The 12 Principles of Animation
Brave: Archery Skills Scene
Link to video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWbxhKTbTkA
Synopsis
The impetuous daughter of royalty: Merida, is a Scottish princess who just wants to live a spontaneous life making independent choices. Her interests include archery and horse riding, which is quite the opposite of what her mother highly expects. Merida's desires is to escape the duties of a princess, specifically getting married. After an intense argument with her mother, the irritated Merida runs away into the forest where she comes across a witch hut, on which a witch gives her a cake to give to Elinor (her mother). After eating the cake her mother turns into a beast and Merida, with only her bravery and bow and arrow as her weapons, must find a way to turn Elinor back before time runs out or she stays as a beast forever.
Principles of Animation within the Film (Brave)
The scene that I am specifically focusing on is when the three clans come together to DunBroch to compete in games, fighting for Princess Merida's hand in marriage. The purpose of the marriage is to bring peace and harmony within the divided clans. For this is evident in Elinor's story where she explains that:
"Once there was an ancient kingdom. Its name long forgotten, ruled by a wise and fair king who was much beloved. And when he grew old he divided the kingdom among his four sons. That they should be the pillars on which their piece of land rested. But the oldest prince wanted to rule the land for himself, he followed his own path and the kingdom fell, from war and chaos and ruin." - www.moviequotesandmore.com/brave-movie-quotes/
"Once there was an ancient kingdom. Its name long forgotten, ruled by a wise and fair king who was much beloved. And when he grew old he divided the kingdom among his four sons. That they should be the pillars on which their piece of land rested. But the oldest prince wanted to rule the land for himself, he followed his own path and the kingdom fell, from war and chaos and ruin." - www.moviequotesandmore.com/brave-movie-quotes/
- DunBroch - the kingdom in the Highlands of Scotland where: King Fergus, Queen Elinor, Princess Merida, and the three triplets (Harris, Hubert, and Hamish) all live.
- Arc (0:58 - 1:00)
At 0:58 seconds, we can clearly see how impatient King Fergus is becoming due one of the participants in the game taking a very long time to release their arrow. (Further details are shown in the video above)
This particular scene expresses one of the 12 principles of animation: arc, because as the hand moves from start to finish, it doesn't just go in a straight motion but in an arc, giving the action depth and appearing more realistic. When the action moves in an arc, it looks more natural rather than when you see it going straight down, it looks too stiff.
- Squash and Stretch (2:26 - 2:28)
At 2min26sec, after awhile of teasing and laughing about the participants of the game, King Fergus had turn to face the person he was talking to: Merida, but only to realize by then that he was talking to himself the entire time and Merida had already left her seat. (Further details are shown in the video above)
This particular scene expresses one of the 12 principles of animation: squash and stretch, because you can see the mass of the body slightly being 'squashed' vertically as the character leans on the chair, it also shows how he's in happy state of mind but quickly disappears as his mood changes and the motion then 'stretches' horizontally to convey that the character became sullen. The animator of this film did a great job on portraying the sudden change of mood of the character's facial expressions alongside with the secondary movements that complimented it well.
- Staging (3:13 - 3:15)
At 3min13sec, after seeing a participant hit their arrow right in the bullseye, Merida could not accept the winning for them for it meant having to marry that competitor. Merida refused to get married. In order for the marriage not to happen she participates in the game herself. (Further details are shown in the video above)
This particular scene expresses one of the 12 principles of animation: staging because the animator did a good job on making it a clear indication to where the audience needs to look. In other words, the character's arm is positioned in a way that will give a hint and direct the viewers eyes towards the important subject. Further examining this scene, the arm is placed at the corner slightly tilted to the right: with this staging it gives the scene more depth.
- Exaggeration (3:30 - 3:33)
At 3min30sec, the whole nation was shocked for what Merida has done to prevent the participants from winning. (Further details are shown in the video above)
This particular scene expresses one of the 12 principles of animation: exaggeration because it pushes the poses to an extreme form while still keeping it's realism. The use of this technique is to create as much appeal as possible.