Animation Fundamentals: Panda Bear — “Boys Latin”

A video that exemplifies many different animation fundamentals would be the music video for the song “Boys Latin” by Panda Bear, created by the San Francisco based animation studio “Encyclopedia Pictura”.

Pink blobs and blue squares can be seen squashing and stretching to add a sense of volume to the sprites floating around.

The first fundamental that I found within this music video was the use of squash and stretch used to give movement to the tentacle/grass like colors that flow off of the main characters skin. By animating these colorful shapes with squash and stretch, the viewer can gather more information about what the texture or volume of these colorful shapes may be like.

Tail like movement is created by the tentacles flowing from her back

The next fundamental that can be noted is the use of secondary action. As the character sways her arms, stumbles, or falls to the ground, the tentacles and shapes blooming off of her twist and bend as a result of her movement. This effect allows her movement to become exaggerated and create a realistic, tail-like, flow of movement for the shapes attached to her.

Anticipation to being thrown (Left) Follow Through/stumbling to regain balance (Right)

In addition to secondary action, anticipation and follow through can also be seen as well. During the scene when the two characters are being thrown around in a circle, they both can be seen having their heads and legs pulled back in anticipation to being thrown. The follow through of this action can be seen when they stumble to the ground and attempt to regain their balance before being thrown again.