tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005242.post113184669741776963..comments2024-02-27T02:14:14.789-06:00Comments on Keith Lango Animation: Acting & AnimationKeith Langohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12496328772372705317noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005242.post-1132157931503063922005-11-16T10:18:00.000-06:002005-11-16T10:18:00.000-06:00"For instance, if the character is sad and slow, m...<I>"For instance, if the character is sad and slow, make the whole planning part of it slow. If it's a boistrous character with quick and jolly movements, somehow make the planning process reflect that."</I><BR/><BR/>I'm not sure I understand your question. Are you saying if a character is a hasty character then be hasty when thinking about their scenes? Might be fun, but might also yield really lame cliche'd performances. Conversely if the character is a plodding, slow kind of fellow your production manager might not like you taking 2 weeks to plan out that scene. heh.Keith Langohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12496328772372705317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005242.post-1131995808331695482005-11-14T13:16:00.000-06:002005-11-14T13:16:00.000-06:00What about if the type of planning reflected the c...What about if the type of planning reflected the character's personality? For instance, if the character is sad and slow, make the whole planning part of it slow. If it's a boistrous character with quick and jolly movements, somehow make the planning process reflect that. 'Process' was a buzzword used a lot in college, but it sounds uppity and too artsy fartsy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005242.post-1131956434472705702005-11-14T02:20:00.000-06:002005-11-14T02:20:00.000-06:00I've worked with James Baxter and when asked about...I've worked with James Baxter and when asked about video recording acting, he said he doesn't do it. With the 2D stuff he never even thumbnailed his work, he would rough out his animation at size on 16 field paper. Every once in a while you would catch him acting out a scene while sitting at his desk, but it was usually just a subtle action that he was doing or he was trying to feel what his body was doing when he accented a certain word. I guess that's why he's James...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005242.post-1131931329824453212005-11-13T19:22:00.000-06:002005-11-13T19:22:00.000-06:00Great timing, Keith! We were just discussing this...Great timing, Keith! We were just discussing this on the AnimationMentor forum this week. :-) I think video ref is a great tool, and lots of my classmates are really stellar actors who find a ton of great ideas in front of the camera... but I'm not one of them. Not yet, at least. I found myself sort of "trapped" in my dull performance on my last assignment, especially because I was still learning what a "good acting choice" was at the time... and everything was so restrained and boring in my piece. <BR/><BR/>This time around I'm relying more on just thinking through what the character might do that would be fun to watch, and it's going much smoother. And now that I've got the basic idea down, maybe I'll go shoot some ref and see what little gestures I can find... those cool little things I wouldn't think of on my own. <BR/><BR/>I think I'll probably get better at finding ideas with video ref as I get better about understanding acting in general, but for now, this method's working for me. Thanks for explaining it so clearly! :-)Aja Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08466597432745073353noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005242.post-1131918263898493642005-11-13T15:44:00.000-06:002005-11-13T15:44:00.000-06:00I totally agree with you, Keith. I am a bad actor ...I totally agree with you, Keith. I am a bad actor as well. That is why I stop animating one year ago. although people said my animation is not too bad, but I just couldn't feel my character even if I acted it out. Lately I want to start doing animation again, hope I could be a honest to my character this time. Thanks Keith and great article.jKuhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02521943966230757588noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005242.post-1131908138830336692005-11-13T12:55:00.000-06:002005-11-13T12:55:00.000-06:00Woo! Well I know I'm sensitive and I know I have h...Woo! Well I know I'm sensitive and I know I have hours of bad acting ref so this is definately a refreshing opinion! :)Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08744848180040889092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005242.post-1131894124213182282005-11-13T09:02:00.000-06:002005-11-13T09:02:00.000-06:00As a human being, we all (well almost, psychos don...As a human being, we all (well almost, psychos don't have it) have a thing called emapthy. It allows us to have all those feelings. As animators I think it is just a matter of using this while we animate. (easier said than done, I know). The acting part in it is to be able to project on very different types of characters (like you would animate a woman as a man, that is hard).<BR/><BR/>Personally, I don't like video reference when animating acting pieces, unless I have a footage of pro actor (voice talent) acting it. I was animating recently some silly troll and had very, very good characteristic actor as a voice talent for him (and he did all other characters for that matter including a witch ;) ), he was even so kind to act out some extras for me to tape. It really helped a lot, but this guy obviously had part 2 (getting into) perfected (no wonder, he did my country version of Toy Story characters, Donald Duck and he was in Nemo and Incredibles too). But even with such great reference, I didn't try to copy it, just used it as an inspiration (or maybe I was too scared that I couldn't animate good enough to copy him, hehe).<BR/>I'd rather go by my instincts and feelings here, even if I'd go wrong at some point. But, yes I do cry on even stupid movies :)<BR/><BR/>I feel that video is great for psychical shots and sometimes I cannot live w/o it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com