← Animation Glossary

Plot

Plot in animation is the story of a movie or TV show. It's what happens in the cartoon, from beginning to end.

The plot is the backbone of any animation project. It serves as a guide for the characters’ actions, motivations, and decisions, and ultimately determines the direction and success of the story. Without a strong plot, an animation can quickly become dull, confusing, or uninteresting to viewers.

One of the key elements of a good plot is structure. A well-structured plot follows a clear beginning, middle, and end format that builds upon itself throughout the story. At the beginning of an animation, viewers are introduced to the main character(s) and their world. This often includes establishing the setting, introducing conflicts or challenges that they need to overcome, and providing context for their motivations and goals.

As the animation progresses into its middle section, the main characters are faced with obstacles that challenge their goals and beliefs. This is where subplots and side stories can be introduced to add depth to the story while still serving the overall plot. These subplots can provide additional information about supporting characters, add complications or twists to the narrative, or provide background information that helps explain certain events.

The climax of an animation occurs towards the end of the story when the main character(s) face their biggest challenge yet. This is often where they are forced to make a difficult decision or sacrifice something important in order to achieve their goal. The resolution follows soon after, providing closure for both the characters and viewers alike.

A successful plot also has clearly defined goals for its main character(s). These goals can be anything from saving someone’s life to discovering a hidden treasure or even just finding happiness. Goals help drive the story forward by giving characters something to strive towards and overcome obstacles for.

Obstacles are another crucial component of a good plot. They create tension and conflict that keep viewers invested in what happens next. Obstacles can come in many forms - from physical barriers like mountains or rivers to emotional barriers like fear or self-doubt.

Ultimately, a well-crafted plot should provide a satisfying resolution for both the characters and viewers. This means that loose ends are tied up, questions are answered, and the story’s themes are fully explored. A strong plot is essential to creating an animation that resonates with audiences long after it is over.

Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Ambient sound

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Casting

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Character Design Sheets

Cinematic lighting

Claymation

Clean-up

Close-up

Color Correction

Color Grading

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Continuity editing

Cross-cutting

Cut

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Dissolve

Distributed Rendering

Dolby Atmos

Dope Sheet

Dutch Angle

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Framing

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

High key lighting

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

Jump cut

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

Low key lighting

M

Match cut

Matte painting

Montage

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

N

Network rendering

Non-linear editing

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Pan

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Props

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Score

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Sound effects

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Split screen

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tracking shot

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

Voice-over Narration

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Wide shot

Z

Z-depth

Zoom

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