Lip sync second attempt

I've added the hair rollers make-up and adjusted the lighting using spotlights, I need to work more on the timing and i may have jumped into , and the video seems a little out of sync. I'll have to fix these after the feedback session Wednesday.

Believe Animatic

I've uploaded the animatic to Believe, I've make it  using the facial sketches I've drawn using my own face as reference for the animatic. I've planned out the timing of the animation ot the facial exspressions she makes when speaking to the camera, she begins on low energy and builds up tension my engaging the camera, looking striaght at it. She then attempts to intimate the audience showing her anger. I hoping this performance will be an example of my animation skills in exspressing human emotion

Here are a few more pre sketches of the character in poses associated with her personality:

first attempt lip sync

This is my first attempt at the lip syncing exercise, I've been trying to get the mouth gestures right, particularly the "believe" section; I wanted to exaggerate the "eel" sound in "feel" and make it flick of the end of her tongue. I think it adds more intensity to the scene and also goes with the soundtrack, she speaks quite softly throughout the soundtrack, up until the end, the sharp "feel". I think i may have made the mouth gestures too much but I think I should have a second opinion be for i go about changing everything.    

My Presentation: Holy sheep

Holy Sheep created by the character animator Justin Farris, this was an short film for his senior thesis at the Ringling College of Art and Design. Justin recently had become animation resident at the Pixar animation studios.

I thought the whole concept design was fantastic, well thought out and simple to follow but at the same time had so much thought and depth to it.


My thoughts: 

The storyline is simple, A Shepard has a herd of sheep who try to follow him to church, The Shepard tries to prevent the sheep from following him. Farris has used the relationship between The Shepard and the Sheep and the conflicting motives of the characters to create humour and charm in the animation. The 

 Analogous colours used in the scene create a peaceful atmosphere (blue and green are next to each other on the colour wheel).

Farris uses a dynamic establishing shot to introduce the church, Farris has made effective use staging, leading the viewers eye to the church by intensifying and directing the light over the church symbolising a holy church as well as effective use of flow lines in the shepherds pose to lead the viewer to the church on the hill.

Farris has placed the Shepard and the sheep on opposing intersecting points in the rule of thirds, making a well balanced establishing shot.

The sheep are just as important as the Shepard, but are limited to the emotions they can portray.  The sheep’s designs are exaggerated forms of  ordinary sheep,  simple  large round body with big round eyes give the character a lot of appeal.

I did this

 

 

Character development - Lip Sync

For the lip sync I want to create a straight forward, dramatic scene with a female character. I had a few ideas of a young woman 20s, who was in a drastic situation trying to convince the detective she hadn't done wrong, pleading for to the detective to understand, she showed compassion, vunrability and weakness:

 But after drawing out a few poses  the idea didnt quite seem to fit the voice of the soundtrack, the   plus the sequence of poses seem to be too repetitive, so I developed the character further, this female character is a little more mature, mid 30s she is a close friend of a detective and more in control.

Character and lip sync

I'd been collecting ideas for the poses and camera angles from watching a few of the classics such as D..O.A (dead on arrival), Quicksand and Jealousy.

Collected a few of the shots for more reference

(0:41:35 - 0:42:20) D.O.A Its a small scene with Mrs Philips (Lynn Baggett) but it has quite an intense build up. The camera switches P.O.V to an over the shoulder of Mrs Philips, I could use a shot like that to capture  the characters face from a different point of view particularly if she is turning away, then the character will not be disconnecting from the audience.

(0:12:35) Looking through he shop window from the outside looking in. I really like in the cinematography how he the depth of field is manipulated to "blur out" the background focusing on the female protagonist face and intencifing the relationship between the character and audience.

Film Noir & Lighting

I want the lip sync exercises to show I can invent characters with soul,(yes this is a little cheesy) but I mean a character who looks convincing without performing any physical dance routine or over exaggeration.

So, to set the scene and develop the staging I've decided to go for the classic Film Noir theme for the lip syncing exercise.

