Examining some principles of animation in "Luxo Jr."

After watching Luxo Jr several times, I decided to examine and find out how John Lasseter applied the principles of animation and made his short film so successful.

Squash and Stretch:
Luxo Jr squashes and stretches differently, it does not deform. To squash, Luxo folds over on itself, and to stretch, it extends out fully.

Timing:
The two characters in Luxo Jr do not rely on speaking to convey their emotions, but on movement alone. If one action is missed, then the audience would miss an emotion.  Therefore, the animator spent enough time on the anticipation of an action; the action itself; and the reaction to the action, to make sure he catches the audience’s attention at every second of the short.

Anticipation:
In the beginning of Luxo Jr., Dad is on screen looking offstage. Then, he reacts to anticipate something that is going to happen next. When Junior appears, the audience is prepared for the action.

Staging:
Most of the times when Junior was on screen, Dad was barely doing any actions. The reason for that is to keep the audience’s attention on Junior, because the story is mainly about him. The two characters do not do any important action at the same time. For example, after Junior kicked the ball, he looks at Dad, when Dad shakes his head; he gets all the audience’s attention.

Slow in and out:
Junior’s base was heavy, when he jumped, it had to stay inactive then quickly arise in the air from the momentum of his jump, arc over, then land suddenly motionless again.

Exaggeration:
The design of the lamps was based on the real Luxo lamp, but Jr.’s proportions were exaggerated to make him look like a child.
Even though all the movements seemed like natural physics, yet almost every action was exaggerated to emphasise it.

Secondary Action:
When the base hops, Luxo Jr.’s cord moves.

Appeal:
It was achieved in many ways, especially in designing characters. The appeal effect was attained using exaggeration in proportion of Jr.

Personality:
Jr. was very happy and enthusiastic when he was chasing the ball. His jumps are very fast because he can’t wait to get to the ball. When he pops the ball, his jumps change radically to reveal his sadness.