Squash and Stretch - 22/10/19

Squash and stretch is a technique used alongside exaggeration to enhance a character's action/reaction. The most important thing to consider is that when squashing/stretching, the dimensions/volume should stay the same (unless exaggerating).

The first exercise we did to practice this was a vertical bouncing ball, using this corn starch cylinder as from the top view it's circular, and the side view its elongated thus giving the appearance of stretch/squash. We had no instruction with this and therefore we had to experiment and fail ourselves. The end result wasn't perfect but I feel was a good first attempt. The main thing we had to change about this one is removing one of the stretch frames as it started stretching too early - it should only stretch just before it's about to land. The height of the second bounce should also be slightly higher too. One thing that we learnt was that although it was shot on 2's, the squash frames as it landed on the ground should be on 1's as that movement is very quick.

We then were taught about bouncing balls moving in an arc. The main points to this were that the ball needed to be spaced so that it was cushioned at the peak of the arc, almost like a reverse easy ease. Also the path of the ball should be an arc and not a zigzag, as well as that the ball should stretch-squash-stretch upon landing. Whether it stretches any longer before landing is up to the animator based on how elastic they want the ball, but that should also dictate how high the peak of the next arc is. I think this one is a lot better than the first as all the frames were spaced well and in the correct order, however to improve it it would need to be sped up, either by making the framerate 30fps, or by shooting it on 1's. Currently it looks a bit floaty.

The last exercise was to create a flipbook animation of an action that utilises squash and stretch. I think the actual stretch and squash drawings although exaggerated were good and well proportioned, however the timing of the animation was a bit off. I think the start of the stretch should have been slower to show more effort going in to stretching the character, and it should have held for a few more drawings at full stretch to then emphasise the speed of the release. The first squash frame should be a bit more squashed and then when it comes back up from the squash it should stretch a little bit rather than going straight into the final position as at the moment that final movement looks a bit jumpy.