PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS OF FILM

THEORY (Animation 101) Angles

Analysis of film comes through content (what is in  Eye Level Angle
the film) and form (how the film is portrayed).  High Angle
 Types of Films (Realism, Classical,  Low Angle
Formalism)  Oblique Angle
 Shots
 Angles Lighting
 Lighting  High Key Lighting
 Color  Low Key Lighting
 Sound  Chiaroscuro Lightning
 Editing  Silhouette/Black Lighting
 Mise-en-Scene
Color
Saturated Color (conveys happiness, fantasies,
Realism – a filmic style that favors the
romance, or some idyllic scenery)
commonplace, portrays its subject objectively, and
Desaturated Color (conveys the past, struggle,
attempts to emulate real life without manipulation.
depression, or some other dystopic scenery)
Characteristics
 Unprofessional actors
Sound
 No special effects
Diegetic – sound whose source is visible on the
 On location sets and props
screen or whose sound is implied to be present by
 Minimal editing
the action in the film; also characterized by off-
 Natural lighting
screen or on-screen.
 Documentary-style
Ex. Voices of characters, sound made by
Classical – the mode that falls between the two
props, music coming from instruments in film
extremes of Realism and Formalism; strives to
Non-diegetic – sound whose source is not visible
achieve authenticity of real people and real events
on the screen nor has been applied by the action of
but with the manipulation of its creative
the film; basically any sound that comes outside
production elements.
the story place.
Characteristics
Ex. Narrator’s commentary, sound effects
 Professional actors added for dramatic effect, mood music
 Minimal or no special effects
 On location or in studio Editing Styles
 Editing used for time-lapse  Continuity – collapse of time and space
 Lighting and sound used to create a while preserving fluidity
mood  Classical – first popularized by D.W. Griffith,
Formalism – a filmic style which alters reality and this style jumps from log shot to medium
showcase the director’s subjective experience. shot to close up for dramatic effect
Characteristics  Radical Subjective Continuity – cuts of
 Professional actors different time and space for dramatic effect
 Relies heavily on special effects  Thematic – edits that are driven by a
 Editing speeds up and slows down particular theme
time  Associative – juxtaposition of two shots
 Lighting and sound create that when combined have meaning (but
exaggerations separate, they do not)
 Breaks illusion of reality  Dialectic – edits driven by expressing a
contradiction
Shots
I. Extreme Close Up (ECU) Mise-En-Scene – a French word that means
II. Close Up (CU) “placed on stage.” Everything that appears before
III. Medium Shot (MS) the camera and how it’s arranged on the screen to
IV. Full Shot (FS) convey meaning in the film.
V. Long Shot (LS) 1. Placement around frame
VI. Extreme Long Shot (ELS) 2. Face to camera
VII. Deep Focus  Full turn
VIII. Over-The-Shoulder (OTS)  Three Quarter Turn
IX. American Shot  Quarter Turn
X. POV Shot
  Half Turn (Profile)
 Back
3. Territorial space
 Background
 Mid-ground
 Foreground
4. Frame constraints
Tight Frame (conveys subject’s intensity,
importance and inability to escape)
Open Frame (conveys desolation, space,
freedom, or insignificance)

ANIMATION AND FILM LANGUAGE

What is the production pipeline?
 Logical organization of the steps required to
produce an animated feature film
 Overlaps with the company organizational
structure – departments, budgets

ANIMATION FILM MAKING

Production of an Animation Film
 Pre-production
 Production
 Post-production

Some major components of pre-production

 Story Boarding
 Layouts
 Model Sheets
 Animatics

The Storyboard helps to finalize the development

of the storyline, and is an essential stage of the
animation process. It is made up of drawings in the
form of a comic strip, and is used to both help
visualize the animation and to communicate ideas
clearly.
Once the storyboards have been approved, they
are sent to the layout department which then
works closely with the director to design the
locations and costumes.
Model sheets are precisely drawn groups of
pictures that show all of the possible expressions
that a character can make, and all of the many
different poses that they could adopt.
In order to give a better idea of the motion and
timing of complex animation