Friday, October 30, 2009

Over at Synchrolux

Kevin discusses Secondary Action vs. Secondary Motion:

I recently saw an animation student’s summary of the Principles of Animation from The Illusion of Life. Here’s the one for secondary action:

"Secondary actions are almost like follow through and overlapping actions."

This is a common misconception that a lot of people make. But it’s incorrect. Take a look back at The Illusion of Life. Follow Through and Overlapping Action are principle number 5, and Thomas and Johnston fittingly give five distinct types of follow through and overlapping action. It’s pretty detailed, with lots of written and drawn examples.

Secondary Action is principle number 8 ....

Click on over to Synchrolux.com and read the rest of it ....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

To sum up:

Secondary action = acting choice supporting the main action.

Secondary motion = overlap, follow through.

Kevin, you gotta be more economical with your posts. Time is money! :P

My 2 Cents said...

"Secondary action = acting choice supporting the main action."

Wrong! That's a little bit TOO economical. Secondary action is not in support of the main "action." It's in support of the CHARACTER performing the action, often in counter-point to the main action.

It goes to the point of animators being ACTORS as opposed to just manipulators of characters. Producers who don't know the difference or don't think this kind of approach is worth the time and trouble and think that animators are like interchangeable machine parts end up with unsuccessful films.

"Stage business" as Kevin puts it in his article, nails it. British stage actors, in particular, use secondary actions as a fundamental technique in building their characters.

Anonymous said...

Objection, your honor. Argumentative.

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