The Illusion of Life, Chapter 5: Mood

Walt Disney said: “In most instances, the driving force behind the action is the mood, the personality, the attitude of the character - or else all three.  Therefore the mind is the pilot.  We think of things before the body does them."

This is very true, and animator, Ham Luske adds to this: “ Our actors are drawings.  We cannot work on the inspiration of the moment as an actor does, but must present our characterizations through a combination of art, technique, and mechanics that takes months from the conception to the finished product.  And we have to make the audience forget that these are drawings.  We cannot risk ruining a sequence or a good characterization with some mechanical imperfection or jitter that reminds the audience that we are dealing with drawings instead of real beings…” (113-114.)

Thomas, Frank, and Ollie Johnston. "Cartoon Comes of Age." Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life. New York: Abbeville, 1981. 113-114. Print.

When I think about what both Disney and Luske say about this, I can relate it to the principles of animation, and what works and is necessary to make a good animation.  I think about films such as Finding Nemo and Toy Story; what makes these great is the character’s body language, often, because the principles are followed in both films, I forget that I’m looking at a fish, or at a toy; the way they move and emote is so lifelike and human that I empathize with them, and feel what they are feeling. Woody walking slowly and sadly (body language is important here: shoulders hunched, slow steps, heaving sighs.)  Body language and character movement is how we get people crying their eyes out in the first few minutes of Finding Nemo when (spoiler alert) Marlin loses his wife and all but one egg (Nemo) to a violent fish attack; he holds that little egg in his fins and names him the name his wife wanted to name it and next thing you know, tears are flowing and you realize you are crying for a fictional talking fish and there’s still an hour to go in the film.  That’s good animation, and that is what Disney and Luske stress as so important in the process of animation, film making, and character development.