In class this past week, we discussed the twelve principles of animation and used many different examples. When watching the Owl series, it reminded me of the cartoon I used to watch as a kid, Veggie Tales. All of the characters in this series are a fruit or a vegetable, so the animators are able to use the shapes of the vegetables to give them each a distinct personality and while the animators are able to use some of the principles of animation to their advantage, there are some elements where they are not as successful.
The use of squash and stretch is the principle that they use the most to give the characters personality. The characters are constantly being shaped and molded to show different ranges of emotion while still keeping the characters in their typical shape as a vegetable.
squash and stretch is not the only principle that Veggie Tales has going for it. The feature that stands out the most on each of the vegetables are their eyes, and I believe that the animators do much with showing emotion in their eyes. The animators, like with the Owl series, use the eyes to show the different feelings of sadness or happiness. They manipulate the eyes to give the vegetables a range of emotions.
However, what the Veggie Tale animators do not do well is exaggeration. Although there is some element of exaggeration in each of their episodes, I believe that more could be done to exaggerate the movements and emotions of the characters. I think that this exaggeration could help fill the void that I am feeling watching this animation back as an adult rather than as a child.
ETA: I commented on Mike Morse’s blog and David Dennison’s blog
January 31, 2010 at 7:04 pm |
I agree with you. I did not watch the Veggie Tales as a kid but saw The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything recently. I find that while their eyes are expressive their emotions fall a little flat. There is not enough exaggeration in their emotions. They seem to simply say things loudly. While they do express some emotion, it could be much bigger.
February 1, 2010 at 2:12 am |
I agree with your statement when you said, “I believe that the animators do much with showing emotion in their eyes. ” They have very big and expressive eyes. I also wrote my post this week on eyes being expressive in showing lots of emotions and I used WALL-E as an example. It is not just in animation that eyes can be expressive. Even with humans and dogs the eyes can often tell a different story than that is being said or portrayed with body language. Eyes in real life and in animation are a great way to identify what one is feeling.
February 1, 2010 at 11:54 pm |
WOW, What a great clip to demonstrate the elements learned in previous class. This is a perfect example in many ways. Did you notice on the clip of Mr. Lint (thin that is how you spell it), love song he did not display as much eyes as previous charecters and it shows in his emoitons. Without legs, eyes, or ears it is very hard to even feel emotions. The song is cute and funny and has appeal with kids but as you mentioned it is lacking in the exaggeration but now without the eyes in emotions as well. Look again in the love song clip and what could be ad to give him more of emotion and exaggerations maybe a moving mustache or how about just eyes. lol Good use of the techniques though!
February 2, 2010 at 12:01 am |
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February 2, 2010 at 8:36 am |
I personally think that the camera remains too static when the characters are talking. They are very expressive and are always moving, but the camera is often times poorly framed and too static. I think that the show would be more interesting to follow if they helped portray the action better.
April 10, 2010 at 11:28 pm |
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