In this lecture, Animschool instructor, Hans Dastrup explains the “Pose to Pose” method of blocking. He provides the pros and cons of the method and situations where this blocking method can be used efficiently.
For more information about Animschool and its animation program: visit www.animschool.com
Most of us animators grew up watching animation. Animated TV shows, Disney, Ghibli movies have introduced us to the magic of animation and motivated us enough to become storytellers ourselves. These shows that we grew up watching constitute a big part of our visual library. Intentionally or not, whenever we think about animation ideas, we tend to go to that library to pick out poses, gestures and actions. Even when we act for our animation references, we often try to emulate that level of broad, exaggerated acting choices. We act and animate as we think it should be and go for acting choices that depict our perception rather than the personality of that character. Every character we animate risks becoming just a copy of our personality or something too close to it.
Now, there is nothing wrong with having a visual library that is built on the work of such amazing movies and television shows: it is actually a great thing. However, it would be a shame to not take that knowledge and build on it. Instead of going back and re-using same poses, same acting choices and same actions, it is better to reinvent them, based on your character. As our AnimSchool instructor, Garrett Shikuma put it, “When you can’t re-invent the wheel… put your own spin on it.“
This spin can come from the personality of the character that you are animating. It can come from the situation that the character is in or it can come from the design or limitations of their body.
In order to avoid the obvious clichéd choices, consider these:
1. Acting based on personality and subtext: Instead of thinking about the action, think about the thought process and the personality of the character. Is the character an extrovert or an introvert? When he gets an idea, does he act broadly, jumping up and down and using the space available to him or he is an introvert who just shows that he has gotten an idea by having his eyes widen. How good are his people skills? Questions like these really help one to narrow down the personality of a character.
Once you are sure about the personality it is time to think about the subtext.
The subtext is the unspoken thoughts. It is the content underneath the dialogue and reveals the true motives that drive the character to act in a certain way. Finding the subtext and coupling that with the personality of the character would make your acting choices authentic to the character.
2. Watch live action movies and study the
acting choices: Pick a movie that has a good critical acclaim and study it. are the choices that they could have made but instead chose something else. This will help you bypass the obvious choices and come up with more creative acting choices.
Why are the actors doing what they are doing? Or you could consider it from another angle: What
3. Bring your life experiences to your work: Let your own culture and experiences influence your acting choices. But try to make sure that your choices will be decipherable by others. Your work should be original and interesting but also universally understandable. Otherwise, the audience won’t be able to connect to it and your storytelling may suffer.
4. If cliché has to be used, then do it well: Clichés are good in the sense that they get the point across clearly. Everyone has seen them; everyone understands them. Sometimes the best choice turns out to be a clichéd action. If that happens, then do it well. Make sure it serves its purpose well and adds something to the overall performance. These acting choices, just because they are used repeatedly are not necessarily bad choices – we just want to avoid too much sameness. If every girl character starts tucking her hair behind her ear every time she gets confused, we are going to get tired of it. So you may want to pair that action with other elements that we haven’t seen.
For more animation tips and tricks, visit our online 3D animation school, www.animschool.com and for more awesome animated shots like these, watch our student showcase of 2016 here.
Acting for animation is an important but a very tough step for an animator to take. The choices one makes for the story, make or break his/her animation piece. There is no denying that doing animation well is very important; no one wants to see a badly moving character with jerks and knee pops but if one makes cliched choices, misses the beat or goes for an acting choice that lacks interest then no matter how good the animation is, audience just won’t pay attention. As a storytelling artist, this would be a nightmare.
Acting for animation is also a very broad subject. In this blog post, I would, therefore, like to present top five acting tips shared by our AnimSchool instructors. I hope that these will help you make better acting choices for your animations may it be a pantomime or a dialogue piece.
One of the things new animators tend to do is to over-complicate things. Some do it because they think:
a) it will make their animation more interesting;
b) it will help them flaunt their animation skills and
c) doing a simple motion would not help them impress their recruiters.
They want to do something different and thus often make complicated choices. As our AnimSchool instructor points out, simplicity sells the story most, not the over-complicated steps.
After you figure it out, you need to start making your acting choices on the basis of that personality.
Here is an AnimSchool student who demonstrates this point in this following video.
This whole idea is encapsulated very well in the following work of AnimSchool graduate.
Before shooting reference, it is important that you understand the limitations and strengths of the character rigs you are going to use. Not every character has humanoid proportions. Sometimes there are characters with huge chest but very small hips and legs. There might be limitations over how much you can control face of the rig. So, try to understand the weaknesses and strengths of the rigs before shooting references. Even if you shoot a brilliant acting reference, it would be of no use if you fail to translate it properly onto your rig. Our AnimSchool instructor. Thom Roberts explains this point in the video below.
Following video of the AnimSchool student illustrates this point very well.
I hope this blog helps you with your next animation project. Keep animating!
For more such lectures and tips, apply for AnimSchool’s online 3D animation classes at www.animschool.com
When it comes to the principles of animation and body mechanics, this book starts you off on the right track as it thoroughly covers the basics of spacing, timing, weight, anticipation, walks, dialogue and much more.
Richard Williams is best known as the Director of Animation and designer of the new characters for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for which he won two Academy Awards.
This book will provide you with the best training while learning to be an animator.
Considered by many to be the animation Bible, this book gives us lessons learned from the early Disney films, providing the theory behind every principle of animation. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston worked at Disney since its earliest days, and wrote this book to take the reader through their experiences as they discovered and researched the best methods of animation.
This book focuses on five key areas; character movement, character development, animation, dialogue, and camera sound. It comes in handy for developing a cartoon character, animating dialogue with action and creating dynamic movement. Preston Blair worked in big studios such as Disney and Hanna Barbera. His book is also considered to be great for animal animation, since it shows in detail a lot of examples of animating different types of cartoon animals.
This animation manual was created during the Golden Era of Animation, and it focuses mostly on traditional animation and drawing. Although it doesn’t dive into the principles of animation, it does provide great insights and tips on how to pose characters and how to break down live action photos into readable animation poses.
Any animator knows that storytelling is extremely important when it comes to animating a shot. This book is a toolbox to discover and create your character. Ed Hooks, industry-known acting instructor for animators, gives the reader a taste of acting theory as well as exercises and examples to take your animation to the next level.
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