Heres a simple diagram i found from http://www.darkmansdarkroom.com/film-noir-lighting-with-lighting-diagrams/, it exsplains how to produce the lighting for a close up scene for film noir style movies. Spotlights from the front and ground highlight the face and put the character directly on the spot like a crinimal, creating more drama and intensifiing the scene. Another less intence light creates a refection in the eye, while the light at the back highlights the figure and creates a shadow at the front.

The lighting has alot of effect on the atmosphere and mood for the female character I want to portray, the close up shot combined with the Film Noir lighting technique

lip sync - staging

As you may have read, i decided to stage my lip syncing animation to appear to be conversation between to close friends, even though only one of the characters is speaking. I think this will add more believeability, I found a useful page with a little history on the staging in cartoons thanks to the one and only John K. Have a little read:
http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2010/06/34-left-to-right-camera-angle-vs-over.html
So, as a little prep work, ive looked into some staging for conversation. I eventually narrowed it down to two possible shots: profiles views: where both characters are in the shot, and over the shoulder.


"2 Profile views"


(http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2010/06/34-left-to-right-camera-angle-vs-over.html)


"Over-the-Shoulder - is a medium or close up shot including 2 actors taken over the shoulder of one actor and showing the face of the other actor."

(reference from http://production.4filmmaking.com/cinematography1.html)

With the over the shoulder view the focus is more on the exspression and emotions of the individual speaking in the conversation itself. I think this would be alot stronger than using the 2 profiles, the 2 profiles looks more like its been designed - like a painting or a still sketch, which works for 2D animation but for 3D animation we are focusing on the the characters performance.

Lip syncing

Hey peps
I wanted to get a head start and begin the next assignment, we will be lip syncing a rig to a soundtrack we've selected from the tutor, I've narrowed it down to these two:

"Believe"

"Treason"

Analysis

I like the first one as it has a lot of drama already in the sound, especially at the end. The character is obviously female, young, 20s 30s so it will be an easy character to develop. But what I really like about the soundtrack is the transition from low energy to high energy, the emotion of the character flows from quite light whisper and gradually gets louder and stronger to the "feel" at the end.

  The second sounds lot  more feisty, a very young character, could be male or female. I imagine this character with clenched fists, angry, pointing and and other provocative poses. There is alot less to the soundtrack however in comparison to "Believe", it could flow from high to low energy but it wouldn't quite work as effectively as the character makes one clear, concise statement in the soundtrack.

The presentation for this is in 2 weeks.  

Staging

I set the camera up to catch both cavemen within the shot, i needed to line up the angle carefully so that the round boulder didnt hide caveman1 with the square. As far as the staging goes it does look a littl bare, however this ICA is more about the animation than the decoration or modelling so i should worry too much.

I need to go through the pass one more time, partiularly the second caveman, as his legs still seem to snap a little. If I have the time i think i will have to re animate his cycle, especially if this is going in my portfolio. The cycle itself seems a little uncomfortable for the character, it maybe the leaning side to side which i've included to show how the character is balancing, perhaps less exsaggeration would be more effective here.

Progress

Starting to run out of time, been quite busy this week, made a little progress with the characters, i've managed to block out and fill in a few inbetweens on the characters walkcycles and facecial exspressions.

Not very happy with the scene alltogether though, it seems a bit dull, (not mentioning the fact that i need to work on the staging!). The second caveman (on his knees) also seems to snap 3 times in the scene. I've tried to mix up the cycle to make it more spontanious and amusing, but i dont think its quite worked out. The first caveman making good progress, although there are ares which seem a bit "floaty"  but the timing seems just about right. I also havn't started on the hands and will have to go over pass to include the hand exspression. Not to mention include props and build the caveman scene!

working progress

my working progress and testing the poses in animation:

As you can see, I've exaggerated the pose and adjusted the timing to make the box appear really really heavy. Just making a note to myself for future: never underestimate the power of line, especially line of action. Working far too slow at the moment, with graduation tomorrow I shall need to get a move on with this assigment to get finished on time.

