The unexpected path: how animation might be used to help carers interpret restricted expressions in their patients

Character animators strive to observe and interpret expressions to instil into their animated characters, for example, using mirrors to study their own expressions or though observing others. This paper describes the path taken when an animator/researcher tried to explore subtle and restrained emotion through creative practice methodology. While this research was initially conducted to explore and inform animation practice, the author’s own experience in caring for a terminally ill-relative revealed new and unexpected avenues as to how this research might be extended to help carers interpret (and thus respond to) patients who are unable to speciÖcally vocalise their needs or are too ill to express themselves beyond the smallest of gestures. Such gestures might include, the hint of a facial expression, the slightest tilt or tension of the body. This paper discusses how animation practice might be used as a tool of study, and discusses the possibility of expanding research into ways to help animators and carers become more attuned to perceiving and acting upon emotions that are (through cultural rules or physical restraints) otherwise restricted or subdued