Animation Fundamentals: Welcome to Hell
Welcome to Hell is an animated short film created by Erica Wester that follows the comedic misadventure of Sock while he attempts to haunt highschooler Jonathan after being hired by the devil himself. While Erica Wester utilizes multiple techniques from the 12 principles of animation, the ones I’ve chosen to focus on are appeal, overlapping action, and anticipation.
Right from the beginning of the short, the audience is introduced to the characters Sock and Jonathan. We as the audience can already tell a lot about these characters simply based on how they look. This is the animation principle of appeal.
Sock’s entire wardrobe is contrasting and strange, with clashing colors, weird clothing combinations (skirt with jeans, etc.), and a uniquely characteristic hat. From this, we can deduce that he’s far from ordinary and is probably more than a bit strange. A social outcast, perhaps. Jonathan, on the other hand, has a much “plainer” design, but that’s not a bad thing. He’s made of big, round shapes similar to Sock, but it’s contrasted with some more angular lines. He looks unamused, tired and wears baggy clothes, giving him the perfect look for an apathetic highschooler. However, what makes his silhouette stand out against similar character designs is his hair, which gives him a bit more personality on its own. The final character we are introduced to is Mephistopheles. He’s confident and charismatic, which is emphasized by his triangular and sharp design and dark, formal attire. Even his red hair ties into the generally comedic use of the phrase “gingers have no souls.” It’s pretty clear from his introduction that he’s the devil, but his physical appearance helps bring this message to a whole other level.
Another principle of animation that makes these characters even more interesting to look at is the use of overlapping action. Welcome to Hell is littered with overlapping action and it’s one of the reasons the animation has so much personality. Hair and loose articles of clothing are the most prominent examples of this.
In these screenshots, Sock’s hat and hair represent the overlapping actions that accompany the primary action at 2:40. As Sock is being moved around by Mephistopheles, the delay of his hat and hair catching up with the rest of his body shows the weight of the movement. This also manages to give more life-like qualities to the animation because a fabric hat and hair would move in a similar way in real life. Even Mephistopheles’ sideburns have their own overlapping action.
An important principle that Welcome to Hell takes into account on multiple occasions is anticipation. Anticipation is used to quite the extreme to emphasize the impact of the action or just to make the action itself more noticeable. These instances of anticipation include Jonathan throwing the basketball at 5:45, Jonathan pushing the desk and Sock away at 6:45, Sock putting his hat back on at 7:10, and many more. In each scene, the anticipation is shown through a wind-up or preparation for the action, such as throwing the ball or pulling a hat back on.
Welcome to Hell, while still rough around the edges, is a great example of the 12 principles of animation at work. They manage to bring the sketchy world to life and give it a spark and charm that might not otherwise be there.
