With regard to the work of the first unit, I have made the following statements. In my first year of undergrad, I did similar basic exercises in 2D animation, such as bouncing balls and Mood change walk, but I didn’t have much knowledge about it. In the first unit of graduate study, I gained a deeper understanding of the laws of animation movement.

I’ve learned that changing the shape of an object makes the character look more vibrant, and it’s one of Disney’s most admired animation expressions, which shows the texture, size, and weight of the character, as well as the amount of force. Preparatory and cushioning are also key to making the animation look richer, and I used this technique in the push-pull and lift animations. When the object being lifted is heavy, it is impossible for the character to lift it to a high place easily, and in order to accumulate the functionality required for the movement, it is necessary to add a reverse action to strengthen the tension of the forward movement. I’ve found that buffering can hint at what’s coming, give the audience a psychological anticipation, and surprise the audience.

Regarding the way of painting frame by frame and keyframe, frame by frame is to draw frame by frame, and keyframe is to draw the most critical starting key frame first, then draw the original picture, and finally add the middle animation. For me, it’s easiest and most effective to complete keyframes first, and I think it’s pretty much the same as storyboarding, where you just have to keep them together. If I draw frame by frame, I have a hard time controlling the speed of the movement, and it may seem very slow and incoherent.

One of the issues that is easily overlooked during animation is Arcs. Hardly any character can perform mechanical movements very regularly, and most characters will move in a circular path. For example, when the character is walking, its joints will definitely fluctuate.

The soul of the whole animation is the rhythm and weight of the action. Movements that are too fast or too slow can make the movements look unnatural. All objects have mass, and rhythm can express the mass of the object. I’ve found that if there are multiple frames between the two main actions, the action is very slow. If there is less footage between the two main actions, the action will be very fast, such as if the character falls, then it will have fewer frames.

In order to make the whole animation look more tense, exaggerated body movements and expressions are very necessary, which is also an important factor that distinguishes animation from live-action performances. I found this problem when I was animating the character’s expressions, and at first I didn’t experience the horror of the character being burned by the fire during the first cooking, so I changed the character’s hair to curly in the second half of the animation, which better reflects the character’s mood and makes the animation look more witty.

The above is my research on animation theory in the academic year, and I feel that it is not difficult to understand, but in practice, I still think about it before drawing. When I have a problem, I imitate the movements of the characters in the script and shoot them as a reference.