Timing, timing and…(wait for it)…timing - Ken Fountain

Here there is an extract from a really cool post, of Sir Ken Fountain, one of the greatest instructor at iAnimate...

Here there is the direct link to this great lecture, really suggested for all animators...

Enjoy it...

www.matteosanna.com
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Another type of timing, for me, is my overall phrasing*; or the varied rhythms I choose to help communicate or exaggerate the emotion behind the force of a body, as well as create an engaging and visually interesting scene. This is very musical for me, just like the dynamics of melody or the arrangement of a song. Any good singer, speaker, actor or dancer uses an instinctive sense of phrasing to guide (almost lure) their audience through a performance; letting them rise and rest with the varied energies in their voice or body; keeping us interested, engaged, expectant and curious. A good musician can take control of your breathing. A good dancer can make you tense and release your muscles in sympathy with their own. A good comedian can coax you in to a sense of intimacy, only to surprise you with their punchline. Which leads me to my last category… Comedic or dramatic timing.

This most sophisticated use of timing – comedic/dramatic timing – employs the purposeful manipulation of an audience’s expectations to produce a spontaneous response; like bursts of laughter, tears of joy (or sadness), screams of fear or surprise, etc. I think comedic/dramatic timing is what people are asking about when they wonder about the secrets of good timing. Although it may be hard to execute, I find it the easiest to explain. Easy because it’s all about one thing: expectation. What does your audience expect to happen right at that moment, or in the very next moment? and are you going to fulfill or defy that expectation? And most importantly, when?

Here’s some different ways you could interpret the comedic timing in a piece of physical comedy.. (And I’m going to work in animatic form, because I believe good story artists are natural timing experts.)

Lets use a very cliché example of a head bonk.