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Balance - AnimatedSpirit

The document discusses the importance of balance in art and design. It states that balance is achieved through unevenness, contrast and variation rather than uniform symmetry. Balance creates harmony but too much evenness can be boring. The document provides examples from films and illustrations to demonstrate how artists use techniques like dividing the frame into thirds, asymmetrical character placement, and ebb and flow of dialogue to achieve an interesting balance. While balance is important, the document argues that unevenness, change and contrast are what create texture and hold audience attention.

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Mārs Laran
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56 views

Balance - AnimatedSpirit

The document discusses the importance of balance in art and design. It states that balance is achieved through unevenness, contrast and variation rather than uniform symmetry. Balance creates harmony but too much evenness can be boring. The document provides examples from films and illustrations to demonstrate how artists use techniques like dividing the frame into thirds, asymmetrical character placement, and ebb and flow of dialogue to achieve an interesting balance. While balance is important, the document argues that unevenness, change and contrast are what create texture and hold audience attention.

Uploaded by

Mārs Laran
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Balance

[1]

[2]

The Zen symbol for wholeness, emptiness and balance.


In the words of spiritual sage and author, Thomas Merton:

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order,


rhythm and harmony.
These words ring so true dont they? Balance is the ever elusive goal
for many of us. Without balance, things look disjointed, off-kilter, and
disharmonious. Its tough to do or sustain in life, and even trickier to
achieve in art, that is, without making things completely symmetrical.
[3]

[4]

A comparison of shape geometry, placement and rhythm. Which is more


interesting to you?
Balance can be easily achieved with symmetry or evenness, but that is
neither effective or desirable in the arts. In animation, we refer to it as
twinning but in entertainment circles, we call it boring. Therefore, the

creative individual is constantly challenged to find balance in their


work without uniformity, which is, unfortunately, inherent in our age
of digital technology. Its the default setting whether were talking
about poses, timing, negative shapes, depth or lighting.
[5]

[6]

Most rigs, like this free one from Anim School, usually come in the form of
a default T-Pose. Everything you get for free is even-steven.
But there are general artistic guidelines to help achieve this elusive
goal. If the work is good, evenness is avoided, while balance is
achieved allowing for contrast, texture, and ultimately, greater
interest like this example by Milt Kahl:
[7]

[8]
[9]

[10]

Milt Kahls beautiful staging, from Disneys The Sword in the Stone,
demonstrates great depth (using overlap and foreshortening),
asymmetrical balance, point of focus and absolute clarity.
Almost all films are structured in three acts, rather than an even four.
Syd Fields three act paradigm chart, is pretty much the standard for
not just Hollywood but almost the entire film-making world.

[11]

Syd Fields Three Act Paradigm chart


Great balance is needed not just in cinematic design but in every
aspect of all artistic compositions, both visually and rhythmically.
Whether youre breaking down a piece of dialogue/story/layout,
components must have ebb and flows between them, changes and
surprises that make it interesting. Its why divisions on thirds, or fifths
work so well in screen composition:
[12]

[13]

David Leans epic film, Lawrence of Arabia, abides perfectly to the concept
of dividing the screen into thirds, while giving the image balance,
movement and beauty.
In both music and dialogue, there are ebbs and flows throughout.
Good audio design gives a scene texture to work with.
[14]

[15]

Simple Dialogue breakdown to determine the flow and rhythm of the


audio, hi-lighting syllables and rising tone of the recording.
If elements of your work/composition are too evenly spread out, the
audience doesnt know what to do. It doesnt know where to look,
what to focus on. Arrangement of shapes, must be orderly, balanced
yet interestingly uneven.
[16]

[17]

Stanley Kubricks use of fifths in his landmark film, 2001: A Space


Odyssey. Notice how each division supports the whole.
You also find balance achieved in good character design, where big
shapes are complemented by smaller ones, and they are harmoniously
integrated within the whole as often seen on character model sheets
such as this:

[18]

The simple yet balanced shapes of the characters from Walt Disneys
Aladdin demonstrate weight and elegance.
In Stanley Kubricks Dr. Strangelove, there are wonderful
compositions throughout the film. Although hes infamous for his
dominant use of one point perspective and framing on fifths, he also
did very intriguing things with perspective, sets and character
placement, while still achieving balance:
[19]

[20]

Does this optical illusion, created by the rabbit-ear telescoping of phone


cables created by the mirror and placement of the George C. Scotts
character, imply in some way how much this woman owns him? The boxer
shorts, pin up pose and high heels, are a further give away of the clear
message sent by the director. From Stanley Kubricks 1964 black comedy,
Dr. Stranglove.
Whats your main theme? whos your central character? Change and
contrast create interest. Variation gives the work texture and
uniqueness. Allowing one area to dominate will give it focus.
[21]

[22]

Note the dominance of the screen right eye (elegantly placed right at the
apex of the golden rectangle) in this gorgeous portrait by John Singer
Sargeant.
So, be careful of balance. It must be there, but know that its
unevenness, change and contrast that help create texture and interest.
Only then, do you have a chance of holding on to an audiences
attention.

Links
1. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/zenSymbol.jpg
2. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/zenSymbol.jpg
3. http://i2.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wp-

content/uploads/2015/06/Shape_variations1.jpg
4. http://i2.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/06/Shape_variations1.jpg
5. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/MalcolmT_Pose.jpeg
6. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/MalcolmT_Pose.jpeg
7. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/MiltKahl_stone.jpg
8. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/MiltKahl_stone.jpg
9. http://i2.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/06/MiltKahl_stone_annotated.jpg
10. http://i2.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/06/MiltKahl_stone_annotated.jpg
11. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/SydField-e1432180331544.gif
12. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/lawrenceofarabia2.jpg
13. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/lawrenceofarabia2.jpg
14. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/06/Dialogue_Breakdown.jpg
15. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/06/Dialogue_Breakdown.jpg
16. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/2001-a-space-odyssey-1.jpg

17. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/2001-a-space-odyssey-1.jpg
18. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/Aladdin.jpg
19. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/dr.strangelove.jpg
20. http://i0.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/dr.strangelove.jpg
21. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/Sargent_Jean_Joseph_Marie_Carriesae1432181960383.jpg
22. http://i1.wp.com/www.animatedspirit.com/wpcontent/uploads/2015/05/Sargent_Jean_Joseph_Marie_Carriesae1432181960383.jpg

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