Prep work

I've drawn out the poses i could try with this animation to see which could work better than others. Theres alot of scrap work so i'll just upload a few ideas. I've decided to make the ball boulder alot bigger, just as a gag and seem lighter than the smaller box.

gathering the idea together

Just finished work, had to get this written down before i completely forget everything:

The animation will be set in stone age, with two caveman collecting stone materials from a cave. The first caveman is pushing a heavy square shaped boulder, The second character is his friend is also collecting stones with him has somehow found a much bigger, lighter boulder the shape of a ball.

• the first caveman will be mature and experienced - in his 30s and unwilling to try new ideas.

• He's really tired and starting to struggle, but he need the stone material to build the rest of his house.

•  suddenly a second character appears pushing same sized bolder, but in a ball shape.

• The second character is alot younger, faster  and has found a easier way to push the stone along the path, on his knees. 

•  He stands up and shows his friend what hes done.

Greenscreen

Today we had another greenscreen session to record reference footage for our animations. I was a lil anxious at first seen as my idea was still a little vague, I had these previous sketches before i went down.

My idea was basically the  scenario of a caveman pushing a heavy object with difficulty (the box) when a lighter, more rounded object rolls past carried by the wind. (the ball) This inspires the caveman to invent the wheel.
My animation would just be a short comical prelude to the creation of the wheel, the moment of inspiration. 













Great footage thanks guys :), was a really fun session.


We came up with a better idea on the day (thanks to Penny) of including a second character into scene at first we weren't too sure as the brief stated only one character, however after acting the scene out we concluded that the character could be quite effective and add more comedy to the scene and i got the all clear to include him. I'll need to finalise my idea in writing and visual form before i begin on the animation itself.

Captain Caveman!

Mid-night rant


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGd8ZzZ56AU&feature=player_detailpage#t=101s - from frame 1:42


Another Hanna Barbera classic. Always used to watch these shows as a child, but even more now :D. What i really like about the cartoon and, you can see this alot in Hanna Barbera and other retro toons from the 70's is how the timing and poses are put together in a kind of instant but effective way.

 Not the best example, but take frame 1:45 - 1:46, the log is dropped instantly to show its heavy with no inbetweens and Captain Caveman is in two completely differnet static poses on each frame. I think its this kinda of technique that gives a character a bit more "zing" and has a comical charm to it.

Anyways rant over back to work! 

Caveman

I've had a few brainstorms and sketched ideas but the one idea I've decided to go with is the classic idea, "the invention of the wheel" or this case, a round object. (the ball) A little in the safe zone but has potential to show off the animation skills required for the task.

In this exercise your character must walk at some point during the sequence and interact
with two of the following:
A pendulum (swinging thing)
A ball
A ball with tail.
A big box
You are expected to add additional animation in keeping with the personality of your
character and his/her reason for interacting with the objects.
Duration max: 20 seconds
This sequence must be uploaded to blackboard as separate submission for component 2.
Planning can be included in the blog and marked as part of component 1

I need to incorporate this concept into the specification of the brief

I'll have to get a move on with this idea for the green screen session this friday.

Did a little research on other cartoons, just to gather ideas found a brilliant sketch, the ideas so simple :), I hope my idea delievers a clear message like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jE83TVl4w0c&feature=related
(cant imbed this vid  > < have to find a solution soon!)

Bringing it all together

Okay, we're now at the climax of the ICA bringing all the components we've learnt from the previous tasks into one 20 second animation. I'm a little unclear for ideas as to what to do for my final animation, so i've choosen a key phrase to base my animation upon as a starting point, a slogan i always try to follow - "keep it simple".

Specification:
Component 2: Your animation be fully rendered to a professional standard paying attention
to staging, lighting and anti-aliasing. It should be named with your own name and the
Component number r.  ie. P_Holton_Component2. Marks will be deducted if the render is
not of the required standard. 
Hand in resolution: HD 1280x720 
It is also important to use appropriate compression such as Mpeg2 or H264 to avoid the
animation file being too big to upload easily.
For weekly critiques you can use a lower resolution if you wish. 

