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Hey there,
First time in my life, I am about to write a process and breakdown for my 11 Second Club entry for August 2008. Its the way, I have approached the Spanish clip. The clip is given below.
First and foremost thing, which involved in my clip and in any animation is "the planning", to which I have also valuing a lot, because its all you need. It makes all the processes easy.
For this clip, I would like to hear it as much as I can. Due to change in language, I have to break it down more. When I listen to it, I would prefer to write the dialogue on a piece of paper or in my notebook, and looking at it and syncing myself with the audio and tuning yourself with the audio rhythm and beat according to it. And also generating the story (before and after) and an event or situation in which I have to involve my animation.
It will work in any understandable language. In such case, it have to be broke it down more and the dialogue should be written in your understandable way. I have wrote down the original dialogue which was from the film, then the Spanish version and its word by word English translation and yet another version, in my roman language, by understanding the sound and its pronunciation. Even though I got the word to word translation by the 11SecondClub, I have to find out which word is which, which two make one and one make two, so it would be easier to define.
For example:
The Spanish version:
"Cada cosa, cada cosa que se dijo y se mostró en la sala de ese tribunal, todas! demuestran que es culpable. ¿Qué se cree, que soy idiota?"
The Word to Word English version:
English: "Everything, everything that was said and shown in that courtroom, all of them! prove that he's guilty. What do you think, that I'm an idiot?"
Sorry other two versions are not available with me right now.
If you see, it had to be broken down because all you have is to act on the Spanish delivery, not on the English one. You have to know what you are working with. The sound beat and its wavelength.
You need to know what "Cada cosa" means or "tribunal" or "todas".
For example: "se dijo y se mostró" means "said and shown"
se dijo: said
y: and
se mostró: shown
You have to research and plan. If it is or it is not your language, you have to get the dialogue’s clear meaning.
After dealing with the meaning and understanding of the audio, I will get my roman version opened in front of me, which would be easier now for me to sync and get the clear idea of the situation. I do remember it 
From start to end, all the way, your style of doing, and handling things, should be solved in your own way.
Next thing after that process, I have wrote down the story and situation which I came up with the best and also draw the thumbnails, about 3 to 4 describing my main storytelling poses.
Believe it or not, I have skip one important process, right after that process, the video referencing. Maybe everything was in my mind and on paper. However it was executed as it was planned. I think, this was because of proper planning and poses library, a person need to develop and it’s develop with study and involvement in animation. I have acted it out, but all was off camera.
As most of the time, especially in that animation, I have started with lip-syncing and ending with lip-sync and facial animation. At least two pass for it. Because, it is the major thing, which our eye catches at once and I can’t resist it, to leave.
After first pass of lip sync, I would start my blocking and blocking plus by posing out the character's main story telling poses. And I like to work in chunks in the way the dialogue is delivered. I do right after main blocking poses; I will switch to blocking plus, where I will add supporting poses. I do work in spline mode and am comfortable in doing that. However, I would not compromise in any of my acting choices and will not accept any pose given by computer generated frames. I will stick to my idea unless it will replace with any cooler pose or for more enhancement. I will try to make my poses clear and readable by giving it a negative space.
Arcs, follow through and overlapping action, timing, spacing, moving holds, pose clarity and readability, lip-sync, where done in 2 days process, finishing the blocking plus phase. And I would always remember to key on all body parts, for every particular poses.
Most of the work have been done till our blocking plus phase. It was hard to get the critiques because of the language.
Then the rest, refining and polishing of the animation, which make value added and animation smooth and by refining arcs, little bit poses, smoothness of arcs and large actions between pose to pose, all this cleanup, makes a piece as it should, in my way.
I do analyse my animation and get reviewed by the team, wrote down the different views, ideas and errors from 7 to 8 people and adjusting it, which where major and necessary.
Review to your animation really helps. The animation took about a week to finish.
Oh couple of hours spend, and dame too long. Hope you can get till the end, and understand. Let me know if I skipped something or had not clearly mentioned anything.
Also thanks to the SI team for support.
I would like to finish off with that: don’t skip the planning and research part, which is your main building base or planned structure of the whole building structure. Manage your time. And use it wisely and all is done as it was planned.
I am really proud to get into this and achieving the 19th place at 11 Second Club competition.
Hope this would be helpful process and breakdown for you.
Take care,
Keep Animating
Jeremy Cantor – Animation Supervisor – Sony Pictures Imageworks - May 4th, 2002
1) Perception (The MAIN thing)
Overall aesthetic/artistic/creative sensibilities….An "eye".
A grasp of general aesthetics: Composition, camera angles, screen direction, anatomy, posing, design, color theory, etc.
How does one develop such an eye? Years of drawing, painting, sculpting, film-making, studying art, watching movies, observing the world around you, etc. Someone does not necessarily need to be a classically trained "artist" to have a good eye.
This is by far the most important requirement because it is not something that can be effectively taught in the workplace. Candidates absolutely need to arrive with such sensibilities.
Many demo reels have animations where the fundamental principles of animation are (all but blindly) implemented by someone who clearly knows their software very well. However, their character design is unappealing, composition is weak, camera angle choices are bad, etc. Such demo reels rarely lead to interviews.
On the other hand, someone who can't necessarily recite Frank & Ollie's 12 basic animation principles and doesn't know Softimage/Maya/3D Studio/etc all that well, but somehow manages to make an entertaining demo reel animation with appealing characters & interesting composition, camera angles & screen direction choices will be much more likely to get an interview.
We can teach someone how to use a particular piece of software...
We can teach someone the fundamental principles of animation….
But we can't teach someone to have a good eye.
