Product Description

This book sorts out the acting theory that animators need, presenting it in a form and with references that are more relevant to the animators world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79904 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Review
“Ed Hooks is Stanislavsky for animators, but fun! I advise all my animation students to read Ed's amazingly insightful book.”–Dave Quesnelle, Professor of Animation, Sheridan Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning

“Ed Hooks' Acting for Animators was the first book on the subject and is still the best. His analysis of character motivation and expressing emotion is the difference between animating and just moving furniture.”–Gene Hamm, Animation instructor, Academy of Art College, San Francisco

“Character animators, using pencils and/or pixels, will discover a wealth of information about how to make their characters express empathetic emotions in the revised edition of”–John Canemaker, Animator/Director of Animation, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University

“If I can't figure out what is wrong with one of my characters, I can pick up Ed's book, scan for just a short while, and come back with my direction. It's the I Ching for animators.”–#91;this book

“Wonderful teaching! Ed Hooks is fascinated and fascinating.”–#93;. . . . Highly recommended.

About the Author
Ed Hooks has been a respected acting teacher for three decades. In his work with animators, he has taught for many leading studios, including Disney Feature Animation, DreamWorks/PDI, Electronic Arts, Rockstar, Will Vinton Studios, Valve, BioWare, Tippett Studio, Wild Brain, OddWorld Inhabitants, Microsoft (X-Box/Fasa Studio) and Sony Computer Entertainment America. In addition, he has been a featured speaker/teacher at many international animation conferences, festivals and schools. Hooks welcomes questions or commentsjust email him at edhooks@edhooks.com or visit his website: www.ActingForAnimators.com.

Customer Reviews

About the five stars...
In case you were wondering why all of four people who reviewed this book gave it five stars, it's because a certain 'friend' of Mr. Hooks has taken to having Amazon remove all reviews who don't directly correspond to her own opinion.

Let me just say that while the book is slightly useful, it's nothing you can't learn on your own by watching the way people move in real life. The book contains useful tidbits, like how characters should always be doing something, and there needs to be a purpose behind every action. The explainations of different acting theories are less helpful, at least to me, but much of the book is helpful in giving your characters convincing personalities. My suggestion is that you should get the book, but definitely never attend one of Mr. Hooks' workshops, since they present nothing new that isn't in the book (and perhaps even less) and cost about ten times more.

And to that certain 'friend' of Mr. Hooks. If you truly 'respect my opinion' then I should have just as much right to review here as anyone else. That is what amazon reviews are for.

Groundbreaking, "must have" book for animators;
Mr. Hooks has succeeded in condensing years of experience teaching his internationally recognized Master Class "Acting for Animators" into a manageably sized and reasonably priced book & CD combination. This is an expanded 2nd Edition of a title first published in 2000 and now in use around the world, as a source manual and text book, by industry leading professional animators as well as animation students in the most highly regarded animation schools.

Traditional 2D, contemporary 3D, and experimental animators devoted to "telling a story" with their characters will relish the wealth of straightforward insight presented on topics critical to character design and animations development such as movement and body language, power centers, using psychological gestures, scene development, knowing the audience, and much more.

Dispersed throughout "Acting for Animators"- entertainingly illustrating the principals discussed in each chapter- are delightful little line drawn characters from the pen of renowned animator and director Paul Naas. And, not only does this unique and timely book contain a remarkable "Acting Analysis" of the groundbreaking and sure to be classic feature length animation "Iron Giant," it opens with a glowing forward by the film's Director, Brad Bird.

Ed Hooks is the original and still leading "Acting for Animators" teacher called upon by animation studios and schools in the United States and overseas. The contents of this book parallel his teaching perfectly.

Speaking as an animator in training and a Producer in action- who has had the good fortune to participate in Ed Hooks' recent Master Class in Denver after first meeting him as an acting student in California at the beginning of his now 20 year career as a highly regarded stage, tv & film acting coach- I say this is a "must have" for any animator who wants their work to stand out from the pack and grab the audience by the funny bone and/or the heart!

Consult "Acting for Animators" right along with Richard Williams' "The Animator's Survival Kit" and your animations will rock!

Anne-Elizabeth
Denver, Colorado
inside@centralvectors.com

A joy
I wish I read this book years ago. I've been animating professionaly for years, but there's information in this book that has given me a different mind set into accomplishing what I need to create.
I've always been able to 'see' faults in my work and fix it without knowing consiously how I made the error in the first place. Now, after reading this book I take a new vantage point and can prevent any errors occuring (usually). I think my style of animation has changed a little too.

The book is fun to read and the chapters are straight to the point. Recommended to every animator.