Pendulum version 2

I re-did the pendulum task and made an attempt at a more realistic animation of the pendulum. Quite happy with the results but I think the speed of the box may need adjusting, seems a little off time with the pendulum swing. Anywho i shall present it in tomorrows leture to what the colleages think.

third attempt

still needs more polishing and the hand  twist at 0:08? not sure why, need to resolve that problem. From feedback it sound like i'll need to work alot more with the timing, space the pauses out inbetween each action maybe shake the phone a little

attempt two

Needs more breaks in between, more thinking time too. I had a more serious idea of a woman on the phone receiving bad news then adjusting herself to keep going. I tired out the idea on the previous rig however it didnt turn out quite right. Recently i saw the a similar situation occur at work with a young girl on the phone when her battery dies - I thought i'd try this idea just for a little difference

Life drawing

A few sketches and poses from life drawing. I've tried a technique out i recent learnt from the book Force: dynamic life drawing for the animator. I want to try and capture the pose with more rythmic lines, i tihnk this could help with the arcs and overlapping action of my 3D animations in future.

 Good read:

waiting to start 2

Just moved the left right  leg into a more relaxed position, the transition between the three poses is to from excited to relaxed ~ high energy to low enerygy. He could slouched in his chair more too.  

err excuse me poses

err excuse me sketches

waiting to start poses

waiting to start sketches

waiting to start

I did a selection of poses i could remeber from the cinema, as well as from observation of what people do while sitting and waiting

Poses task

Yesterday we were given another task of creating poses as practice for pose to pose animation. Our assignment is; create 3 still poses from two of the following 2.

Waiting to Start
Late for
Whats inside
Troubled
Er... excuse me
Overjoyed

I've decided to do "waiting to start" and.... "Er... excuse me".

I recently went to see a film with the usual group of friends, we were waiting AGES for the movie to start, we got so fed up people we were slouching and climbing on the chairs. Also at work (i work in a retail store) a customer decided to jump the queue causing quite a stir. The lady behind decided to give him a piece of her mind with very... interesting gestures. I've got quite a few decent ideas from these two events, hopefully this will help create a fair few interesting poses.

First attempt - ball and tail

Heres te notes i collected from feedback:
ball and tail

hold the log underwater longer for the audience

adjust the bounce off the grass onto the first log to be the same as the pervious bounce so not to lose the  bounce of the character.

 I also think it would be a good idea to place a little more antcipation before te jump of the first log, it will give the ball more character. 

Ball and tail blocking

Blocking stage: Ive blocked out the intial idea for my ball and tail, basically hes moving towards the edge in a content manner, (hence the tail wag). sees the water, reacts then sees the parent moving away. He panics and jumps onto the logs which bounce him up, but the last log dipps underwater and poor little foxy is left soaking.

The tranistion between the tail's secondary action when the ball is boucing towards the edge and into the tail wag seems a little off, I dont think it works to well. I've looked at a few references from foxs to (my) cat and found they tend not to swing thier tail when moving as much.

Staging - ball and tail

I've set about the scene from one clear camera angle so the balls actions can be seen clearly, i might have to mess with the lighting to show the riverbank and tweak the log a bit but the balls actions should be visable from this angle

Ball and tail inbetweens

Not to keen on the tail wag, think it nees to be taken out, seems to overcomplicate the character with too meny actions. i can see a few adjustments il need to be made o the timing, before the jump and with the tail at the end. Lots of work to be done.

ball and tail rig

 quick note:

found softimage ball and tail rig @http://formandspace.com/blog/2010/03/red-the-ball-with-a-tail/



thank you matt x

The ball and tail

I've drawn out my initial idea for this animation and have been disscussing some of the feedback from rafal's work (a colleage) about their animation.

 A big question that popped up about the animation was "What is the goal/target/meaning"?. This was a valid point as the motive of the character would presumably shape and define the personality of the ball tail making it perform differently. 

