Performance and Acting for Animators

"Animation is the kind of medium that is such a combination of other mediums that the more you know about music, art, film, choreography, literature, or current events, the better you are going to be. You name it, and it is only going to make you a better animator or better storyteller for animation." 
-- Craig Kellman, Character Design, Disney Feature Animation

The further I progress into this course, the more I realise just how many roles we as animators have to take up, being able to draw and learn the technical skills required for digital related works is one thing (One REALLY big thing)... but we also need to know how to direct, to act, to communicate with those we work with.

Even if we aren't the ones to design the characters, once they are handed over to us from the concept artists and character designers, we are the ones that have to breathe life into these guys. We are tasked to give them their personalities, to make them more than just virtual figures that can move and speak... they have to be human, and it is also our task as animators to keep that constant in the characters we are assigned to animate. 

Action analysis and acting are just as important to study as the technicalities, and so the traditional Disney animators of the golden age continue to be an inspiration to us all even to this day.

The body language of the character may always be the first thing anyone would notice about the animated character, however it is not to say that their facial expressions shouldn't be given any less focus when it comes to animating them, Pixar has made it evident that the emotions of the characters is an incredibly important aspect (Just look at Tangled, the emotions dwelling in the eyes of Rapunzel's parents is simply astounding). 

As technology grows ever more advanced, while most video games that use motion capture, even to this day, still happen to struggle with "dead eyes syndrome"... there are some that are actually successful enough to create something magical...

This session made me think about the voice acting aspect when it comes to bringing a character to life, while it probably begins to steer away from the topic of referencing, I do believe that the right voice is able to help an animator in many ways... The Simpsons initially started out with rather different sounding voices as compared to the ones they have today, I believe through the hard work of the voice actors and animators, a metamorphosis of sorts took place in improving and developing the characters as the show progressed, not just in looks, but also in characters (Because frankly I think everyone prefers goofy, loveable Homer over stern, chocolate-frosted milkshake loving Homer).

Voice acting is another whole important aspect altogether, and honestly, something that I hold dearly to my heart. While I may still be an amateur, I hope to slowly get better at it, not because it is simply enjoyable, but will most definitely contribute greatly to my own projects (I am also hoping to voice act for a friend's game character someday... that would be so sick!)

There are two kinds of voice actors, one who has the gift of do a wide variety of not just voices, but sounds (Eg, Frank Welker), and one who basically uses the same voice pattern in most of their characters while still being to make it work. The latter will still be able to make their voice sound older, younger, faster, slower, smarter, dumber, softer or louder to better fit the character they are chosen to voice.

Animation can be pretty tiring, with all that we have to do should we decide to animate something of the utmost quality... but I suppose it's moments like these that make it worthwhile, I can still remember the time I bounded about like a dog for my Totto-Chan animation... thank god I never did record that...