Week 9, notes on approaching mouth action

This will be a studio class, where we will use class time to work on our shots

Homework: Animate the mouth actions. Using your phoneme library, plug in the mouth shapes, using the same key frames as the jaw. Use the 'face camera'.

Notes from 'The Illusion of Life', by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson

1. Anticipate dialogue with head, body or gestures 3-4 frames ahead of the heavy modulation but mouth sync should be right on the modulation. If it is a closed mouth, it will be on the consonant, and, if possible remain closed for two frames in order to be seen.

2. You need interesting mouth shapes that reflect the personality of your voice. Look for shapes that give you an extra touch of character and are peculiar to this one personality.

3. Try to show enough time on the important shapes so that the viewer will be aware that he has seen a picture of the word.

4. On holds at the end of a phrase or a line of dialogue, try to retain a mouth expression that reflects the word or phrase. Retain the character of the shape in the hold with a softening action to keep it alive.

5. There are not too many straight in betweens in dialogue. You may want to retain one mouth a little longer and then move quickly into the next one, or vice versa. Either way you will favor one extreme over the other - both in timing and the shapes you choose (draw).

6. If you have a word that has been stretched out fairly long, treat it like a moving hold.

7. When using the eyes only for sync in an extreme closeup, start the eyes into the move at least three frames ahead of the accent. If the accents are strong lead by 4-5 frames.

8. When using a blink to get the sync, the eyes should close ahead of the accent by 3-4 frames.

9. If you are going to start your dialogue on a drifting or slow move without an anticipation, it helps to start this movie 3-8 frames ahead of the accent.

10. There are times when your dialogue will have to be on ones.

11. The vowel sounds, A E I O U always will require some opening.

12. The consonant sounds M P B are all closed mouths. Keep in mind that the mood of the character will determine the shape of the mouth. Generally mouth shapes that have the "E"sound show teeth. T and G also can pucker like a U. Y and W can go in a very small O or U shape.

13. Make sure the teeth are not painted white or they will flash. This can be particularly annoying if the mouth is over articulated.

Blocking update

10-27-09
Another update. I've been working on the blocking of the male character, (I really need to name these characters!), I needed to finalize his actions. Right now he's a bit too "drunk". Linda gave me some suggestions on how to simplify his movements in the latter section.

I'm working on getting the main pose for that section working and then I'll make sure to integrate it with the poses before and after. Next I'll be working on fixing his hips, I need to add weight shift and I also need to make sure the feet are in the right locations (supporting his weight).

After that I'll do a pass on his arms, it's stilly that I haven't tackled those yet, but I really wanted the main body moves and expressions nailed down first. I also need to go back in to the jaw movement and rework it.

And then I'll do the same for the woman, I'm at least happy with her actions. I still need to add her reaction to the latter part of the piece.

-justin owens

Week 8 Midterms are here!

Activity: Watch Richard Williams DVD, Dialogue part 2

Notes: hit all accents early by 3-4 frames, progress the action.

Demo: Animating the jaw using the graph editor. Adding head accents using the graph editor.


Tip: According to Richard Williams, Jim Henson doesn't have 1/3 of the material than we have and he's doing a better job of the lip action than we are. Why? The secret is
PROGRESS THE ACTION. GO SOMEWHERE.
Jim Henson, has the puppets either going backwards forwards, he's going somewhere. And somehow with the opening and closing of the mouth he gets it pretty good!

Please make sure to post your midterm work in progress animation on the blog for midterm grades.

Homework for next week:


Animate the jaw. Think about the phrasing. On the second and third pass, try to tone down the chatter and focus only on the key phrases where the jaw is open.

Finish your phoneme library. Keep it simple. Even with a limited number of controls try to create interesting mouth shapes that reflect the personality of your voice. Create asymmetrical shapes that give you an extra touch of character and are peculiar to this one personality. Find an actor to use as reference for your character, and try and get their mannerisms into your character.

Use your exposure sheets! Write down your keys for the dialogue. Use the extra columns for thumbnail sketches.

Refine and add head accents. Subtle movements over the main poses. Hit accents early. Head accents at least 3-4 frames early. Head accents can be modified in the graph editor. Act it out, and look at reference.

Use reference for your characters. Study the great actors. Get some of their mannerisms into your characters.

extra class: Monday 9 am to noon, room 350

block - annie

Week 7 Lip Sync Blocking

blocking

Drew's Blocking

Week 7 post your final blocking here!

Week 7 jaw animation, phoneme libraries

MIDTERM GRADES Students will be graded on final blocking, staging, performance and storytelling.

