Line #30 Main/DisneySchoolOfActingAndMime


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5	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/disneyschoolofactingandmimekingstefan.png]]]]
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7	->''"When I hear 2D animators today talking about acting in hand-drawn cartoons, I ask, what kind of acting? Are you talking about the old fashioned acting that animators have always done? You know...the hand on the hip, finger-pointing, broad action, lots of [[TheTwelvePrinciplesOfAnimation overlapping action]], screeching to a halt -- all that turn-of-the-century old fashioned mime stuff. Is that what you’re talking about? Well, forget about it. If you’re gonna compete with computer animation, you better go all out and do something that's totally different. Call it 'new acting'. Blow the computer out of the water."''
8	-->-- '''Creator/RalphBakshi''', discouraging the use of this trope
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10	An animation style, exemplified by the Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon and hence generally considered {{Disneyesque}}, which is characterized by a kind of fluid body language and facial expressions that feature realistic poses and movements which are, however, executed in an exaggerated manner, very expressive, often with sweeping gestures of the arms and hands. Characters act and emote not primarily with their faces but at least as much with their arms, hands and legs and move smoothly from one overly expressive pose to the next. In between poses, there's a notable acceleration and subsequent deceleration of the emoting limbs or facial features, making even small gestures and changes in stance or facial expression feel very pronounced and reminiscent of pantomime. Because of the accelerating and decelerating that occurs in every movement, those movements can take rather long and can hence feel a little like SlowMotion.
11
12	This animation style can focus on the poses (and have the characters zip from one pose to the next) or on the movements (drawing them out and never quite stopping) to distinguish between emotional states or different characters.
13
14	Note that [[LargeHam Hamming it Large 101]] is a required class at the Disney School of Acting and Mime -- after all, [[MilkingTheGiantCow gesturing plentifully]] is a great way to convey emotion silently. The realistic but overblown movements hark back to {{Silent Movie}}s and {{Vaudeville}} when actors had to emote more visibly--curiously, while that kind of live action acting has long fallen to the wayside in mainstream works, animation [[UndeadHorseTrope still uses it without irony]] simply because it's easier to convey emotions and acting that way than by trying to emulate more subtle live action acting, which is very difficult and in some cases downright impossible to get across in drawing form (and going too far with it can [[UnintentionalUncannyValley end up in another trope altogether]]). The style is rooted in visual realism while many younger animated works (after the migration of cartoons from film to TV) [[LimitedAnimation are more stylized and hence easier and cheaper to animate]] as not the whole body of a character has to move from one frame to the next. This also sets this style apart from {{Anime}}.
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16	Recent movies like ''WesternAnimation/{{Tangled}}'' manage to transpose the style, which is largely associated with 2D animation, into CGI.
17
18	Historically, this often went together with MickeyMousing, accentuating a character's body language even further.
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20	Also see TheTwelvePrinciplesOfAnimation.
21
22	----
23	!!Examples:
24	''Please don't list individual examples if they belong to a larger group of works that use this style (list that larger group instead)!''\
25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
28	* Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon: TropeCodifier.
29	** In ''Literature/TheIllusionOfLife'', Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston discuss that the reason Disney animators use this kind of acting is because it's simply impossible for animation to match the same level of subtle acting or screen presence as live action, even with tools that closely try to emulate it like rotoscoping, and that it's more sensible to exaggerate rather than directly copy real life.
30	--->"The actor is trained to know these symbols of communication because they are his tools in trade. Basically, the animator is the actor in animated films. He is many other things as well; however, in his efforts to communicate his ideas, acting becomes his most important device. But the animator has a special problem. On the stage, all the foregoing symbols are accompanied by some kind of personal magnetism that can communicate the feelings and attitudes equally as well as the action itself. There is a spirit in this kind of communication that is extremely alive and vital. However, wonderful as the world of animation is, it is too crude to capture completely that kind of subtlety. If in animation we are trying to show that a character is sad, we droop the shoulders, slump the body, drop the head, add a long face, and drag the feet. Yet those same symbols also can mean that the character is tired, or discouraged, or even listless. We can add a tear and pinpoint our attitude a little better, but that is the extent of our capabilities."
31	** ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'' has a rare aversion of this with the Nicelanders, who are animated in a [[LimitedAnimation very stilted, mechanical style]] to [[StylisticSuck emulate the movement of 8-Bit sprites in CGI form]]. WordOfGod says the effect was much harder to achieve than it looked, because the Disney animators had been so conditioned to always avoid using this style of movement in their animation.
