Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Fisherman Bear II

Here is the second half of Milt's scene from Bedknobs.
The Bear starts to bend forward in anticipation of the final big pull. He tightens his grip on the fishing rod and pulls with all his might. just when you think that drawing #107 is extreme, Milt turns the character's head on # 127 to maximize the effect of the Bear's exertion. 
For those of you who are not animators, the final motion between #107 and #127 is what we call a stagger. The animation here does not flow smoothly from one drawing to another, instead the "staggered in-betweens" move back and forth toward #127 in a subtle but erratic way. On the screen this reads as a moment of strong physical effort.
At the end of the scene after his catch (in this case five humans on a bed) is out of the water, the Bear stumbles backwards, as he tries to keep his balance.
A text book piece of animation that is well worth studying.