Principles of Animation - 2

Direction and Flow

Maintaining direction adds a sense of consistency throughout your Flash scenes.

The movie to the right is a good example of strong left direction. Every object in the movie enters the frame from the right, and exits to the left. This ensures that everything is generally going the same way, and it will not overwhelm or confuse the viewers eye.

Direction can be used to illustrate opposite, or conflicting things.

Click on the pulsating blue sphere to the right, and then on the green one.

This movie shows two distinct and conflicting directions, ending in a confrontation. The blue sphere is traveling left, while the green one is going right.

Even though the balls aren't visible on the screen together until the final shot, the viewer knows that they are heading towards eachother, and can anticipate the collision.

Staging

Staging is the communication of an action so that it is blatantly obvious to the viewer.

To experience the gross effect of an action, it is important to focus the viewer's attention to where the action occurs. This can be done by creating a strong contrast between the focus, and the rest of the scene. Attempt to lure the viewer's eye to the focal point before the main action even occurs. Bonus points, if you can do it without using obvious symbols such as arrows.

Contrast can be acheived with violent actions, varying speed, or opposing colors. A bright object will have focus in a dull scene, or slow moving text will stand out in a sea of objects constantly whipping by.

A properly staged object should be recognizable just by it's silloete. This applies to complex flash animations, as well as 3D scene layouts.

A good animation can lose it's gross effect if it is not staged clearly- the viewer should always know exactly what's happening, and have somewhere to focus on within the scene.

...more to follow.