Wednesday we will be giving our presentations to the class on each principle. I managed to pull the principle exaggeration from the hat, not vague at all. However i think i have found a method of concluding how the principle may apply to use as computer animators, anywho i've posted the slides below along with the notes i've written gathered from researching the principle. I found alot of useful information from disenys: the illustion of life including a strong exsplanaton of how it is used. However this was only one point of view, there are a many different animators out there who have all applied the same principle in thier own terms.

Exaggeration refers to biging something up –

to make it larger than life, stretching the limits, 

In general we relate the phrase exaggeration to a form of lying or stretching the truth ~ make something larger than life and so on which is essentially what we do as animators

With animation we can exaggerate anything from physical forms of characters in 3D models, for caricatures for example. As well as backgrounds, physical abilities,

 it can be used to over dramatize a situation for comedic effect, or even stretch the natural laws of the animation universe.

Exaggeration can be as extreme as bending an arm back on a pose which would be physically impossible to a human being.

Or as small as bending a finger back further than physically possible 

According to Lassiter the key to exaggeration is balance, particularly the balance between what to exaggerate and what not.

Over exaggerating everything in a scene would lose the believability in the audience ~ the scene just wouldn't appear real

 He describes that if too many ideas are exaggerated then the scene can become too unrealistic.

From Walt Disney's the illusion of life book Walt’s interpretation for exaggeration was “realism”

however he wasn’t referring to the realism in terms of realistic drawing or movement, (like rotoscoping)

he was referring to the idea of breaking the concept down to the bare bone and developing the essence.

if a character is scared, make him terrified, if a character is sad make him sadder.

 only show first 20 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN80Z2KZa-Y - Silly Symphony - The Skeleton Dance - 1929

In the clip the owl inhales, moves and turns its head as any real owl would, but in a exaggerated style with an exaggerated chest and over spinning the head.

For walt, the idea was about exaggerating the real but keeping it within the realm of realism and not something completely surreal or disturbing.

But this isn’t the only method to use exaggeration in animation

 

Tex Avery the American animator had a different point of view.

He believed "In a cartoon you can do anything," he encouraged animators to push bounties and exaggerate beyond the physical laws. His exaggerated gags included slapstick comedy, exaggerating physical violence beyond common sense,  speedy transitions, dramatic poses, and jumps off the page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gurhu2bbrP4&NR=1 ~ red hot riding hood (1943)

These are only two examples as there are many more different styles to exaggeration,

In conclusion Exaggeration can be a rather vague principle,

but as a character animator I think the idea of exaggerating

 a particular emotion or action and emphasizing the characteristics to a degree larger than life would best describe

how we use exaggeration as a principle.