Acting for Animators

rereading Ed Hooks' Acting for Animator's. I was never super impressed with this book, seemed like just a rehash of basic acting theory, I think his workshops are probably a lot stronger.

Character must always be doing something in pursuit of a goal, never just chilling, better unwinding after a long hard day so can be ready for a hot date.

Based on who we are as individuals we assess the incoming stimulas and develop a conclusion based on that (someone's running at me scared and there's smoke behind them, there must be a fire in the building) then we have an emotional reaction to that conclusion that motivates an action (oh no! I gotta get out of here)

Emotion is what pulls the audience in, and how they connect with a character, by empathizing with them, through seeing the character's emotions. Emotion is the key (I think empathy is an instinctual response, we unconsciously mimic facial emotions we see, and when we were an emotion on our face we begin to feel it)

Needs are stronger than wants. If your character is driven by a need their performance will be stronger. Hooks talks about tapping into big primal needs, need to attract a mate, need to eat, in order connect unconsciously with the audience.

"make the audience feel the emotions of the characters, rather then appreciating them intellectually" - Ollie and Frank

"Chaplin understood that audiences empathize with feelings, not thoughts or gags, and he looked for ways to allow the feelings of the little tramp to be visible. The important thing was not what happened to the Tramp, but how he felt about what had happened to him."p. 41

Adrenaline Moment, an event that is so significant in the character's life that they will remember it on their death bed (Kenny Roy talks about them too I think) if your scene is just lying there, consider how it might be an adrenaline moment for the character.

He says that Miyazaki fills the stillness (ma) with emotion, it's not just empty stillness, and that's what keeps it interesting

Talks about Michael Chekhov: psychological gesture everyone has a zero, a base movement they do (wringing their hands when nothing else is going on), also an action can upgrade a verbal idea (mime breaking with your hands while saying "my heart is broken") which upgrades it even if you just think the action instead of actually doing it.
atmosphere the atmosphere of a social space will affect your behavior (you'll act different at a wedding then at a funeral even if they're both in the same church) every space has an atmosphere.