Follow through and Overlapping Action

The title describes all types of animation that are interlaced, yet they do not affect each other or occur at the same moments. To put it simply this is where not all movement on a singular structure or screen happens at the same time, which animators have to take into careful consideration especially if they are trying to emulate real life (Overlapping Action). When it comes to animating people; in the words of Richard Williams ‘most of our body actions start from the hips,’ (R. Williams, 2006 p.227) this indicates that everything else must then follow (Follow Through animation), however long it takes. This needs to be done as otherwise the motion can become robotic and stiff, as it is usually only mechanical objects that start up, follow in synch and end at exactly the same moment. In some cases it may be the eyes that move first or at the same time as the hips, but in this case the hips usually tend to follow a close second. This is why it is useful to break the body up into sections starting from the top with the head the shoulders then the chest. Moving onto the arms the pelvis and the clothing, and finally finishing with the legs and the feet. These sections are broken up even further in some cases to include such things as fingers, toes and eyes etc. This is how normal movements such as walking can be made interesting, change one small thing about the movement like say the characters drunk and therefore waving his arms all over the place and it can change the whole outlook of the animation.

Overlapping Action
This is the mismatch of different timings of movement occurring on different parts of the same figure or structure. On a person it could mean that the head reaches its full turn before the body spins fully round, or the skirt that hasn’t quite settled yet after the body has finished turning. All of these actions happen at different times but all occur on the same character, the way of figuring out how they would occur is to take certain aspects into consideration. Materials included, complexity, number of different animations, forces (natural and manmade) and what do all these factors affect? If you move a limb or object in a certain direction will any other animation be needed to follow on to further exaggerate the movement? For instance quadrupeds and bipeds are more likely to have to include overlapping action because of their complex dynamics, especially when compared to say an animal such as a fish. Even when there are many organic things travelling in exactly the same way on screen it is usually a good idea to have overlapping action on a few of them to create variety. As it makes the animation feel alive by not having it appear very mechanical by such unison movement.
Character animation drawn in this way is instantly given a lease of life even without the need for facial expressions. Using overlapping action means that there are extreme amounts of ways to achieve a small movement; the types of movement you can achieve are limited only by inspiration. This is how very skilled animators show characters personalities in these mundane everyday tasks. Examples - any body part movement, facial expressions, weather and animal movement (‘Animals had to move like real animals but it was important that the complexity of the movement remained unnoticeable,’ (P. Wells, 2006 p.23)).

Follow through
This is animation added after a motion has occurred. It is basically any animation which continues on from the main instigating force that was applied to it after that force has come to a rest, changed direction or is simply no longer influencing any primary or secondary action. This is most obvious when it comes to things like tails on animals, hair, fur or clothing, as it is the technique that contains drag. Drag is any separate spots in areas of primary or secondary action, and has been described as ‘friction resistance’ (C. Webster, 2005 p.48) it is where flab is delayed slightly using ‘Squash and Stretch’ techniques catching up to the main limb that they are connected to, such as someone who drags their feet when they walk.
Sometimes extreme detail in animation can be difficult to time alongside the other actions that may be happening in a scene, as it is difficult to work out how it will look in the next key-frame. It is in situations like these that mean animators have to work in a straight ahead, frame by frame technique, depending on the action, weight, flexibility and opposing force. It is this extra out of synch animation that classes as follow through and overlapping action. The key is learning what aspects of a character or objects physique may need this treatment. This is why ‘it is usually a good idea in animation to have a time lag between the movements of different parts of the figure… as this helps to give fluidity’ (H. Whitaker and J. Halas, 1981 p.61). Examples - Drapery, slow moving body fat stretching to catch up with moving body parts (drag) and weight.