32	** [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Classic Disney animated shorts]] and TV shows.
33	* The movies of ex-Disney animator Creator/DonBluth use this, and as such are unfortunately why [[AllAnimationIsDisney his films get mistaken for Disney]] ones. Bluth idolized the style, and wanted to keep it alive through his work at a time when Disney was moving away from it.
34	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess'' films use this, since its director, Richard Rich, was a former Disney animator.
35	* All of Creator/DreamWorksAnimation's hand-drawn animated films -- ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', ''WesternAnimation/JosephKingOfDreams'', ''WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado'', ''WesternAnimation/SpiritStallionOfTheCimarron'', and ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'' -- use this.
36	* Creator/RalphBakshi avoids this, since he feels the style is stale and cliche. His films usually have very subtle acting. Bakshi even spoke out to young animators to stop using Disney-style acting and try and experiment with new types of acting.
37	* ''WesternAnimation/FernGully'', ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest'', and ''WesternAnimation/ThePagemaster'' use this.
38	* Creator/{{Amblimation}} uses this in its movies.
39	* ''WesternAnimation/TheThiefAndTheCobbler'' uses this.
40	* ''WesternAnimation/HotelTransylvania'' uses this quite a bit.
41	* ''WesternAnimation/EightCrazyNights'' uses this, something that is actually extremely unusual for more adult-oriented animation. Little surprise, since animators from ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'' worked on this film as well.
42	[[/folder]]
43
44	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
45	* In ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', characters from the cartoon fairy-tale world of Andalasia gesture broadly with their hands even in live-action form.
46	[[/folder]]
47
48	[[folder:Video Games]]
49	%% * The ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' games started using this kind of acting in their cutscenes from ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' and onward. The earlier games avoided this due to technical limitations. Most of Sega's other games avoid using this kind of acting, too.
50	* The [[Platform/PlayStation [=PS1=]]] era ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' and ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'' games used this trope to a degree that was rarely seen on the platform, with their [[VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy respective]] [[VideoGame/SpyroReignitedTrilogy HD remakes]] using it to an even greater extent.
51	* The [[Platform/PlayStation2 [=PS2=]]] era ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'' games (made by the same developers of the aforementioned [=PS1=] ''Spyro'' games) constantly used this kind of broad gesturing and acting. This started getting downplayed in the ''Future'' era games, and the in-game cutscenes from the 2016 reimagining of the first game outright avoid it.
52	* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaCDIGames'' are an example of this trope getting far out of hand. The Russian animators allegedly modeled the poses off of pantomime.
53	* In ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'', being a Square-Enix and Disney crossover, the Square-Enix animators make an effort to convert the Disney characters' acting style into video game graphics. It doesn't quite translate, and you can definitely tell you're not looking at Disney-made animation. Most of the anime-style characters created specifically for the series also emote this way, to interesting effect, while characters who cameo from other Square-Enix properties stick to a more stoic, subdued acting style more characteristic of Japanese animation.
54	* Later games in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series are fond of this style of acting. It's particularly pronounced in the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch entries, with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' and ''VideoGame/LuigisMansion3'' being standout examples.
55	[[/folder]]
56
57	[[folder:Western Animation]]
58	* ''WesternAnimation/FelixTheCat'' is one of the earliest examples of using this in animation, and it's justified, since almost all of the original B&W films were silent cartoons. Creator/OttoMessmer had studied actor Creator/CharlieChaplin extensively (even working on a cartoon series based on him prior to creating Felix) and realized how important it was to get this kind of expressive acting into drawings. While the cartoons do employ speech balloons for the characters to talk, a lot of the personality is conveyed through the broad, hammy poses and animation.
59	* WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes, although they do have plenty of non-mime acting at the same time.
60	** To get into the specifics, all shorts started out using this, but as the [[DivergentCharacterEvolution various directors created their own styles]] in the late 40s and 50s, only Creator/RobertMcKimson played it completely straight. Creator/ChuckJones aped Creator/TexAvery's below-mentioned style supplemented with complex facial expressions that made mime acting unnecessary, while Creator/BobClampett preferred wild and rubbery DerangedAnimation reminiscent of Fleischer cartoons and Creator/FrizFreleng walked the middle ground between [=McKimson=] and Avery. Later in the 60s, this got increasingly downplayed with the rise of LimitedAnimation.
61	** Warner Bros. also used this in their [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissanceAgeOfAnimation Renaissance Age]] animated films, such as ''WesternAnimation/CatsDontDance'', ''WesternAnimation/QuestForCamelot'', ''WesternAnimation/TheIronGiant'', ''Film/OsmosisJones'', and ''Film/SpaceJam''; and TV series, like ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'', ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'', and ''WesternAnimation/{{Freakazoid}}''.
62	* Creator/FleischerStudios used this in ''WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels'' and ''Film/MrBugGoesToTown''. Most of their other works avoid it, however.
63	* ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' uses this out of necessity, due to the characters having almost no dialogue. Same for [[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerryTheMovie the movie]].
64	** The Creator/ChuckJones shorts have less of this since, as mentioned above, he preferred to display emotion through facial expressions, but they're still the closest he's come to using this since his earlier {{disneyesque}} work.
65	** The WesternAnimation/MGMOneshotCartoons and WesternAnimation/BarneyBear shorts likewise use this, due in part to having many ex Disney staffers on board and the shorts having little to no dialogue.
66	** Creator/HarmanAndIsing initially didn't use this in their early Looney Tunes shorts like ''[[WesternAnimation/BoskoTheTalkInkKid Bosko]]'' or in their early ''WesternAnimation/HappyHarmonies'', but as their draftsmanship and animation improved, they switched to this method of acting.
67	* Creator/TexAvery usually avoided this in both his ''Looney Tunes'' and [[WesternAnimation/TexAveryMGMCartoons MGM cartoons]], in favor of more straight to the point, streetwise acting--many of his cartoons rely on strong, held poses and expressions, sometimes bordering on LimitedAnimation. Occasionally, he dipped into Disney-style acting, but only when he was parodying Disney (i.e. the insufferably mawkish Sammy Squirrel in "Screwball Squirrel") or in cases where only that kind of acting would really work (i.e. all of the Red Hot Riding Hood shorts).
68	* Explicitly avoided in Creator/JohnKricfalusi's cartoons. He usually relies on strongly exaggerated drawings and expressions that don't follow a model sheet or very subtle acting to get his points across. He does agree with the point Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston made in ''Literature/TheIllusionOfLife'' that it is impossible for animation to reach the same subtle acting as live action, but that live acting should be caricatured to make its point instead of using stagey mime like acting or symbolic emotions. [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/06/suspicious-ralph.html There]] [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/04/acting-3-jackie-gleason-acting-reacting.html are]] [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/04/acting-specific-expressions-afraid.html several]] [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/04/acting-specific-expressions-exposition.html posts]] [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/04/acting-expressions-ralph-and-norton-act.html that]] [[http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/05/honeymooners-babysitter-ralph-hits.html reference]] ''Series/TheHoneymooners'' as a good reference point for getting anti-formulaic acting into animation. He also cites Bob Clampett and sometimes Creator/ChuckJones and Creator/RobertMcKimson cartoons, and occasionally even Creator/FleischerStudios cartoons like ''WesternAnimation/{{Popeye}}'' for examples of non-Disney style animation acting.
69	* Creator/MikeJudge avoids this in his cartoons such as WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead and ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' in favor of more subdued acting.
70	* Danny Antonucci likewise tells his animators to avoid this style of acting [[WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy in his cartoons.]]
71	* The made for TV Creator/HannaBarbera cartoons and their contemporaries such as Filmation and Ruby Spears usually avoided this, largely because of their use of LimitedAnimation.
72	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'' intentionally avoided this style of acting to better serve the down to earth tone of the series. [[https://img.fireden.net/co/image/1522/55/1522554996133.jpg The original style guide for the show]] even warned the artists not to use theatrical gestures like finger pointing for the babies, saying that characters like Tommy, being one year old, should be free of any kind of acting that conveys affection, maturity, cultural conditioning and malice. The movies get a little more expressive in the acting, but nowhere to the extent of a Disney movie.
73	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' intentionally bucks this kind of theatrical, hammy character acting in favor of subdued, realistic movements, in line with the show's more down-to-earth nature compared to other cartoons at the time. It was a contributing factor in the style [[CondemnedByHistory falling out of favor with television animators]], as few shows released after ''[=The Simpsons'=]'' meteoric rise to fame (even comedies) have intentionally adhered to it. Outside of the EarlyInstallmentWeirdness-laden "Some Enchanted Evening", the few times ''The Simpsons'' uses this style of animation are typically [[{{Disneyesque}} as an homage to other cartoons]].
74	[[/folder]]

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