Animators are NOT Actors! They're Animators! Part 1

Animators are not actors. We are animators! I know that they are many books and websites out there that say the opposite. But, I believe that there is a misconception of this idea. So let me clarify what I mean.

Yes, as an animator we use theater, staging, and film techniques as we produce believable and dramatic character animation. We as animators should study throughly these techniques to become better animators. Animators have to become a variety of different characters, from cars, dinosaurs, people, animals, etc. So this said, in the argument whether or not an animator is an actor, then I would say 'yes'.

However, and this is a big "HOWEVER", animators are not classically trained to be an actor. Animators are trained to be animators. The actor follow certain skills and techniques to bring out their best performance in their art form. The actor uses techniques such as Method acting, Stanislavski acting, Brecht acting, Artaud acting, Meisner acting, to name a few. Most of these techniques do not and will not apply to the animator. Acting is a brilliant art form and done correctly, will entrance the audience.

Does this mean that as animator we should abandon the idea of using acting techniques? Of course not! What it means is that, we should not assume that we are the only source of acting reference. We should not just record ourselves on video and rely on how we act to bring the character performance on the screen. This is a very common technique used by animators to capture the acting reference they will use in their scenes. I believe that this technique should not be used for acting but rather to see how the body moves, changes weight and balance, and observe the line of action. What we need to do as an animator is to understand what the character is thinking and why is he doing it. This is a tip from Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. Two of the very best animators of all time. Another tip from a great animator, Keith Lango, is when he said that character animation (acting) is the internal motivation expressed externally.

If we were to define animators as anything else, it would be an observer. One of the Disney's Nine Old Men, Ward Kimball called himself an observer when asked about how he animates. He said that he must carefully take note of the world around him to make the animation he creates believable. Obviously he animated with acting techniques to bring out the personality and emotion of the characters, but he needed to understand how his character would move and behave in real life first.

So my tip for all animators out there for animating scene that require acting is the following:

1. Review the script many times.

- Get an really good understanding of what the mood is and what the emotional thought process of the character(s). You need to know who your character is, what he is thinking, and what drives his actions

2. Thumbnail it!

- Draw, Draw, DRAW!!! I can't express how important drawing is, even for 3D animators. Drawing helps you understand many things for example; weight, balance, where to put things, and how the body works.

3. Record yourself.

- Like I said before, this is not for acting but to see how the body works, to see timing, and a little acting.

4. Get and actor.

- Look for an actor to help you with acting. Record the actor doing the scene. If you get a really good and trained actor, your job will be a whole lot easier.

5. Look for references.

- If you can't get a hold of an actor, then the next best thing is to go to your local video store, Netflix, youtube, or library and get movies that have scenes that could help you. If you are animating an intimidating character use Robert de Niro in Taxi Driver. If you're animating a clown, use Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura.

I feel that a majority of the animated films take the "animator is an actor" idea too far. The result is an overacting, spazzy, and way too exaggerated performance. I'm not going to name which films have this or where they learned this, but it is something that schools and virtual schools should consider explaining a little more to their animation students. So don't rely only on what you can do as an animator. Look out to the world around you and gather all the available information you can to make your animation the best you can create. So go have fun animating!!


Here are the links to the continuation of this topic
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5