Storytelling through Animation Graphics
Storytelling through Animation Graphics
As an animator, it’s difficult to watch movies or animated films without thinking about the directing quality or technical aspects of the production. But when that movie pulls you in and draws you to the characters and their plights, you really experience the story.
Storytelling Through Animation provides an in-depth guide to the process of conceiving, planning, and producing an animated or live action media production. It covers specific information for many forms of visuals, including traditional cel, stop motion, Flash, or 3D CG with a focus on the most critical aspect of any production—the story. The book is written for filmmakers, animators, producers, editors, directors, game creators, and anyone who has the task of telling a story visually. It teaches the principles, real-world techniques, tricks, tips, and creative and visual fundamentals key to great animated storytelling. Using detailed explanations of principles and techniques and a variety of film examples, it guides animators through every step of the production process, and teaches them how to infuse their story and develop emotional connections in every part of the production. It provides systems and checks and balances that can make projects smoother and storytelling better at any level or budget. In addition, it explores all of the concepts and techniques needed for animation, including visual theory, motion, animation techniques, and their live action counterparts, character animation, composition, production, lighting, rendering, editing, and compositing. Finally, the book helps to create critical and realistic critiquing skills for evaluating and creating emotional connections with the audience. After reading this book, animators will have the knowledge and skills needed to tell their own visual stories. FEATURES * Details story modes, including motivation, conflict, and pacing * Covers story-driven character design, direction, lighting, and art direction * Provides the analytical tools and skills needed to develop quality character performance and acting * Equips animators and filmmakers with the knowledge, insight, and techniques needed to tell a great story visually * Teaches essential do’s and don’ts for creating great animation * Provides interviews with industry professionals who share their insights, theories, hard facts, and advice * Includes a companion CD-ROM with sample film clips to use, evaluate, and study along with the techniques covered in the book, and all the images from the book in full color
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS MAC: Quicktime 5.0 or greater for both systems, OS 8.0 or greater, at least 64MB of RAM. WINDOWS: Pentium processor-based PC or compatible computer, at least 128MB of RAM, Windows 98, 2000/XP.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars The Story of Telling a Story Using Animation
First, this is not a book on the mechanics of producing animation. Instead it is a book that comes before that. It’s about how to tell a story through animation. It’s about the first steps that must be done right if the story is to be told at all.
It all begins with the story. Without a story, animation is just a bunch of pictures. How do you make the story better? How do you make it fit animation as opposed to live action?
How do you create the character? How do you make the image, the story give the character a personality? What kind of a background, a world do you design?
From here the book goes through the whole production process. Once again, this is not a book on how to use a software package to produce the animation, it’s a step before that. The author is a professional at film making. In addition he interviews quite a number of professionals from the major studios to get their view of the process.
Finally the CD included with the book include film strips that you can use to evaluate just how well these guys did in following the precepts of the book.
5 Stars My review
Lovely book, it has very interesting bits of information to guide students in animation.
3 Stars Like sucking molasses through a straw
I’ve read a lot of animation books over the years, but this is one I don’t think I’ll ever look at again. Most of these “one stop shop” type books that cover every single aspect of filmmaking end up not saying much no matter how long winded they are.
There’s no shortage of information in this book. The problem is little, if any of it is in a form you can be readily applied to your own work. Complex thoughts with little elaboration. Highly visual ideas with no pictures explain things. Just a glut of film making tibits with little actual learning.
The CD content is better than ones in some other books I’ve read, but it doesn’t help if the disc takes the place of illustrations in the book. That way I’m forced to be at my computer while I’m reading to get the most out of the book. Overall I think the CD added more to the price of the book than it did the content.
For my time and money, books like CGI Filmmaking: The Creation of Ghost Warrior are a much better buy.
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