Animation Unleashed: 100 Principles Every Animator, Comic Book Writers, Filmmakers, Video Artist, and Game Developer Should Know
February 12th, 2010 | 
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As someone that doesn’t know a whole lot about animation, this book was an incredible find.
I am not an animator, but I easily applied the principles outlined in this book to my creative writing and comic production. It is amazingly inspiring and the topics discussed are backed by illustrations that make the points unbelievably clear and easily understood.
I think this book is excellent for anyone creative, or anyone interested in improving their craft. I will also, shamelessly admit that its become my new favourite colouring book.
Rating: 5 / 5
Yes, Animation Unleashed demonstrates that Ellen Besen does know her subject, and illustrator Bryce Hallett does know how to illustrate her points. The book’s problem does not at all lie in whether it’s lessons are essentially true enough, wide-ranging enough, and relevant enough, to address an audience of animation artists and producers. Prominent names in the field have testified that this is the case, and yes, it’s the case. The problem is in translating that truth, that range, and that relevance into usable information. Here the book fails magnificently.
Since Ms Besen believes that the philosophical underpinning for animation is in its power to make analogies, let’s begin with the illustrations. They are generally executed with perfectly professional attention to strong, clean lines and good layout, and they make a honest attempt to embody the book’s ideas. But the content is usually so trite and tired that the eye becomes glazed over by the sheer mediocrity. Page after page, even while proving that he has an impeccable working understanding of animation, Hallett’s art gives you microwaved burgers in a box when you wanted a filet mignon in bakery bread. (After all, it’s a Michael Wiese book!) Only occasionally does he demonstrate that his impressive versatility of style is broad enough to include original characters and sensitive artistry.
Likewise, in perfect analogy to the drawings, Besen’s text is composed of one damn dishwater-dull truism after another, until you realize you just invested in a long and tedious harangue about everything you already know. In remarkably lifeless, mechanical prose, Besen seeks to illustrate her lessons with half-hearted allusions to scenes from a decidedly skimpy collection of animated films, but her wan voice fails to carry very far before forging ahead with the next topic. If you hope to benefit from Besen’s much-vaunted thirty years of experience, you’ll soon learn there’s no here here, to paraphrase Virgina Woolfe–nothing concrete to fix in your mind, no cognitive tool for your production toolbox. This is particularly cloying because of the disconnect between the fastfood artwork and Besen’s constant references to great animated classics. The traditions of the publishing industry have taught us to expect real visual examples, used by permission from the studios.
As I said, there are some exceptions to the lack of usable advice, meaning some pages are worth dog-earing and returning to. But the book has physically been padded, with overgenerous line spacing and huge margins, to match its literary vacuity. And to carry analogies even further, note that the book’s subtitle, “100 Principles Every Animator etc etc Should Know,” belies the fact that the book does not provide the promised numbered list of principles–a reminder of why we have truth in advertising laws. Instead, it offers pseudo-rigor in the guise of artificial subheadings such as Examples, See Also, Value Added Point, Basic, Advanced, and Rule Breaker.
There are so many competing books in this field I can’t recommend a single reason to purchase this one instead of one of the worthy alternatives, such as All About Techniques in Animation Production (Barron’s), and Don Bluth’s Art of Animation Drawing and Art of Storyboarding (DH Press).
Rating: 1 / 5
The information contained in this book is well written but the book’s size is clumsy to handle making it an uncomfortable read. I also thought the information, although informative, covers a broad range of ideas and is a little unfocused. Although this isn’t my favorite book about animation I do believe it is a good addition to my library.
Rating: 2 / 5
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R3N435TW177JI1 Animation Unleashed: 100 Principles Every Animator, Comic Book Writers, Filmmakers, Video Artist, and Game Developer Should Know is an excellent book (if i do say so myself and i do no matter how humble i am). Ellen has written a very good reference book to stimulate your creative thinking the next time you create your animated film or comics project. A lot of ground is covered and many concepts are introduced to the reader, who can then pop open this book any time they’re stuck and need a refresher on tried and true concepts or spark a new creative approach to telling their animated story. I enjoyed this book and think it compliments the more technical heavy animation books you may have on your shelf as well.
Rating: 5 / 5
100 key principles of communicating via animation explained and illustrated.
Filmmaker and author Ellen Besen discovered these principles as she analyzed classic animated films. She began to see things that made certain animated films “leap off the screen”.
She identified specific story telling techniques, camera angles, special effects, and backgrounds that were uniquely suited to animated films. She realized she was “tapping into the essence of how animation functions.” Animation Unleashed explains and illustrates 100 of these techniques.
The writing is clear and concise, with delightful illustrations by Bruce Hallet to illustrate each of the techniques.
For example, on page 44 Besen says, “An animated script should create a platform for a performance. To achieve this, write for action first.” She then shows how visual actions drive a good animation, and how–if the writer starts by writing dialog–the script can end up as a series of talking heads.
I liked the book because it introduced me to a filmmaking world that I knew little about.
After reading the book, I began see animation everywhere. On a flat screen at the grocery store checkout stand, on television, at the movies, and on most of the websites that I visit. It is fair to say that Animation Unleased increased my visual literacy and my enjoyment of animation.
Recommended for: animators (from beginning to advanced), film buffs, and anyone who needs to communicate visually.
Rating: 5 / 5