Basic Directing: Character Animation Overview

The characters can perform basic actions to make the story more visually interesting. You can see an example of this in the Example Script: Basic Direction.

The simplest form is to have the character perform a short action while he/she delivers his/her line of dialogue.  You can add these automatically using the Add Animations button on the right-hand side of your script.

Example: Here, Angie performs the “greeting” behavior WHILE the speech bubble appears.

ANGIE (talk_greet)

Hello there, how are you?

Characters can also perform or do an animation without speaking.

Example: Here, Angie performs the “dance” behavior BEFORE the speech bubble appears. She’ll then stop dancing to deliver her line.

@Angie is dance1

ANGIE

I love dancing!

The @CHARACTER in [animation] waits for the action to be completed before the character does anything else. To start an action without waiting for it to complete – for example, if one character were to dance while a different character speaks – you’ll need a “starts” command in place of the “is.”

Example: Angie dances while you make a comment about it.

@Angie starts dance1

YOU (talk_giggle)

You’re a terrible dancer.