With this in mind i decided to give the ball a little background and setting, i have a few ideas and want to keep it as simple as possible, i like the idea of a young ball and tail following the parent across the river.

second attempt pendulum

Added more frames at the beginning and adjusted the timing so the swing follows through with the movement of the box. The animation flows alot smoother now, but has too much of a swing 00:02 seconds into the animation.

second attempt bouncing ball

I've added more to the scene to make it look more like a house, well a house form the 70s. The flow of the animation seems a little stiff, i think it would require more key frames to smooth out the animation, particularly on the inflatable exercise ball. third bounce in on the soft ball seems a little off too, less time air time would allow it to flow more clearly.  

boucing ball first attempt

First attempt at the boucing ball, first major problem i've relised and from feedback is the timing, when played back i real time the timing of the second ball is slightly off. Kind of hit the blindnss so i shall see what my college have to say.

Presentation time

Wednesday we will be giving our presentations to the class on each principle. I managed to pull the principle exaggeration from the hat, not vague at all. However i think i have found a method of concluding how the principle may apply to use as computer animators, anywho i've posted the slides below along with the notes i've written gathered from researching the principle. I found alot of useful information from disenys: the illustion of life including a strong exsplanaiton of how it is used. However this was only one point of view, there are a many different animators out there who have all applied the same principle in thier own terms.

Wednesday we will be giving our presentations to the class on each principle. I managed to pull the principle exaggeration from the hat, not vague at all. However i think i have found a method of concluding how the principle may apply to use as computer animators, anywho i've posted the slides below along with the notes i've written gathered from researching the principle. I found alot of useful information from disenys: the illustion of life including a strong exsplanaton of how it is used. However this was only one point of view, there are a many different animators out there who have all applied the same principle in thier own terms.

Exaggeration refers to biging something up –

to make it larger than life, stretching the limits, 

In general we relate the phrase exaggeration to a form of lying or stretching the truth ~ make something larger than life and so on which is essentially what we do as animators

With animation we can exaggerate anything from physical forms of characters in 3D models, for caricatures for example. As well as backgrounds, physical abilities,

 it can be used to over dramatize a situation for comedic effect, or even stretch the natural laws of the animation universe.

Exaggeration can be as extreme as bending an arm back on a pose which would be physically impossible to a human being.

Or as small as bending a finger back further than physically possible 

According to Lassiter the key to exaggeration is balance, particularly the balance between what to exaggerate and what not.

Over exaggerating everything in a scene would lose the believability in the audience ~ the scene just wouldn't appear real

 He describes that if too many ideas are exaggerated then the scene can become too unrealistic.

From Walt Disney's the illusion of life book Walt’s interpretation for exaggeration was “realism”

however he wasn’t referring to the realism in terms of realistic drawing or movement, (like rotoscoping)

he was referring to the idea of breaking the concept down to the bare bone and developing the essence.

if a character is scared, make him terrified, if a character is sad make him sadder.

 only show first 20 seconds: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN80Z2KZa-Y - Silly Symphony - The Skeleton Dance - 1929

In the clip the owl inhales, moves and turns its head as any real owl would, but in a exaggerated style with an exaggerated chest and over spinning the head.

For walt, the idea was about exaggerating the real but keeping it within the realm of realism and not something completely surreal or disturbing.

But this isn’t the only method to use exaggeration in animation

 

Tex Avery the American animator had a different point of view.

He believed "In a cartoon you can do anything," he encouraged animators to push bounties and exaggerate beyond the physical laws. His exaggerated gags included slapstick comedy, exaggerating physical violence beyond common sense,  speedy transitions, dramatic poses, and jumps off the page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gurhu2bbrP4&NR=1 ~ red hot riding hood (1943)

These are only two examples as there are many more different styles to exaggeration,

In conclusion Exaggeration can be a rather vague principle,

but as a character animator I think the idea of exaggerating

 a particular emotion or action and emphasizing the characteristics to a degree larger than life would best describe

how we use exaggeration as a principle.