In animation the issue of movement is central to any discussion of its nature, irrespective of its form, style or process of creation. As an animator, Norman McLaren believed “the most important thing in film is motion, movement” (in Bendazzi, 1994:117), whilst Wells describes animated films as “the artificial creation of the illusion of movement in inanimate lines and forms” (1998:10). Movement is of primary concern in this simple definition and in earlier critical analyses of animation, Sergei Eisenstein “recognised ‘if it moves, then it’s alive’” [italics in original] (Leyda, 1988:54 quoted in Wells, 1998:14). This paper considers the concept of movement in animation films expressed in the kinesic performance of the character(s).

The analysis focuses on movement in computer generated animation, specifically Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001: dir. Hironobu Sakaguchi), and Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, (2005: dir. Tetsuya Nomura and Takeshi Nozue) and will draw on the work of Gunther Kress and Theo van Leeuwen. It should be noted that this paper is an exploration of the social semiotics grammar of Kress and van Leeuwen, as applied specifically to movement. This latter aspect is somewhat neglected in their work and the analysis in this paper highlights the applicability of their concepts to the analysis of movement in animation.

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