ZiYin Wang MA 3D computer animation

FMP presentation

Introduction:

Expression of emotion by body language in animation

The expression of emotions is diverse. In conventional films and animation, the performance and lines of actors seem to be an obviously important part. After further analysis, the performance is also divided into facial expression performance and body language performance. Body language plays an undeniably important role in emotional expression. In animation, body language is linked to dynamic lines. In early animation films and television works, this kind of embodiment is very obvious, Due to the underdevelopment of early image technology, body language has become an excellent way to reflect emotions. The dynamic lines in 2D animation can accurately express the character and feelings of characters. The direction of this paper is to analyze the emotional expression of body movements in animation, not only in 2D animation, but also in CGI in the era of advanced computer technology.

Key words: body language, dynamic lines

Background significance:

With the changes of the times, animation technology gradually tends to be more mature. To be exact, it is more inclined to live action or realism. Especially at the moment when motion capture technology is developed, more and more companies choose live action performance to replace traditional animation. In the eyes of some people, this is a development of animation and a progress in the history of animation. In the eyes of others, This is the loss of exaggeration and artistry of animation. Exaggerating character and emotion with body language should become one of the manifestations of animation. This paper will also analyze and discuss from the perspective of animation history. Animation should pursue truth in exaggeration, and still retain artistic treatment and exaggeration means in reality

Literature review:

As Chung, Mi-Ghang (Pusan National University)  stated in the reports of archives of design research”Non-verbal communications are important because they support and replace verbal communication. Body language of various non-verbal communications is the communication using the body. In animation, expression of body language is very important because characters play an important role in communicating the scenario. Animation has a dual communication structure, different from general communication. One is the communication between the speaker character and the hearer character, the other is the image and the audience, which includes the communication between the speaker character and the hearer character.”For example, in the early Chaplin’s mime and the foundational works of some animation works, “flowers and trees”,” Gertie the dinosaur”, “little Nemo”, in the 1930s and 1940s, in the era of lack of dubbing, body language was the best means of emotional expression. In animation, this means obviously became visible exaggeration, more exaggerated dynamic lines and more exaggerated gestures.

Research design, methods, and schedule:

The history of animation is indispensable to the discussion of this direction. Since the beginning of animation in the last century, body movements are an important part visible. They have played an obvious role in the plot, emotion and ups and downs of the entire animation. Some animators often ignore what is the best way to reflect emotion in animation. They use real physics and principles to solve these problems, However, it completely ignores the role of the body itself in emotional expression The second direction is to analyze the animation experience summarized by the senior animators in combination with animation works, such as the twelve rules of animation, the survival manual of animators, etc.

Suppositions and implications:

The analysis of this paper will provide more artistic help for animators and directors, and enable more people to notice that the communication with the audience does not only rely on facial expressions, lines and authenticity, but should return to the artistry of the animation itself, use body movements to communicate deeply with the audience, and use the way of returning to the dynamic line to reflect the transmission of emotions, and the body movements of the characters are enough to convey most of the emotions, Under the analysis of this paper, more animation works will focus on the action itself to convey emotions and improve the artistry of the works

Conclusion:

In short, as an animator, it is inevitable to pursue the art of animation. Good animation works are always inseparable from the expression of emotions, and different body movements have different effects on the expression of emotions. Now animators should focus more on the embodiment of animation art rather than the so-called more realistic effects. They should reasonably use the twelve rules to create their own characters with distinctive characters, Vivid emotion is the essence that animation works should pursue now.

Bibliography:

Eric Hiris, Sean Conway, William McLoughlin, Gaokhia Yang, Individual Observer Differences in the Use of Form and Motion to Perceive the Actor’s Sex in Biological Motion Displays, Perceptual and Motor Skills, 10.1177/00315125211052923, 129, 1, (5-32), (2021).

Mariko Shirai, Takahiro Soshi, The Role of Bodily Expression in Memory Representations of Sadness, Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 10.1007/s10919-021-00360-8, (2021).

Dittman, A.T. (1987). The role of body movement in communication. In A.W. Siegman & S. Feldstein (Eds.),Nonverbal behavior and communication. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Ekman, P. & Friesen, W.V. (1967). Head and body in the judgment of emotion: a reformulation.Perceptual and Motor Skills, 24, 711–724.

Cassell, J., Pelachaud, C., Badler, N.I., Steedman, M., Achorn, B., Becket, T., Douville, B., Prevost, S., Stone, M.: Animated conversation: Rule-based generation of facial expression, gesture and spoken intonation for multiple conversational agents. In: Computer Graphics Proceedings SIGGRAPH. Annual Conference Series, pp. 413–420. ACM (1994)