“And for that to work properly, I am
going to need to fix your Timing and Spacing. You see, if I just threw in some
S&S without addressing the Timing and Spacing, there’s no guarantee it will
run right and you won’t (cant?)get a warranty on it.”
“How long will this take?”
“That depends. I could go in there
Straight Ahead, but I won’t be able to give an accurate estimate. I could do
Pose to Pose. It’s more predictable but a lot of times it ends up looking too
pose-y and lacks a good Follow Through and Overlap, which is extra. The
best way to go, -- this might run you a little more, but it’s what I would
suggest- is doing a mix of Pose to Pose and Straight Ahead Animation. It comes
with the Follow Through and Overlap and will get the best end result.”
“It doesn’t need to look that great.
It just needs to work.”
“Well you want strong Staging and I
would suggest adding Appeal to the animation for it to really work.
Appeal is a tough one and takes some time so your rate will go up, but if you
add the Arcs and Anticipation package, you could save %10 on Appeal.”
“I’m afraid to ask, anything else?”
“One thing that will really help
with your weight is Slow Ins and Slow Outs. You see all body parts use Slow In
and Out. This helps give the illusion of weight. If you don’t have it or if
it’s done incorrectly, it can lead to floaty animation and I would expect you
to be back here in another couple of weeks asking me to fix it.”
“I guess I need it then.”
“Good choice. Should be ready in the
next couple months. I’ll give you a call when it’s finished. Now do you
want this done in 2D or 3D”
“3D.”
(CHA CHING!)
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