Having tried my hand at lip syncing I wanted to create a more dialogue driven character performance. I’ve looked at many of The 11 Second Club animations and there are a lot of good examples of how audio clips can be interpreted differently to tell different stories.
Most of the scenes involve characters acting out those scenes where the audio drives how intense their actions are. We all move about when we speak, our hands often act out words we say or actions we describe. We also make subtle movements all across our body, reading body language is a very complex topic. But each animator interprets the audio a little differently which makes for an interesting comparison.
A lot of the animators on the site start off with blocking the actions they want their character to take, Blocking allows you to plan out actions and poses.
The 11 Second Club have a few helpful hints on Why We Block and The Fear of Moving Past Blocking.
This is a work in progress where I try out blocking as well as continue with practising lip syncing. I’ve blocked out the key poses I want and these are mainly gesturing and body movement that match the words he says.
The lip syncing in this scene is mostly complete, with all the appropriate mouth shapes and timing in that I want. To continue with this I will want to exaggerate some mouth poses so it can be read clearer.
With the blocking I wanted to make this character appear as if he’s giving advice like a grandfather would. I gave him a stern expression and sharp but not intimidating hand gestures to appear as if he knows what he’s talking about. I feel the poses I have do come across well and as I work on this animation further I’ll refine the poses where I feel necessary.