Customer Reviews

Animation Writing and Development, : From Script Development to Pitch (Focal Press Visual Effects and Animation)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I teach an animation writing class and have used Wright's book for the past two or three years. It not only contains useful insights into animation writing but also provides perspective through such topics as the history of animation and understanding the tastes of various audiences according to age group. I've also used her chapter on pitching a script for an oral communications course. However, I often find that her paragraphs aren't all that coherent in that she jumps from idea to idea. It sometimes seems as though a lot of this is first-draft material. Perhaps the next edition will be more readable. Overall, this is a useful supplement to other materials. I haven't found a perfect animation writing book yet, so this one will do for now.

Jean Ann Wright has written a valuble handbook for anyone interested in creating animation scripts.

It offers fun and practical overviews of the various aspects of development, from characters to plot to style to pitching.

Each information-packed chapter includes a marvelously detailed checklist to inspire your creativity, diagnose story problems, and guide the fixes.

I found Animation Writing and Development to be like a film school education in a book - comprehensive and confidence-building.

Currently working as a writer-for-hire and consultant on three different animation stories, I found Jean Ann's suggestions insightful and invaluable.

Animation Writing and Development will have a permanent place in my film book library, and it should in yours, too.

The book covers tons and tons of topics, which is good for a person with no background in animation writing. But the topics written about, from dialogue to outlining, come with no context, no examples to back up what the author is talking about. Wright writes "Keep your characters consistent. They must be true to their core traits and to what has made them who they are." An example from a current or classic cartoon is direly needed. This happens throughout the book. Under the subheading Conflict Can Reveal Information in the dialogue chapter, she writes "conflict in dialogue...is a good way to get information out and keep it interesting." How? Once again this book screams for examples.
The book trys to explain every thing and any thing about animation. A daunting task. But in the process, every thing seems trite. The chapter on writing features, aka movies, is skimmed, and after reading it, will not make your more apt at writing animation films. Scriptwriting for film is different, in many aspects, from tv animation, and in this book it's made to sound that it's the same.
Overall the book is informative, but for someone who grew up with Scooby Doo, He-Man, Thundercats and saw every Disney film and could write endless thesis on Scooby Doo's tremendous appetite, this book lacks substance.

Every industry has its own special requirements. This book "Animation Writing and Development" by Jean Ann Wright should be titled "A Manual for the Working World of Animation". There are not many books that give all the working aspects of a creative vocation. Wow! What to do, how to do it, and still nurture creative desires! Being a college art instructor, all my classes will know about the existence of this fine work. B. McInerney

This book is abit of a bore and turnoff with all it tips and trixs to create scripts that will please the "buyer". It is colored with a tone of a moral panic that is typical for experts that clame to know what people want and don't want. I think it is safe to say that if the creators of "South Park" or "The Simpson" would have read this book and followed it, thoose series would have never been made - maybe not even Bambi with its horrid shooting of bambis mother?

It also deals with animation at its simplest blocks, it tries to show the steps to a finished product - poorly. It does contain a good hint here and there but as a hole it is a complete waist of time, and a poor candidate for a book to understand the teqnical aspects of animation. If you have some basic knowleadge of character, animation and storyboarding and want to learn how to write for animation, buy books about writing instead.
>RS

Anyone interested in writing for animation -- or even in writing for television in general -- should read this book, written by a veteran of the TV animation trenches. Jean Ann Wright has come up with a highly readable, insightful guide to the process of cartoon writing from formulating ideas to pitching. She even includes exercises at the ends of chapters to stretch one's creativity. I have already recommended this book to students, and would heartily recommend it to anyone wishing to get into the animation field.

An excellent book that covers all aspects of writing for animation, and I do mean ALL aspects. Nothing is left out. Jean Ann Wright really knows her stuff. And buying the book from Amazon was easy and painless. That's why I use them and why I will continue to use them.

If you want to write a great script, never ever ONCE think of it as anything other than telling a solid story. This book advances the theory that writing for animation is different than writing. It isn't.

Jean Ann Wright's "Animation Writing and Development : From Script Development to Pitch", is a comprehensive and well written book, on the subject.

I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in writing for animation.