Animation Discourse 1

Animation Discourse
                                   Animation: Doodling Communication For All

Charleson Shuart

ENG-112

Mrs. Moore

April 18, 2021 (April 20, 2021)

Importance of Discourse Within Fields

 Animation Discourse 2

There are many specific fields you could involve yourself with in the world of art. Computer

graphics, traditional drawing, logo design are just a few of these choices. But there always is a

fundamental piece of the puzzle: communication. I bet you wonder what people talk about when

they mention “onionskins” and “smearing” in a very specific landscape. This landscape is also

known as the animation floor, within an animating company and is an example of Today we will

be talking about what role communication plays specifically within the discourse community of

animation. I personally am part of this community and I will be showing the ropes to this

community, and the choice as to whether I can convince you to explore it.

Background Information

Now, specifically we’re going to be talking about animation studios. There is a multitude of

studios and they all have different ways of doing things and different forms of communication.

Even websites like YouTube can be considered “studios” of sorts, as people are able to publish

what they create and work under YouTube or the like. I am a part of this discourse community,

specifically on the YouTube side. I have uploaded a few animations. Due to the nature

of YouTube, it is a diverse and very creative area in which many talented people are able to

share their animations, and this makes animation very accessible. Millions of people upload

animations every single day to music, voice acting, or mimicking specific actions. Statistically,

people are set up to fail within this community as it is all based on an algorithm that tries to

determine what people like and don’t like, and statistically according to The Washington Post

only the “top 3.5 percent of YouTube’s most-viewed channels — which means at least 1 million

video views a month — is worth only about $12,000 to $16,000 a year in advertising revenue”

(Frankel, 2019). This creates an interesting case that can discourage people from trying in
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general to get into this field, at least on the independent side. As a result you see the people who

do make it on YouTube as often less educated in English. This leads to many specific challenges

with communication. Trying to get your brand out in YouTube, reading how to animate through

guides, and attempting to communicate with other animators for collaborations through

emails, texting, and other genres are just a few of the problems that you’ll face.

Communication Within Animation

Don’t worry about this though, as you’ll mainly be dealing with semi-professional emails

from people asking about commissions and is dominantly filled with mainly emails and How-

To’s due to the nature of learning specific steps of animation. Everyone has to start somewhere,

somehow. Almost all writing is consistent despite any changes in settings, as there is almost

always an expectation for consistent semi-professionalism, even between people who would like

to collaborate on larger projects with you. This is the key factor within this specific discourse

community: emails and How-To’s. Students will be learning from these, and professors will be

creating them as well, attempting to use their prior knowledge as a compounding agent for the

students. Professors and teachers on the platform will often tutor students on the basics with

visual and oral instructions, but you must learn for yourself on the harder and more vague things

which are more out of the way. New employees to the animation sect of YouTube often write

similarly with grammatical errors, but more senior employees have this untold boldness within

their writing. Those with experience aren’t afraid to ask questions and get messy, making sure to

note with almost a challenging but inferior tone about what they want to learn in particular. For

example, animator kdsketch wrote about scripting for storytime animation videos in which she

“corresponded with an animator and annotated what [I] wanted through emails” (2020). Like her,
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your writing might see a dramatic shift depending on whether you gain a feeling of

understanding for the right amount of forcefulness and gentle easing, as there is often a fine

progression from naivety to where you are bold and in the face of those who oppose you.

Finally, there’s the largest part of the animation spectrum; the How-To’s. There are an

abundance of blogs and videos that show people how to get into the field. A very prominent one

is the blog I frequent. It’s a free blog that states it’s mission at the beginning; “I decided to create

this free collection of Lessons, Tutorials and Tips about this AMAZING job, based on what I’ve

learned in my career and experience as character animator!” (Porri, 2020). This is one of the

largest mediums for discourse and is often used as sources and areas of interaction between

animators. It can be argued it is the most prominent form of discourse.

Actual Writing Within The Field

Within the field, it does not compare to that of what you learned in college. There is a lot more

laxness and laziness to correspondences between the bosses and employees, as well as co-

workers. You can see this by looking at specific emails between animation studios

and YouTubers, or just between YouTubers, or between animation studios such as A-1. There is

and never will be a standard for corresponding between potential clients and potential partners,

and that will almost always be present within this specific field. Most articles you’ll find will

show that these animators have terrible language and grammar, but they still manage to get the

point across. It also further proves how important the genres and lexis are to this specific

community. Without these specific terms and ideas and writing styles, it would be even more

disorganized compared to how it already is. In fact, a freelance animator points this out in his

course, stating that “Proper English in writing is the second best way to get clients” (Wimshurst,
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2020). This shows the importance of English in acquiring jobs and connections, and shows the

deep roots of the discourse communities in art.

Conclusion

There is a large amount of correspondence between animators, and it really shows that discourse

communities are important. Without these key communities, it would be much harder to relay

information between each other for potential job offers, help with specific frames, and other

things like that. However, the most important takeaway is the fact that you don’t have to write

well to be part of this community. You don’t need to be perfect, or even great at it for that

matter. You just need to relay information comfortably. This discourse community is highly

more propagated due to the promotion of it by the members. They all are self-driven, but act

together to help and create.

Works Cited
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Frankel, T. (2019, April 8). Why almost no one is making a living on YouTube. The Washington
Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2018/03/02/why-almost-no-
one-is-making-a-living-on-youtube/.

kdsketch. (2020, November 27). SCRIPTING A STORYTIME ANIMATION / HOW I MADE

THIS. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=NFFUrsppGg&ab_channel=kdsketch.

Porri, C. (2020, December 28). I Want to be...an Animator.

https://iwanttobeananimator.wordpress.com/.

Wimshurst, H. (2020, October 17). Finding Clients as a Freelance Animator - My Strategy.

YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=TMmG7xNlue4&ab_channel=HowardWimshurst.