The Teachers' Animation Toolkit

Close-up:
A framing size that emphasizes a character (human or otherwise) 
in an intense way from the neck up. Close-ups tend to be used 
for the most powerful and important emotional moments of a fi lm. 
Very good examples are to be seen in the 
Wallace and Gromit
fi lms and 
Pixar
’s fi lms.
Composer:
The composer creates pieces of music to accompany the images 
and sounds of a fi lm. The composer typically works on the fi lm 
once it has been edited together. Composers from the worlds of 
classical music, such as Dimitri Shostakovich, Aaron Copland 
and Ralph Vaughan Williams have written music for fi lms. Music 
for fi lms has also been written by musicians such as Peter Gabriel 
and Philip Glass. In animation specifi cally, one of the most 
famous pieces of music that has recently been used has been 
Sergei Prokofi ev’s music 
Peter and the Wolf
which was recently 
used for the Suzie Templeton animated fi lm adaptation. This 
way of putting animated characters to music is different to the 
way in which Norman McLaren, for example, creates animated, 
‘experimental’ fi lms, to music. There are infi nite ways to create 
music to accompany an animated fi lm.
Cut:
This is a command that can be stated during the making of a 
fi lm in order to state the end of take. A cut also refers to the 
point where one frame joins another in the process editing. A 
cut can emphasize continuity or be far more ‘unrealistic’. Sergei 
Eisenstein developed an idea of montage editing. Editing is not 
solely about eliminating material but recombining and composing 
it by cutting it together in a variety of ways–infi nite ways–to create 
a range of emotional and intellectual effects.
Dialogue:
This is the spoken word that develops between characters. 
Dialogue is typically synchronous with characters’ mouth 

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movement though there are exceptions to the convention. Not all 
animated fi lms require dialogue for their interest and meaning. 
When creating dialogue think of quite brief statements rather than 
longer statements or replies.