After layout, animation begins. This department takes the character movements blocked out by the layout department and begins to refine them, crafting them into the performances that are expected by viewers. The animators are the actors of the film, making the characters move and speak according to the director's wishes. For Strings, Kestrel Kiegel was the Character Animation lead. In this position, she was responsible for artist recruitment, shot assignments, notes, and coordination between the animation department and all other areas. The team of character animators was responsible for all movement in the scenes, including facial animation, tutu fluff, picture frames falling, and basic string blocking. Character animation is a complicated process that requires a lot of work. The animation team spent ten weeks working on this short, with a critique session each week for director notes. With Covid-19 restricting access to campus, the team had to communicate over Discord and share files through Box. They also had to remote into the school computers in order to access the software and resources required.

-Kestrel Kiegel- Animation Lead