Blog 5: Mood

Body language is everything in real life as well as animation. In animation, it is the driving force behind the mood of a scene. A character's reaction to a scenario is pivotal to understanding the scene itself.

For example, in this scene, Kida's initial reaction (shock) is represented by wide eyes, raised eyebrows, and a lowered mouth. This quickly changes to anger seen by a scrunched face, lowered eyebrows, and bared teeth. She then punches Mole.

The punch can be anticipated simply by studying her facial expressions, seeing the shock and anger before expecting a punch. Even the arm being pulled back before the punch itself is indicative of what is to come. The body language sets the mood, shows the audience what is going to happen, and allows the audience a look into what is happening, what is going to happen and how they should be feeling given the scenario.