For this unit, 'Character Animation', I will be studying performance; looking specifically at gestures, poses, expressions and lip synch. It will follow on from the last unit's work, 'Animation Techniques', as we will be applying the same principles but taking them further into what will hopefully be a realistic performance animation.
We've been asked to animate an audio clip with dialogue, lasting roughly 30 seconds. We have the choice to animate in either 2D or 3D - I have limited experience in both, but as I've devoted the last 4 months or so to Maya I will definitely be going down the 3D path.
The assessment criteria is as follows:
The first thing I need to do is find a piece of dialogue - I want to find something that will challenge me, for example, a clip that covers a range of emotions, as opposed to a flat performance with one, single tone. It needs to be expressive and go on a journey, with gradual build ups in the speech, perhaps emphasised by slight crescendos in the vocal tone. Importantly, I want to find a dialogue with one or two pauses in between speech, to allow time for thought in the character which in turn will hopefully make my animation more realistic. This is because screen space is essential for conveying emotion.
After mentally combining these factors, I went online and searched through some of my favourite performances from some fantastic films and television shows.
Here are a few examples:
Rory Breaker - Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Although the speech itself is not too imaginative, the performance is well paced and covers around three different emotions - especially noting the last few seconds where the change in tone is quite dramatic. It also includes pauses and a build up.
Combo - This Is England
This is possibly one of the best on-screen performances I've seen to this day; just looking at the expressions on Stephen Graham's face, not to mention his movement and gestures, is an excellent resource for animation purposes. I think this clip is too profane to animate considering that I hope to potentially use this work for my showreel, and I wouldn't know which 30 seconds to pick as all of it could work quite well for performance dialogue. Really great emotion driven piece, lots of spacing, dynamics and a range of different tones.
Tyres - Spaced (0.25-0.58)
This is obviously a far more comedic performance, which could be a lot of fun to work on. Michael Smiley is great at conveying emotion and delivering speech in a truly expressive and unique way. However, his character is very prone to mood swings (as shown in the clip), which would be great in terms of practicing animating different emotions, but without any character background information I worry that the dialogue may be a little to obscure to animate.
Del - Planes, Trains and Automobiles
John Candy managed to create a very touching scene with this dialogue, his timing is well done and not overly 'cheesy', giving plenty of screen space. The nuances in his voice also help set the emotional tone, along with the slight stammering which I think could be interesting to animate. There isn't as much dynamic range as some of the other clips I've been considering, but the slight change in tone towards the end creates a definite climax following the gradual build up throughout the scene.
I should note that the above clips make up just a fraction of the number of scenes I've been considering for this unit! I've had to rule out some of my favourites due to their popularity or cult reputation - I don't want to animate something that's already been done many times before - which meant getting rid of performances such as 'Ezekiel 25:17' by Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction, which starts out calm and ends in shouting. It also meant that I couldn't use the famous speech made by Charlie Chaplin at the end of The Great Dictator - an incredibly moving piece - which also had the drawback of having a poor-quality sound recording.
In the end, I settled for this clip:
Dr. Ben Sobel - Analyze This
Although the choice of film was not quite what I had in mind, this scene is almost perfect, in my opinion, for this unit. Billy Crystal is a great comedy actor who can jump from emotion to emotion with great ease, as demonstrated in the clip with the multiple different attitudes he gives to the screen - calm, serious, aggressive, sarcastic, and angry, to mention a few. This range of emotion will be great to practice different facial expressions, and it will be interesting to experiment with physical gestures and posing.
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