staging

In essence, staging is the presentation of an idea so that it is clear. This idea can be an action, a personality, an expression, or a mood. The key idea is that the idea is made clear to the viewer. An action is staged so that it is understood; a personality is staged so that it is recognizable; an expression so that it can be seen: a mood so that it will affect the audience.

An important objective of staging is to lead the viewer's eye to where the action will occur so that they do not miss anything. This means that only one idea at a time occur, or else the viewers may be looking at the wrong thing. So, the main object should be contrasted in some way with the rest of the scene. A good example is motion, since the eye is drawn to motion in an otherwise still scene. In a scene with everything moving, the eye is drawn to a still object. The animator must use different techniques to ensure that the viewer is looking at the correct object at the correct time.

An important and essential element to convey the message of time and place and relevance of actors to their surroundings. A civil war soldier would not look suitable in a background of high rise buildings unless the story was about time travel or a costume party. The elements of the scene and background set the mood and create an environment for action to take place. Staging should enhance the actions of the characters in the animation. Where should a character be placed in the scene? Does the character's clothing fit with their surroundings? Does the character appear lost in the scene and need more emphasis?

In the early days of animation characters were black and white, with no gray. All action was shown in silhouette (to the side), because if a character moved its black arm in front of its black body it would disappear, so the action had to be against the white background. The Disney animators realized that even without this technological limitation action was more clearly visible in silhouette. Even using colour 3D graphics, silhouette actions are more clearly delineated and thus to be preferred over frontal action. An example would be a character waking up and scratching its side, it is easier to understand what is doing than if it scratched its stomach.

Image from Tex Avery's 'What's Buzzin' Buzzard' (1943)

Staging also refers to the actual location of the camera and characters within the scene. Principles of cinema theory come into play in the way that shots are staged. In general there should be a distinct reason for the way that each shot in the film is staged. The staging would match the information that is required for that particular shot. The staging should be simple and clear, and should enhance the action. A common mistake in the design of computer-generated films is to make the staging too dynamic simply because the computer has the capability to do so. As a consequence the scenes become confusing, or distracts from the action that is taking place.

Ask yourself: What should the viewer be looking at? How can a character be posed, or a camera angled, so as to make the character's action read best, (silhouette)? How much or how little do we want the viewer to know?

Actions can be eliminated and staging "cheated" if it simplifies the picture you are trying to show and is not disturbing to the audience.

From: Animation Notes by Disney animator, Ollie Johnston

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