| Reaction | ||||||||
| (These pages are exerpts from the upcoming book, 'Animation: The Basic Principles') Reaction is the opposite of anticipation. It’s always at the end of any action. Newton’s theory states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is true if we are looking at reaction from a “cause and effect” point of view. An example of this would be: a character nudges a glass of water with their hand and the glass falls over. The cause is the hand pushing and the effect is the glass tipping over. If we view it from the similar perspective of the anticipation theory but place it after the action rather than in front, we get a type of follow through and recoil. An example of this would be a character punching an inflatable punching doll. The character would anticipate their hand back, then punch forward to hit the doll (action) and the doll would react by flopping back with the direction of the punch (as in “cause and effect”). Once the doll has flopped over to it’s greatest extreme (possibly hitting the floor), it would then bounce back up and wobble back and forth (osculation ) slowing into it’s final upright position again. I mentioned the osculation movement, this would only be applied on the reaction. I can’t think of any reason to use it on a fast anticipation. I’ve seen a form of it used in a very slow anticipation, in the Bugs Bunny cartoon, “Falling Hare ” directed by Bob Clampett with the Gremlin from the Kremlin. Bugs, who is inside an airplane in flight, is trying to get the Gremlin who is on the outside of the airplane. As Bugs anticipates to bash the door down with his shoulder, he moves back a couple of steps, settles a bit, takes another couple of steps back and settles then takes a final couple of steps right up the side of the fuselage. He then winds up into a furious run towards the door. Although it works for this gag, it’s all in the timing and would not have worked at a faster pace. Another good example of reaction is in a weightlifting exercise. When lifting a weight off the ground from a standing position, the character must use their arms, legs, back and stomach. While these parts of the body provide the anticipation and lift (or action) it is the legs that absorb the weight after it has reached it’s high point. The legs act as shock absorbers and will bounce up and down 2 or 3 times, slowing to a stop to counter the effects of gravity and keep the weight off the ground. This is very similar to the bouncing ball. The action is the drop. While the bounce, until it stops, is the reaction. The reaction phase helps to slow the character or object to a stop or show the effects of gravity. Either way it eliminates the abrupt mechanical stop to any action. REACTION |
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