8. SECONDARY ACTION

 SECONDARY ACTION

This action adds to and enriches the main action and adds more dimension to the character animation, supplementing and/or re-enforcing the main action. Example: A character is angrily walking toward another character. The walk is forceful, aggressive, and forward leaning. The leg action is just short of a stomping walk. The secondary action is a few strong gestures of the arms working with the walk. Also, the possibility of dialogue being delivered at the same time with tilts and turns of the head to accentuate the walk and dialogue, but not so much as to distract from the walk action. All of these actions should work together in support of one another. Think of the walk as the primary action and arm swings, head bounce and all other actions of the body as secondary or supporting action.


(most of this wild action of Doc and the other dwarfs wrestling Grumpy into the washtub was animated Straight-Ahead , with a lot of Secondary/Overlapping action )





As the kitten , Figaro, slips down into bed his shoulders, arms, legs and the blanket all have independent (Secondary) actions that support and enrich the main idea of the scene - 



An advanced application of this principle is when very specific secondary actions are used to augment the acting in the scene, such as in this example where the main action is Madame Medusa  talking to Penny , telling her what she wants her to do (for Penny to go down into the cave to find the diamond Medusa has been searching for) , but the secondary action is Medusa removing her make-up as she talks to Penny .   The seemingly casual action of Medusa removing her make-up makes her cruel words to Penny all the more menacing.

         (also note the effective use of Squash & Stretch on Medusa's face)




.