PRINCIPLES AND EXAMPLES IN WALL-E
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1.) Squash and Stretch
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There are many examples of stretch and squash in the Pixar film
WALL-E, which is used to show motion and flow within the
characters. One of the examples is when WALL-E stretches his
body up to grab one of the boxes off of his shelf, body elongating
to give him a flowy, more smooth movement. There's also many
occasions when WALL-E would dip his head downward, and his
body would seem to 'squash' into the floor. This is an another
example of flowy-movements, and gives WALL-E a much more
human-like character trait. It helps show less rigid appearances of
WALL-E, even though it is used to a minimal to keep the aesthetic
of the 3D animation.
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2.) Anticipation
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One example of Anticipation is when WALL-E lowers his hand to
the cockroach, but pulls back soon after. The lowering helps set up
for the main action, the pull back. WALL-E also backs up slightly,
shifting his body and turning his head before mimicking the dance
on the television. That backing up is crucial, as it provides space,
but also helps signal to the viewer that an action is about to occur.
Another example is when EVE pauses, her head dipping down to
look at the plant before it suddenly is caught in her blue ray. That
dip leads to the action of the plant being taken in. This helps make
the animation much more realistic.
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3.) Arcs
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Arcs are extremely important in any animation to help give natural
action and form to objects or people. In this case, mostly objects
were used to express arcs, except for the human's arm movements
and flails, which followed the arc line. One example is the fire
hydrant scene, where WALL-E and EVE fly through space. The
fire hydrant is sprayed in an arc, and the blue trail that follows
EVE also follows that form. EVE's flight patterns are mostly in
in arcs, giving her a much more natural and smooth look.
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4.) Exaggeration
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Exaggeration is necessary to show emotion in animation, and
help clarify expressions within a character and show personality
traits clearer. One example is when WALL-E first sees EVE, his
head tilts down and eyes lower, body inching closer to her to show
how he is absolutely in love. Another regular expression shown is
when WALL-E gets surprised, and falls to the ground to display
his surprise and fear.
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5.) Appeal
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Appeal comes in many different ways, one of the most common
ways is using basic shapes to convey character personalities, and
colors to help give an aesthetic to the character. One way is how
the humans aboard the ship are large, showing laziness, and how
their hairstyles are similar and clothing uniform. That helps show
the personality, more infant like and baby-faced to display how
they are like sheep to society's wants and the ship's needs. EVE
looks clean, neat with blue eyes to show she is supposed to be a
hero, in comparison to the lanky shaped AUTO covered in wires.
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6.) Follow Through and Overlapping Action
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Follow through is extremely important, giving a fluid movement
to the character and make it more realistic. WALL-E's movements
and wrist motion is a clear example of this. When WALL-E drags
trash inside of his box, his wrists and hands turn to pull in the
garbage, and his shoulder blades slightly rotate. More examples
are when EVE's head bounces or turns with the rest of her torso,
giving her a much more smooth motion sequence. Supporting
the laws of physics while animating makes the creation much
more realistic, something PIXAR is heavily skilled at.
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