Sunday, May 18, 2008

Exercise 11 : Character Dialogue I




Introduction:
This assignment focuses on perhaps the most complex task in animation, dialogue between two characters. More often than not, your character will not be the lone character, there are a few animations that are like this, but for the most part, they will be interacting with others. This interaction with other characters highlights the effect of the narrative described earlier in the project, because through the narrative, situations and events will create conflict for which the character will need to react and most of the time, it will be reacting with other characters.

By this time, you should already be familiar with the animation process and how to achieve emotion and expression in characters. It is crucial to be familiar with this process, so that you have the mental capacity and concentration needed to tackle the complex interplay that occurs in two characters talking. It’s almost like driving a car (at least for those of you who are old enough to drive), once you are in the car, you don’t worry about how to steer, or press the gas, you just think about your destination and where you want to go.

The barometer for this is your experience in the last monologue assignment. Was it difficult? Do you feel comfortable in animating a single character? If so, then proceed to the next exercise. The process for animating dialogue is the same as animating monologue. Only this time, you will be dealing with two distinct characters. This introduces a different dynamic, that deals with the transfer of energy between characters and focal point. We will discuss this later in the assignment.

Assignment Description:
Locate an audio track about 5 – 10 seconds in length, where two characters are speaking. Using pre-rigged characters, animate the characters reciting a dialogue audio track.

Competencies:
By the end of this exercise, the student should be able to:
  • Pose two characters pantomiming an audio track.
  • Link the poses together to create a smooth pantomime performance.
  • Incorporate subtle movements in the animation called moving holds.
  • Incorporate phoneme mouth shapes.
  • Create synchronized mouth movement.
  • Establish focal points by choosing to have one character move at a time.
  • Incorporate subtle movement in the character that is not speaking in order to make it appear that he is listening. 


PrePlanning:
In interviews of industry professionals I’ve conducted, the most common piece of advice, to achieve success in any animation, was in the pre-planning process. This includes shooting video reference, establishing the key poses, phoneme shapes, character analysis, such as the goal and objective of the character in the story, and scene analysis. In scene analysis, the animator answers questions like what is the purpose of the scene, what happened before the scene and what happens to the characters after the scene.

The idea is to anticipate problems before hand by planning out things in advance. Doing so, ensures a smoother animation process that ensures the delivery of the final animated sequence. This last exercise, animating two characters engaging in dialogue, is no exception. The danger in doing this exercise, is that the characters move similarly, and that the personalities are not distinguishable. In order to prevent this, the pre-planning technique of shooting video reference is essential. Have friends act out and pantomime the scene, or if you are alone, record yourself pantomiming different segments of the dialogue at different times, the information will help. By doing this, many helpful things to occur. By recording this video reference, you will be able to:

  1. See the timing involved between the two characters.
  2. See subtle details in movement that can them be implemented in your character, such as in the eyes and hands.
  3. Use the video reference as a comparison tool for you to compare your animated movement to reality.
  4. See phoneme shapes.

Transfer Of Energy:
One of the unique aspects of animation, is that it takes advantage of human’s attraction to movement on a flat surface. For example, if you were looking at a piece of paper with an image of a character, let’s say Bugs Bunny, and he is not moving, the moment he moves, even in the slightest way, your eye is drawn to that movement. This is good, because the animator has complete control and engage the viewer if he wishes. The difficult part, is what if two or three characters are moving at the same time? The audience would not know where to look and therefore the focal point and storytelling is unclear. To achieve clarity, the animator must make sure that the character take turns moving. This is usually referred to as “transfer of energy”.

When animating a character in your dialogue, it is important that the other nonspeaking character remain still. You can afford some movement, like moving holds and the like, but these movements cannot overpower the movements generated by the speaking character, otherwise the viewer will not look at the speaking character, the viewer will be drawn to the greatest movement. The transfer of energy occurs after the speaking character is finished with his dialogue, upon which the second listening character, will respond and react to the first character. When this second character begins to speak, it is important to keep the first character’s movement to a minimum. This transfer of energy continues until the dialogue is complete.

As part of your training as an expert character animator, I recommend watching your favorite animated film by Pixar, Dreamworks or Blue Sky Studios, and study carefully animated scenes that contain two or more characters. See if you can identify the transfer of energy happening between characters, you will see that these features show a expert handling of this.


“I’m Listening”: A Note on Reflective Listening
One of the most important leadership skills used by counselors, psychiatrists, managers, doctors, basically anyone who has to deal with people on a regular basis, is in the ability to listen effectively to another person. In a session with a psychiatrist, as the patient speaks, the psychiatrist, will give physical signs to the person speaking, in order to let the person know that he is definitely listening. As the patient speaks, he is comforted that the one receiving the information is listening, this gives a sense of validation for the patient. The psychiatrist, to let the patient know that he is listening, will do simple things, like nodding his head in agreement, making eye contact and asking questions for clarification. 

If these don’t occur, let’s say the patient is describing a stressful situation that he needs help with, and while sharing, the psychiatrist is looking away, and asks questions that are unrelated. The psychiatrist will come across as disinterested and unprofessional, resulting in the patient being reluctant to share anything.

Humans are sensing beings, and one of the ways we relate to one another is in our ability to listen to each and to have empathy for each other’s feelings. People are drawn to others who they feel listen to them, and it feels good to have someone listen to us. It gives us humans a sense of value. Think about the people who you admire. There is a good chance that you admire them because they listen to you, and that you listen to them. This establishes good relationships, and its why people are drawn to hairdressers, barbers, bartenders, psychiatrists and doctors. Its their job to listen, and it makes people connect to them easily.

Now that you know this, you can add subtle movements to the listening character to make him appear that he is listening to the speaking charactering. To keep things manageable, a simple slow head nod in agreement will suffice. This however must be used sparingly and must not be exaggerated as it will distract viewer’s focus on the speaking character. Adding this subtle movement enhances the performance of the two characters by giving the scene variety and a lifelike appearance.

Tips :
  • Keep your dialogue sequence simple. If you are new, focus on the dialogue only.
  • Keep in mind transfer of energy, when one character is moving, limit and minimize movement in the other characters.
  • Work in manageable frame chunks to keep your keyframes organized.
  • Work on blocking in one figure at a time and start with the lead character first.
  • Be mindful of the characters’ objectives.
  • Be mindful of what is happening in the scene. What is the energy of the scene? Is it quiet, or is it energetic? 

EVALUATION:
Here are some questions to consider asking yourself to make sure you are on target with this assignment.
  • Is your lipsync accurate? 
  • Does it look as though the characters are speaking to one another?
  • Are you hitting the correct phoneme shapes?
  • Are there areas where there are no sounds but his mouth continues moving? 
  • Does our focus shift from one character to the other?
  • Are there any distracting movements that draw your attention away from the one speaking?
  • Are you capturing the feeling of the scene?

Because of the complexity of these assignments, it may be necessary to break up this animation over a period of two weeks. Since this exercise is the last in the curriculum, I suggest taking your time with this animation, and work on making it your best. If you have gone through the curriculum, you should have the basic knowledge for creating emotion in characters, and you should have examples that would work well in your demonstration reel. I encourage you however, to keep going. The last animation exercises, the monologue and dialogue can be implemented anytime, for as long as you remain interested and as long as you wanted to improve. So keep going, thanks for trying out my curriculum and I hope it helps you out in many ways. As an instructor, I’m always striving to improve the way in which information is presented, so if you have any suggestions in how to make this curriculum better, or if you have general comments, please let me know. Until we meet again….happy animating. Once in awhile, drop a line to let me know how you are doing.  

Fire It Up!
Randolf