Create a custom theme
0
2 weeks ago, I started term 3 of my animation course. This term covers acting - the fun stuff 
Acting is perhaps the most difficult aspect of animation; not necessarily technically, but in terms of getting into the character and including the things we take for granted as humans. Not to take anything away from actors, but when a human acts for a film, a large part of their process is instinctive. Obviously they have to get into a character to be successful, but the other things are natural and subconcious. Eye-darts, finger movements, brow movements, a slight change in posture, interaction with a pen on the desk, blinks - they all happen naturally but make up the overall act. Also, actors can make several takes trying different things and choose the best one, perhaps review and refine it then shoot it again to be final.
With animation, it's a whole lot tougher. For a start, you don't have the luxury of doing several takes and picking the best - not unless you have a mega-budget and years to waste. It's such a long process that you have to know what you're doing and do it right first time. And those things that the body does naturally certainly don't happen naturally in animation. Every little movement, every subconcious action has to be put in there by the animator. It has to be worked out beforehand then worked in while animating.
So, what's my point? My point is animation acting is tough, but rewarding when it works (not that I'd know since I haven't yet completed an acting piece I'm happy with). Next time you watch an animated film and you truly appreciate the character, think about the amount of work that has gone into making that character 'real'.
This assignment is a 6 week long piece. We were given around 35 dialogue snippets from various sources (mostly old black and white US sitcoms) and asked to choose 3. From those 3, we then chose one to animate on the advice of our mentor. That was week 1.
Week 2 we had to block the shot out. Mine was rubbish so you won't be seeing that
After getting feedback from my mentor, I redid the blocking to something I feel is much more successful. It's still in blocking so it only has the main poses, but I've attached it to this post for you to check out. I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions for it 
Later weeks will simply be refining this into a completed shot, and I'll keep this updated with my progress.
My mentor this term is a guy called Jason Schleifer. He's got an amazing CV but perhaps the pinnicle of his work was Senior Animator for Gollum in the LotR trilogy, no less. He also worked on Madagascar, but I'm not sure what his job was with that.
So anyhoo, here's my shot so far.. Let me know what you think
Ciao
Acting is perhaps the most difficult aspect of animation; not necessarily technically, but in terms of getting into the character and including the things we take for granted as humans. Not to take anything away from actors, but when a human acts for a film, a large part of their process is instinctive. Obviously they have to get into a character to be successful, but the other things are natural and subconcious. Eye-darts, finger movements, brow movements, a slight change in posture, interaction with a pen on the desk, blinks - they all happen naturally but make up the overall act. Also, actors can make several takes trying different things and choose the best one, perhaps review and refine it then shoot it again to be final.
With animation, it's a whole lot tougher. For a start, you don't have the luxury of doing several takes and picking the best - not unless you have a mega-budget and years to waste. It's such a long process that you have to know what you're doing and do it right first time. And those things that the body does naturally certainly don't happen naturally in animation. Every little movement, every subconcious action has to be put in there by the animator. It has to be worked out beforehand then worked in while animating.
So, what's my point? My point is animation acting is tough, but rewarding when it works (not that I'd know since I haven't yet completed an acting piece I'm happy with). Next time you watch an animated film and you truly appreciate the character, think about the amount of work that has gone into making that character 'real'.
This assignment is a 6 week long piece. We were given around 35 dialogue snippets from various sources (mostly old black and white US sitcoms) and asked to choose 3. From those 3, we then chose one to animate on the advice of our mentor. That was week 1.
Week 2 we had to block the shot out. Mine was rubbish so you won't be seeing that
After getting feedback from my mentor, I redid the blocking to something I feel is much more successful. It's still in blocking so it only has the main poses, but I've attached it to this post for you to check out. I'd appreciate any comments and suggestions for it Later weeks will simply be refining this into a completed shot, and I'll keep this updated with my progress.
My mentor this term is a guy called Jason Schleifer. He's got an amazing CV but perhaps the pinnicle of his work was Senior Animator for Gollum in the LotR trilogy, no less. He also worked on Madagascar, but I'm not sure what his job was with that.
So anyhoo, here's my shot so far.. Let me know what you think
Ciao
Attached File(s)
-
upl_speech1.mov (321.1K)
Number of downloads: 535
