Thursday, March 17, 2011

LABAN GESTURE EFFORTS







Recently I promised a teacher friend to repost what I'd put up about Ed Hooks (mistakenly referred to as "Hook" above) and the Laban theory of movement that he teaches. Well here are the sketches, pizza stains and all. I wonder if I made another mistake when I drew effort number one? My sketch looks like pinching rather than flicking. I don't have the book now, so I can't check it. 

I'm sorry to say that I'm not a fan of Laban's theories. I think animators would better off spending the time learning how to draw. I have to admit though, that there's a germ of an interesting idea here. Seeing the ideas laid out like this does make me wonder if some type of just-for-fun, cartoonist Kata (a martial arts term) might be possible. 




Here's (above) all eight of the Laban gestures performed by acting students. The teacher shouts out the names of different gestures, and they have to adapt the gesture to their acting of the lines.  I don't think Shakespeare's very well served here, but it's just an exercise.



This video (above) on stage movement looks like a kind of yoga for actors and cartoonists. There's some nice moves here.


14 comments:

Stephen Worth said...

You left out the best ones! Picking, scratching and chewing!

Anonymous said...

They seem like they'd be good to make fun of in animation, or used on an over the top character.

I always thought it would be funny to watch Ren And Stimpy, or even just "normal" characters meet a character that moves and makes facial expressions like a cliched disney character,I don't mean personality or character type since they've been parodied to death.

Alberto said...

Great post! I'm a flicker and a dabber based on his theory.

The first video was interesting, to me it was like they were using their body and gestures as a metronome you could see the Shakespeare's poetic meter at work.
The yoga lady had creepy hand gestures, it's as if she were Norma Desmond as a contortionist.

Also, I agree with Stephen.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Steve: Good choices! Scratching is a must. I'd put pecking in there since I almost got killed the last time I innocently pecked someone.

thomas said...

Wringing seems close the break dancing.
Nice drawings.. They get the idea of movement across very economically. Thanks

Nicholas John Pozega said...

Hey Eddie, since i felt this was a good time to ask, what you do think of the two feature films that the Fleischers made? I just got the Gulliver's Travels Winstar DVD, and i'm awaiting the Mr. Bug DVD.

Granted, they're both flawed films, but there are quite a few things i like about them in spite of what they did wrong, and so do many other animation fans. The youtube comments for Gulliver praise the film, some even saying it's better than Snow White or even having more meaning than Snow White (i.e. for it's anti-war message) and Jerry Beck said it was one of his favorite animated films. Anime legend Hayao Miyazaki has praised Mr. Bug, calling it one of his biggest influences and prefers both of the Fleischer films over Disney's product, to the point where he got Studio Ghibli to restore Mr. Bug and gain the exclusive distribution rights to the film over there. Does this interest you?

On a side note, i've been practicing drawing Felix the Cat, and i even made a little comic about him today. I'm going to post them on my blog tonight around 8:00, so check it out when you have the time, okay? I'll appreciate it!

Jorge Garrido said...

My favourite of your theories of all time were your interpretations of the Descartes style acting theories.

And I absolutely LOVE the pose, the body language, on the very last drawing.

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Jorge: THANK YOU for the compliment!!!! Jorge, you're my new hero! I'm going to change my will and leave Theory Mansion to you...except wicked lawyers and an evil butler will probably try to cheat you out of it!

You're one of the very few people who realized how important that Delsarte discussion was. I take the blame, though. I did a bad job of presenting it. I'll post it again soon with some added text and drawings.

I got a LOT more out of Delsarte than I did from Laban. My drawings improved the very day after I read (actually spot read) his book.

Motion Creates Emotion said...

There are other areas of Laban which might be useful, such as Effort (space, time, weight, flow) and shape. I am investigating if these concepts have an effect on animation students.

Currently I only have a case study of 4 survey replies. We will see what happens with there is more data.

Thank you for the post!

Eddie Fitzgerald said...

Sparky: There's some good things in those features, but I prefer the first few Disney films. Actually features aren't a good medium for animated comedy. We're just stuck with that format because distributors and exhibitors won't show anything else. Fleischers' best shorts were much funnier and creative than their features.

Taber said...

I do have a certain fondness for this stuff... it sort of makes me think about the way I'm doing a gesture in terms that are physical, giving me more options to make the gesture custom tailored to the character. That and it's fun to think about!

Smackmonkey said...

Perhaps exercises like this are of some use for the neophytic actor fresh out of adolescence and unpracticed in the unabashed use of their corporeal tools but are almost worthless for an observational discipline like animation. The use of this type of broad semaphore results in nothing less than the hackneyed chicken scratchings that currently substitutes for real art in the animation world. Great character animation, whether broad or subtle, requires a fresh and vital approach to each new action or emotion being depicted. Anything less is tantamount to painting by the numbers.

Joel Brinkerhoff said...

Ed Hooks had some interesting gestures regarding acting and animation. I should have taken notes because all I can remember is one called 'Wringing' which was kind of a twisting thing. He has a book out,(I don't have), that may talk about this.

Joel Brinkerhoff said...

Gosh, I should have read your post before looking at the video. Sorry, it's evident I'm a dope.