Effective self-criticism is also an important aspect of perception. Be able to analyze your own animations and figure out what parts are working and what parts are not, rather than relying too much on your supervisor's critiques as your main catalyst for progress.
2) Principles
A firm understanding of the fundamental principles & mechanics of character animation (anticipation, follow through, squash & stretch, timing, arcs, non-symmetry, 2ndary action, etc). It is not enough for someone to simply be able to list these principles from memory. Candidates must truly understand them and know how and when to apply them properly. These principles should not be implemented blindly. Sometimes certain ones should be exaggerated, toned down or even left out entirely. One must KNOW a rule before it can be broken effectively, creatively and appealingly. If your director tells you to make your character look heavier, do you know which principles need to be adjusted (and how) in order to arrive at such a change?
3) Program Proficiency
At least some rudimentary computer skills and familiarity with a full-featured 3D animation package is desired. However, a gifted animator with very limited computer skills will absolutely be considered as long as he/she has the capacity and willingness to learn the technical part of the job. (Except when deadline pressures don't allow for training time). While we are in fact an "animation" department, for better or worse, we do use computers and therefore, unfortunate as it may seem, even the most amazing animator is of little use to us if he/she is unable or unwilling to (at least partially) animate digitally.
4) Personality & Professionalism
We look for animators who are independently motivated self-starters as well as effective team players. Often, your supervisors are difficult to find (or perhaps out of town) and a candidate must be able to get things done without constant "hand-holding". Also, we work in large, collaborative environment where you never know who you're going to get stuck working with on your next shot or project. If you can't (at least pretend to) get along with just about everyone (at a professional level), you won't last very long. And be aware that this is a relatively small and extremely well-connected industry. Everyone knows everyone. (2 degrees of separation sounds about right). No matter how talented someone is, if they do not play well with others, such word will spread and it will become extremely difficult for them to find work. Furthermore, we like to hire well rounded people who have outside interests and hobbies. We are going to be working very closely together for potentially a long period of time, and we prefer to surround ourselves with potential lunch-mates, not just work-mates.
Be prepared to receive and appropriately respond to criticism (supervisors and directors are not always the most diplomatic folks on the planet). The ability to respond professionally to criticism and failure is often the very thing that separates successful creative people from non-successful creative people. How many times have you heard the story of the author whose million-selling book was initially turned down by dozens of publishers? (ie J.K. Rowling)
A strong interest in the subject matter produced by the studio to which you are applying is also a desired quality as well as a key ingredient for success. These jobs demand that you utilize the full extent of your creative energy for often very long hours in potentially high stress environments. Without a passion for the end product, it will be very difficult to handle such demands for very long. It is unlikely that someone who hates Science Fiction films will ever work above and beyond the call of duty or learn new software on their own time or attempt to "push the envelope" creatively or technically at a Visual Effects studio. Climbing the ladder in this industry requires a lot of creative passion. You will not go far in this business if you are only in it for the money (except perhaps in the executive branches).
5) Problem Solving
Be willing and able to accept and attempt to conquer technical and artistic challenges. When faced with a problem, don't be someone whose first instinct is to run to a supervisor and ask for help. Think creatively…Approach the problem from a different angle..Make a simplified version and do some trial and error. …Pick up a manual.
6) Precision
The teams I tend to work with pride themselves on attention to detail. Candidates should possess such sensibilities as well.
Do you understand the importance of that last ten-percent that turns a good animation into a great animation?
Do you look at the details of your animations with a fine-toothed comb before deciding that they're finished?
Do you check your work for technical glitches, geometry intersections, motion "pops", etc?
Is your resume or cover letter full of spelling errors? If so, can we expect the same level of carelessness in your work?
7) Performance
I find that it is often helpful if an animator has some experience in some form of performing art, especially one that stresses meticulous control of the human body: Gymnastics, dance, martial arts, diving, mime, acting, etc. Folks with such skills tend to have a better understanding of anatomy/physiology/kinesiology and can more effectively break down and evaluate individual body motions at varying levels of detail. Also, such folks tend to be less inhibited when it comes to jumping off their chairs and publicly acting out a performance to more effectively study how their animation should play out. Performers realize that it is okay to dance around like a maniac in the interest of becoming a better animator, and any co-worker who points and laughs is doing so out of jealousy for being too self-conscious to ever do such a thing them self!
by Aabid Dhamani
"Animation can explain whatever the mind of man can conceive." - Walt Disney
Its been almost 2 weeks now, from the day animation course was announced. In this lecture I will provide you the basics of animation, what is important for an animator and how things will work.
First of all, who is a good animator? He is not just the animator. Beside being an animator, he is also a person with drawing, acting, observation, planning skills. Animation requires a lot of research. It is the skills which can be developed, if the person is devoted to it.
The principles of animation on which the animation is based was given in early days of Disney animation. It is not hard and fast rule, it is just the essence for the good animation.
"When we consider a new project, we really study it . . . not just the surface idea, but everything about it." - Walt Disney
The 12 basic principles of animation
Squash and Stretch
Anticipation
Staging
Straight Ahead Action and Pose to Pose
Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Slow in and Slow out
Arcs
Secondary Action
Timing
Exaggeration
Solid Drawing
Appeal
These principles will be explained in the next lecture separately.
Exercise 01
Your first lesson is drawing circles and squares, these will bring the flow in your drawing.
Take a totally blank paper or drawing paper of any size and start drawing circles and squares to reach the goal of making it perfect. It will take time. And one more thing - don't use eraser.
This is all for this lesson, any queries or things that is not cleared to you, you are free to ask. You can also post your work to get some help by replying to this lecture and placing the link of your work.
Have a nice day 
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