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Animationmentor.com is an online animation school taught by industry professionals. The demoreel featured on their site of student work from 2007 is exceptional. It shows what can be done through the animation of simple shapes and the implementation of basic animaiton principles.
I'm currently reviewing a book called "Movement for Actors" edited by Nicole Potter. I'm hoping to glean lots of information from the text and will place here in the entry what I feel could be used for animators.
“Movement for Actors” as described best by the quote on the reverse side of the book,
“The most complete survey to date of the available physical components of modern actor training. Invaluable.” George Morrison, President, The New Actors Works, Emeritus Professor SUNY-Purchase.
The book has a lot of great information regarding body movement and this translates emotion. It covers drama and stage techniques by Chekhov, Laban and even has a small section on the acting styles of Keaton and Chaplin.
I wanted to review the book to see if I could find anything that would help animators convey emotion in their characters. I found many of the techniques in the book to be drama, stage and dance centered. The descriptions of which were abstract and I wasn’t sure if an animator would find this information helpful. If an animator chooses, he or she could check the text out themselves.
I did however find a few sections interesting. They are listed below as well as my notes on for each section for further study. Michael Chekhov (18): An early 20th century actor originated the acting principles of stoccato and legato, contraction and expansion. The actor is to relax and to familiarize himself with how his entire body is reacting to these conditions. Exercises like this connect the mind to the body. In acting, if there is a disconnect, we have overacting or stiff performances.
Still Movement: Even though there is no movement, if an actor feels the emotion from within, the emotion should radiate. The actor thus becomes a living shape. Here, pauses become loaded with emotion as suggested by the viewer’s imagination. Character Archetypes: When acting, think of the character archetype and the role that this character is in. Identify the core of the character first. Play this role first and add personality traits later. Like sculpting, you want to get the general proportions first, before going to fast into the detail.
These unique personality traits should come from your imagination and from your experiences as a human being.
As the character ask, “What Do I Want”, and pay attention to what the body says. Relax and pay attention to the impulses that arise. This could lead to gestures, more specifically, when rehearsed, core gestures. These should be practiced, and if you are animator, begin recording reference after you have practiced.
If one cannot get into the gesture, there may need to be an adjustment of the gesture itself, or the body is not sufficiently prepared form lack of research or stress.
BELIEVABILITY & EMOTIONAL CONNECTION:
Kinesthetic Awareness: Be aware and act naturally to your surroundings, be aware of impulses or signals your body gives you. Be observant of what your hands do in any situation. Sensory Awareness: Your five senses will pick things up from the environment, what are they doing. By observant, you can put these nuances into a performance. Proprioceptive Awareness: Refers to the expression by the entire body, not just the hands and face. This section also talks about habits that we as actors get into and that we must break from in order to stay away from overacting (230).
RANGE & EXTERNAL CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT:
Posture and Gesture: The actor should change from the floor up. Create movement from the hips and leg stance thinking that the body is the decoration. “We lie with our face and hands. We are the shape of our spine and our legs”. This quote is profound the idea actually helped me in animating my last assignment, but focusing on animating the core and spine first.
Tension: Inevitably linked to posture. The link between your posture and the scene is imperative. An actor becomes great when he uses his posture to communicate in a scene. Exercise: How many poses can one do while washing dishes, or holding a fork?
Space and Shape: As an actor, be mindful of your shape (silhouette) and your relation to the camera. Rhythm: Maxheadroom is an example of overaggerated dramatic rhythm. Exercise: While listening or reciting lines, try to establish a rhythm with your hand or an inanimate object. Establishing a rhythm creates a tempo that a viewer can follow (233).
Eye Head Relationships: Drama in oriental cultures place a great emphasis on the eyes. Eyework must be practiced. A great example of this is Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.
THEATRICAL STILLNESS:
As a society, there is an enduring fascination with stillness (27). It can express: calm, meditation, rigidity, exhaustion and or panic.
Think of stillness as pauses between the different emotions, this allows for the viewer to digest what is happening, it gives clarity and meaning to the performance to the relationships.
Adding pauses offers rest at the end of the thought and it permits the transitional moment to the next scene or line.
Too much stillness creates an uneasy effect.
TEACHING CHAPLIN HOW TO WALK:
Posture and Movement: Difference between the two actors – Chaplin walked with is head aligned with his spine. Keaton, lead with his head. Subtle differences like this added to character. Running offered more insight and magnified the characters more. Body Shape: Chaplin was an ectomorph, someone characterized by seeming to be delicate or nervous. Our attention is drawn to their eyes, hands and feet.
Endomporphs: Larger, sluggish and powerful, where movement seems to come from within. Characters such as John Candy and Orson Welles are good examples of this.
Mesomorphs: Keaton was of this body type, usually characterized by the “He – Man” archetype.
Both of these characters used their physiques to convey character. In the book it also pointed something that I believe could be important to an animator and that is that Chaplin moved in circular patterns.
