Anticipation...
...is used to prepare the audience for a certain action, and to make movement seem more realistic. It can come in many different forms from something as short as a small expression or even as big as the broadest physical movement.
People often won't understand the events within the scene unless a planned sequence of actions is created that leads them clearly from one activity to the next. The Audience must be prepared for the next movement and expect it before it actually occurs, this is achieved by preceding each each 'key' action or movement with a specific prompt that anticipates for the viewers what is set to happen.
A clear and easy to understand example is how before a man sets off for a run, he might crouch low assembling himself like a spring
as he aims himself at the place of the next planned activity, making the audience anticipate his next move and where it plans to take him.
Anticipation is one of the oldest devices used within the theatre, without it the crowd becomes confused and thoughts and whispers of ''What's going on?'' begin to be heard.
The use of this principle may not show why a character is doing something, but there should be no question as to what he's doing or aiming to do next. Expecting these anticipated actions the audience can therefore enjoy the way in which it is done when they finally appear on screen. However the drastic opposite of this form of anticipation is the 'surprise gag', that only works when the spectators are expecting one thing to happen, and suddenly, without any forewarning, something entirely different happens, causing them to be caught off guard. Having said that the surprise gag can't work if an alternative action has not been clearly anticipated by the audience beforehand.
People often won't understand the events within the scene unless a planned sequence of actions is created that leads them clearly from one activity to the next. The Audience must be prepared for the next movement and expect it before it actually occurs, this is achieved by preceding each each 'key' action or movement with a specific prompt that anticipates for the viewers what is set to happen.
A clear and easy to understand example is how before a man sets off for a run, he might crouch low assembling himself like a spring
as he aims himself at the place of the next planned activity, making the audience anticipate his next move and where it plans to take him.
Anticipation is one of the oldest devices used within the theatre, without it the crowd becomes confused and thoughts and whispers of ''What's going on?'' begin to be heard.
The use of this principle may not show why a character is doing something, but there should be no question as to what he's doing or aiming to do next. Expecting these anticipated actions the audience can therefore enjoy the way in which it is done when they finally appear on screen. However the drastic opposite of this form of anticipation is the 'surprise gag', that only works when the spectators are expecting one thing to happen, and suddenly, without any forewarning, something entirely different happens, causing them to be caught off guard. Having said that the surprise gag can't work if an alternative action has not been clearly anticipated by the audience beforehand.
Classic Example:
Seen below is a classic cartoon from 1975 called 'The Mole at Christmas', translated to english. Within this film you can see a variety of different times in which anticipation has been used. The first key example at the very start of this clip where the mole takes a little sniff and a peek out of the snow, causing the audience to understand how he is assessing the situation outside, before actually leaving his home. He then completely disappears again and with the notion that he has just assessed his surroundings outside, you as the audience are naturally waiting for him to pop out again. At this point anticipation is then brought into play through the of 'quiet time' where nothing is happening upon the screen, this then causes the audience suspense for the action they know to expect, e.g. the mole popping/jumping out of his hole.
The use of anticipation not only helps prepare the audience for the next action(s) coming about, but also helps to make those actions more intense and realistic.
Seen below is a classic cartoon from 1975 called 'The Mole at Christmas', translated to english. Within this film you can see a variety of different times in which anticipation has been used. The first key example at the very start of this clip where the mole takes a little sniff and a peek out of the snow, causing the audience to understand how he is assessing the situation outside, before actually leaving his home. He then completely disappears again and with the notion that he has just assessed his surroundings outside, you as the audience are naturally waiting for him to pop out again. At this point anticipation is then brought into play through the of 'quiet time' where nothing is happening upon the screen, this then causes the audience suspense for the action they know to expect, e.g. the mole popping/jumping out of his hole.
The use of anticipation not only helps prepare the audience for the next action(s) coming about, but also helps to make those actions more intense and realistic.
Contemporary Example:
Here is another example of anticipation in the form of a contemporary animation. Within this clip the scene is set by Peter's initial analogy explaining how after they all drink ipecac the one who goes the longest without puking wins the last slice of pie in the fridge. Straight after they then drink the ipecac you can clearly see the anticipation within the scene, with the way they simply sit in silence for two seconds, then begin to make simple small talk, causing the audience suspense, and leaving them just hanging on for the punch line, being one or all of the characters puking up. This then comes, as expected, but still rather abruptly and in possibly a more surprise gag fashion than what was being expected by the audience, due to it happening to Peter when he's in mid sentence. However this only exaggerates and heightens the comedy of the anticipation within this short clip.
Written by Nick Crimmen