Anticipation

Anticipation in animation is very important.  If a character does not show his/her anticipation thorugh their movements or actions, then the short definetely would not work properly and flow to its full ability.  Anticipation is used to prepare the audience for an action, and to make the action appear more realistic. A dancer jumping off the floor has to bend his knees first; a golfer making a swing has to swing the club back first. The technique can also be used for less physical actions, such as a character looking off-screen to anticipate someone's arrival, or attention focusing on an object that a character is about to pick up. An example can be seen here: