Filmmaking Tips from the Disney Masters!

Find a Hook for your character

• Use your life experience when making artistic choices
• Draw on your memories to add depth to characters
• Always ask: what is this character thinking and why is he thinking that way?

Don't animate drawings, animate feelings

• Crawl into your character's head and animate from the inside
• Lighting and camera placement should match your character's emotional state
• Easier to add technique to something emotionally true than to add emotion to sterile technique

Animate the more Aggressive Character First 

• For a doc, interview your most aggressive character first
• For narrative, light and block your most aggressive character first
• Use less aggressive characters to add shading to your piece

Observation, Observation, Observation!

• True whether you are capturing reality with a pencil, a camera or a computer
• Go out and just watch. Then draw. (Or film.)
• Learn your subject so well that you don't need the reference anymore

 Observe then plus Reality

• Mission statement for any filmmaker in any genre or discipline
• Choose what to leave in and select what to add or take out
• Difference between going to the zoo and watching Animal Planet 

Explore ALL possibilities in your thumbnails!

• Or in your script, or in your notes
• You can't succeed if you're afraid to fail
• Never throw away bad work - worst case, you can later see that you’ve grown as an artist

 Break Things Up – Everything Moving At the Same Time Looks Weightless

• Good advice either way; how to shoot a science-fiction weightless scene
• Also confuses audience; they don't know where to look
• Simplify and focus

 You Owe It to Yourself and the Medium

• Set high standards for yourself
• Work hard; don't settle for second best
• Set an example for your cast and crew

 Incorporate Asymmetry (In Facial Expressions and Lip-Syncing)

• Symmetry is boring
• Asymmetry adds character
• True for lighting, scripts, actors, staging, blocking, etc...

  If It Doesn’t Look Natural, It’s No Good

• Show audience something they know to be true; easier for them to accept your fantasy

 You Need to be Sincere in Your Own Work

• Avoid theatrics
• Focus on making characters come to life
• Don’t be ambiguous; make it strong and clear

  It’s All About Feeling - That is Number One

• Capturing emotion is more important than technique
• Draftsmanship (or staging) is secondary; acting comes first
• Let the audience see what the characters are thinking and feeling

Don’t Forget, This Is Supposed to Be Fun!

Don't Try To Be the Next Ollie Johnson, Be the First You

• Young filmmakers have a tendency to try to replicate their idols.
• To be successful, you need to express yourself in your projects.
• Apply your own sense of humor, of drama, of romance, of fear.

My 2 opinions; these are really great tips to use and apply to ones' own artwork.  I loved the sketches that went with the article. And question; TEH? Really?