To Paraphrase the great Richard Williams - Animation is Acting, and Acting is Animation. Having spent years at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, earning my masters in film production, I focused on directing, and I worked with dozens of actors in all types of dramatic scenes. And telling the story comes first and foremost. In teaching acting to animation students, I begin with character development, motivation, blocking, movement, and finally the fine nuances of performance and physical mechanics. I require students to work with the simplest animation rig (3D character) so they will focus on the main challenges of the animation process. Facial expressions are useful only after all the possibilities of body language are fully explored. It's a simple concept, but the results are excellent.