Acting in Animation: A Look at 12 Films [Paperback]

Ed Hooks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 9, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0325007055 | ISBN-13: 978-0325007052

Powerful and empathetic performance in character animation requires far more from the animator than an ability to manipulate pixels or draw characters. You must have a strong understanding of the relationship between thinking, emotion and physical action plus dynamic scene construction. Renowned for his now-classic Acting for Animators, Ed Hooks shows you in Acting in Animation what best-practice performance principles look like on celluloid.

Keyed for use with the DVD versions of twelve animated films and loaded with spot-on analysis, acting tips, and valuable insight, Acting in Animation is like sitting down with Ed Hooks to watch the movies. Ed breaks each one down sequence by sequence and gives you useful notes on how the animators of classics successfully imbued their characters with feeling. You'll see firsthand how attending to essential acting principles like choice, negotiation, conflict, and empathy creates unforgettable characters and believable storylines. Hooks also deconstructs some not-so classics to illustrate how by neglecting good acting technique the filmmakers missed opportunities to have their characters bond with the audience.

Want to make your animation more powerful? Go to the movies with Ed Hooks. Read Acting in Animation and find out how quality acting inspires great animation.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ed Hooks has been a respected acting teacher for three decades. In his work with animators, he has taught for many leading studios, including Disney Feature Animation, DreamWorks/PDI, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, Will Vinton Studios, Valve, BioWare, Tippett Studio, Wild Brain, OddWorld Inhabitants, Microsoft (X-Box/Fasa Studio) and Sony Computer Entertainment America. In addition, he has been a featured speaker/teacher at many international animation conferences, festivals and schools. Hooks welcomes questions or comments-just email him at [e-mail] or visit his website: www.ActingForAnimators.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Heinemann Drama (February 9, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0325007055
• ISBN-13: 978-0325007052
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,129,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

After working as a professional actor for 27 years and teaching professional-level acting for 15 or so years, I was invited in 1996 to teach an acting class for the animators at DreamWorks/PDI in Palo Alto, California. They were working on a movie entitled "Antz", which would turn out to be only the second CG movie ever made. The first was "Toy Story" I had landed at a transitional point for the animation industry, and what happened there literally changed my life. It was at DreamWorks/PDI that I learned how animators perceive and apply acting theory, which is markedly different from the way that stage and movie actors do it. Given a green light by studio executives, I experimented with ways to teach acting theory specifically to animators, and the result was what today is explained in my book "Acting for Animators, revised 3rd edition" published 2011 by Routledge.

Even I am amazed by the journey I have taken with animators. There have been many thousands of students, the majority of them working pros, in studios and schools from L.A. to Sydney to Beijing, Singapore, Germany and India -- and many more cities. My Acting for Animators master class is now a respected and popular part of the animation industry.

This is an incredibly exciting time for the animation industry. It has been less than 20 years since "Toy Story" was released. Look at how far animation has advanced. Now try to imagine where it might be 20 years from now. Amazing.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Companion to the Original, January 15, 2007

By 

Grant Beaudette (Missoula, MT United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Acting in Animation: A Look at 12 Films (Paperback)

This book is strictly a companion to Ed Hooks' Acting for Animators. It shows how the author's principles of animated acting are (or are not) applied on a DVD chapter-by-chapter basis for 12 animated features. Similar to the breakdown of The Iron Giant at the end of the original book.

Hooks' teachings are great food for thought when it comes to not just creating a quality animated performance, but in the writing of the scene the performance exists in. The films examined cover a fairly wide range. Mostly recent films, but a few older ones. Largely Disney, but also some Pixar and Studio Ghibli as well. All the films (with the possible exception of Pinocchio) are fairly easy to get a DVD of.

The only peeve I have with this book is a few instances of poor proof-reading when characters are referred to by the wrong names. In Monsters Inc. Sully is called Randal a couple times, Woody is twice referred to as Andy in Toy Story 2, and in Tarzan, Sabor the leopard is called a tiger. (Not as big a problem, just annoying.)

If you haven't read Acting for Animators, don't get this book just yet. If you have, this is the perfect way to see Hooks' lessons in practice.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great insight, October 22, 2010

By 

entertainer in training - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Acting in Animation: A Look at 12 Films (Paperback)

As the reviewer before me said, this is a direct companion to Acting for Animators, Revised Edition: A Complete Guide to Performance Animation. It's very good for animation, acting or just plain movie enthusiasts to see how the rules of acting are applied in several popular animated films ranging from Disney to Studio Ghibli. It's very well organized by movie and discusses moments by movie scenes according to when it happened so you can use the book alongside watching the movie, not just before or after.

There were a couple things that bothered me about the content. One thing I will say is that this book was not entirely edited/proof-read well. There were several cases of character name mix-ups and misspelled locations. They didn't hinder the ability to understand what he was talking about too much, but it certainly brought down my level of credibility for him. The other thing that bothered me was that his opinions were very obvious in comparison to his straightforward analyses, so be on the lookout for those and don't mistake them as a means to an end. Though most of the scene analyses were thorough and spot on, there were moments where in those analyses that were hit or miss, especially regarding the correct emotional response from the character, so it's good for the basic of basics, but beyond that is up for debate.

5.0 out of 5 stars Serious about Animation?, October 14, 2008

By 

Monica Bruenjes - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Acting in Animation: A Look at 12 Films (Paperback)

For anyone really serious about making animation this book is a great resource. If you haven't read "Acting for Animators," also by Hooks, I recommend actually picking that up first as it lays out a nice breakdown of the same process he uses to pick apart the 12 films high-lighted in this book. The list of films Hooks has picked out are for the most part, still easy to find and of good variety.

The book is meant to be used as a work book coupled with the 12 films. It asks the reader to buy, rent, or borrow the films, take one, watch it, enjoy it, then read the section about in the book while going back to take a look at it the film scene by scene, pausing where needed. It helps the reader to pick apart the films and analyze them in a way that

it's easy to figure out what to do and what not to do with a character to make him or her believable. You'll gain lots of knowledge to help you create a successful story. You'll also probably find yourself taking a second look at many of the other animations you've enjoyed in the past as well.