In both cases, Keaton and Chaplin were masters at creating interesting silhouettes and shapes. From far away or long shots, the characters’ eyes and body forms would be readable.
Potter, Nicole. "Movement for Actors". New York. Allworth Press. 2002
My instructor Yu-Ting posted his demo reel on Youtube. I liked how he showcases his rigging skills through screen captures, something I'm currently exploring. Thanks for posting.
In order to complete the following exercises featured in this thesis, you will need a rigged character model that is capable of full body and facial movement. A good place to download a variety of character rigs can be found on the High End 3D site, it features free rigs to be used for animators of the following platforms: 3DS, Maya, XSI and Renderman. I've already tested the rigs below, some made the list and some did not, the ones below worked well. I also thought it might be helpful to post the two second tests of each rig to give users a better idea.
Please note that the following rigs have been reviewed under the Maya platform. Happy animating.
Create a demo reel with your examples thus far. Some tips:
Start with your best work
Add music that is nonspecific, for the above track, I used Soundtrack Pro. Its a program that has lots of beats and instruments and anyone can create a track that is royalty free and unique.
Watch for timing and theme
When creating a professional reel, include playblasts and not fully rendered scenes. Make the viewer see only your animation and do not give them a reason to critique your texture and lighting.
In your demo reel, do not put the bouncing ball. It labels you "Student".
I went through the quarter taking a character animation class, in which we engaged in exercises that when taken in sequence would eventually build skill in animating character emotion.
These were the exercises accomplished this quarter and have been posted in this blog:
bouncing ball
2 bouncing balls with differing weights
drink box
walk cycle
run cycle
pantomime
hip turn
one emotion
gear change - two emotions
creating a demo reel.
The question I encountered this week, is what should the next exercises be. In my thesis proposal, I had planned to do two major assignments that would be developed next quarter, dialogue with a single character, then dialogue between two characters.
I spoke to the animation instructor about it and he felt the dialogue exercises should be last, and that more should be done before being attempting dialogue. These exercises should be attempted below but in an 11 week it might be difficult to teach this to students. An alternative would be teach and develop a curriculum spanning 2 quarters (22 weeks).
another gear change assignment of different emotions (2 weeks).
an animation showing 4 emotions (these two would be blocked in pantomimes in the beginning) 3 weeks.
a body mechanics animation (ie. a character jumping off of a high place or picking up a heavy object). 1 week
Pantomime animation with 2 people. (1 week)
Dialogue animation assignment with 1 person. (2 weeks)
Dialogue animation assignment with 2 people (not sure if there's time for this one - 2 weeks).
These would be the animation assignments I have slated for next quarter.
As an example, please see Rebecca Perez' demo reel, it features many of the assignments mentioned above and its a good example of what I'm striving for. She's a Disney Animator (perhaps Dori knows her) and she accomplished these exercises through the Animation Mentor class.
Animator Shaun Freeman has a nice page full of animation tips and tricks. Definitely worth checking if you'd like to improve your work. Below is a sample of some of the topics he discusses.
In this assignment, the student is to watch movies from various genres and is to sketch/capture the poses that make the scene work. The best movies to watch for this assignment are your 1920's silent films as their performances were based on body language clarity, timing and form. Below are some examples:
In this assignment,we were to animate two balls to show differences in weight, and material. There's a little hitch / blur effect that occurs twice, once at the end of the first ball's bounce and second, when the big ball scares the small ball. I gotta check out the graph editor.
Below is a critique from Samir Patel from Rhythm and Hues and Ruel Pascual for this exercise. The video is posted in this blog using vimeo. Let's see how things go as I'd like to post my animation examples on this blog for further viewing.
Watch the pose distortion. Although this is good for exaggeration, be careful that you don't the bend the character so much that its out of character.
Keep movement simple. In my animation, there are two poses, one to recognize the foot, and one to show emotion of the pain. The way I have it makes both poses unclear.
Don't animate too much upper body or else won't see the foot.
Incorporate a pause between these two poses so the audience can see them (the gesture and the pose).
Use both hands to hold leg.
Watch plant foot, establish balance.
Establish a rhythm in the foot growth similar to a heart, instead of slowing growing. Adding a heart beat throb would emulate what happens in the body.
Below are were other comments/critiques to note when doing this assignment.
Be sure the pose and silhouette reads clearly.
Pay attention to overlapping action and follow through to prevent jerky movement.
Establish the general movement and timing for the main shape. In may cases its the ball that is the root of the character. Establish this timing and everything else (arms and legs) should follow.
What is the goal of the character? This leads to action.
Ease In and Ease Outs and be sure to lock IKs.
Break the movements down into sections and add pauses so that each movement is clear for the viewer.
Be sure character has balance.
Watch for broken or contorted poses which change the character.
Always time the root of your character first.
Watch for twinning in the poses.
Push C and S curves in the poses. Whenever you have a spine moving straight up and down, you will always have stiff animation.
Don't be afraid to exaggerate, you can always pull it back.
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