— ARTICLE RESPONSE: TIMING

                      — TIMING by Dave Burgess

                                    Probably again, one of the most crucial portions of animating happens to be
                           the dreading timing. Making sure each action runs smoothly, and in sync with every
                           other motion and audio. It can get overwhelming, but with helpful tips from former
                           Disney and Dreamworks veteran, Dave Burgess, explains the method to his madness
                           when it comes to mastering the art of proper timing. What is Timing exactly? Timing
                           is one of the twelve principles of animation, where the trick of optical illusions are
                           involved. By using less drawings in one stream of motion, the animation appears to
                           go faster, by using more drawings in one stream of motion, the animation appears to
                           go slower. It's quite simple, but can be a hard thing to manage when there is so much
                           motion and framing going on.

                                    Burgess goes onto talk about how often in his line of work, a common question
                           from aspiring artists and animators were how to properly time animations, Equipped
                           with experience, knowledge, and lots of time, the author of this article continues to
                           give us his sage advice. He begins by telling us the process of how a shot is decided,
                           with usually his director or adviser telling him the exact scene and shot. From then, 
                           it is up to the artist to approach and bring that idea to life. Burgess uses real life 
                           references, searches up YouTube videos of the action, or enlists his friends or his 
                           own body to act out the motions. This can be proven to be useful, as the most natural
                           movements are your own! After all the motions are blocked out, it's time to move on
                           to a dreaded math-heavy section-- Timing.

                                     This portion of animating seems quite confusing, and requires knowledge 
                           about FPS conversion, division, and proper counters. Burgess uses what he calls
                           "Golden Keys", which mainly translate to important motion and blocking frames.
                           These "Golden Keys" are spaced out depending on how fast a character moves, for 
                           example, a heavy, slow character is animated in more frames, with poses being held 
                           for longer. The opposite would be faster characters, who are animated in much less
                           frames in order to show the speed. "Golden Keys" are mostly held for six to twelve 
                           seconds, in order to let the viewers get a clear view of their movements, attitude, and
                           pose. The in-betweens are held in a 1/4 or 1/2 timing, which means that they move 
                           much quicker in comparison to the "Golden Keys." After playing and looping the 
                           animation, Burgess adjusts where he deems necessary, removing and adding one or
                           two frames to extend or shorten a movement to get a clear, smooth line of motion. 
                           To give examples of his methods in the film industry, Burgess provides examples of
                           his posing work in "Madagascar," and his motion work in "Over the Hedge" of the
                           crazy squirrel, Hammy. These examples and clips give lots of credit to his methods, 
                           and help provide a visual idea and breakdown of how it all is made.

                                    My personal opinions on this article is as always, wonderful and descriptive.
                           I'll be dead honest, I never paid too much attention to having a solid way to time, 
                           nor did I see the huge importance of using FPS conversion math in my animations.
                           This animation did open my eyes to the issues my art had however, and helped 
                           provide a concise explanation to different methods and ways to improve timing.
                           I was especially impressed by his examples, and how much work he has done on
                           classic movie's I had enjoyed since a child. It's quite amazing how it all comes
                           together, the process of creating and animation. Burgess is a man of creditably, 
                           experience, and talent when it comes to animating, and explaining how he has
                           mastered the art of timing.

                                    There are many important parts to creating a solid, smooth, enjoyable piece of
                           animation, yet one of the most important parts is Timing. Timing provides a smooth
                           movement, and keeps every single piece of music, audio, and story in sync. Disney
                           and Dreamworks veteran worker and astounding animator, Dave Burgess, created
                           an article to help explain his method of animating timing to aspiring animators and 
                           students. Starting with a brief overview of his process, of posing out and using
                           real life references of actions and movements, and ending with the dreaded math
                           heavy timing portion. However, it's quite simple when laid out in front of a reader
                           in words. He uses his own work examples, from classic movies such as Madagascar
                           and Over the Hedge to further visualize his process. This all wraps up and concludes
                           the amazing progress of Timing in Animation.