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Note: Get a solid pass on the posing and timing before you begin offsetting your animation. It is extremely difficult to adjust poses once you have started offsetting the curves.

You may follow along on this weeks class 'jaw animation and phoneme libraries' even if you have not yet started offsetting and overlapping your animation.

Animations may be in final blocking for mid-term grades.

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Activity: Watch James Baxter DVD on facial animation

Notes: Facial expressions and adding asymmetry. How to animate a blink. When to add a bit of brow movement to accent a blink. Take notes when watching the DVD. Set up face cam.

Demo: Animating the jaw. Sound breakdown, use of exposure sheets, finding keys for mouth shapes. Putting together a simple phoneme library.

Recommended book: The Artist's Complete Guide to Facial Expression by Gary Faigin

jaw animation curve

Sample phoneme library

0 - neutral jaw closed

1 - neutral jaw open

2 - AH ("call")

3 - AY ("say")

4 - a ("hat")

5 - EE ("see")

6 - E ("them")

7 IH ("it")

8 OH ("no")

9 OO ("took")

10 OO ("shoe")

11 UH ("up")

12 D,T

13 G,K,NG

14 L

15 M

16 B,P

17 B,P cheek puff

19 N

19 R

20 SS,Z

21 SH, CH J

22 TH

23 V,F

24 W (use shape for OO)

jaw up down and phonemes

First go through the mouth controllers available for your character, becoming familiar with each controller. You will use these to sculpt the mouth shapes for your phoneme library.There are infinite possibilities on how the shapes will look. (For example an EE on one side of the mouth).

Be Organized! Decide which shapes move similar parts of the mouth. Use these shapes together when sculpting your final phoneme mouth shape. Find the shapes that include the cheeks, and those that don't.

Decide if there are any shapes that are 'overall shapes' that are not specific to dialogue. Do not key these when creating your face shape library.

Tip: do not include the jaw up down as part of the phoneme. Animate the jaw on a separate pass, and use the same keyframes for the phonemes. Store your animation library poses in the negative frames. Go to the phoneme you want. Select all the controllers, unselect jaw up down, right mouse to your key frame and save key. Check for overall shapes being used for expression. These may need to be dialed out during dialogue

Find the rhythm of the dialogue, Start with the jaw.Don't enunciate each syllable. Some syllables are transitions.
'that's a lot'. The word 'a' is a transition. Shapes from the library are made from different sets of controls. Watch out for over enunciated words and pops. The mouth has to get into position to say something. You need a lead in (8-9 frames). "How are you" The mouth has to be prepared for the 'h' ahead of time'. You are dealing with 1/24 th of a second. You don't want to be late! Pop the mouth open before the sound by 1-2 frames. B's and P's are closed for 2 frames, modulated. Move the jaw so that you don't get a nasty stick.

Week 6 Continued Facial expressions and eye blinks

If you have not already done so, add more detail to the facial animation by adding the mouth expressions that are driven by emotional changes as opposed to dialogue. Sad to happy etc. Use the same keys as the brows where possible. Add new keys if necessary. Study your reference carefully! Pay particular attention to the use of asymmetry to achieve a more natural expression. Now is a good time to add eye blinks. Blinks are a great device in signaling a change of emotion in a character.

Homework: Start a conversation with somebody and watch when they blink.

Eye Blinks: Notes from 'IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE' by Walter Murch

Our rate of blinking is geared to

• our emotional state
• the nature and frequency of our thoughts

Even if there is no head movement the blink is

• something that helps an internal separation of thoughts to take place
• an involuntary reflex accompanying the mental separation that is taking place anyway

Start a conversation with somebody and watch when they blink.

• they will blink at the precise moment when the listener realizer our introduction is finished and now we are going to say something significant
• it will happen when they feel we are winding down and not going to say anything more significant for the moment

We entertain an idea, or a linked sequence of ideas and we blink to separate and punctuate that idea from what follows.

There are places in a conversation where it seems we almost physically cannot blink or turn our heads since we are receiving important information, and there are other places where we must blink or turn away in order to make better sense of what we have received.

quote from Gene Hackman "the Conversation"

"If it is true that our rates and rhythms of blinking refer directly to the rhythm and sequence of our inner emotions and thoughts, then those rates and rhythms are insights into our inner selves and therefore as characteristic of each of us as our signatures. So if an actor is successful at projecting himself into the emotions and thoughts of a character, his blinks will naturally and spontaneously occur at the point that the character's blinks would have occurred in real life."

Week 6 Offsetting the curves

Topic: Offset the animation

Notes:

Lecture/Demo: Adding offset and overlap using the graph editor

Activity: Dailies: Critique blocking

Homework: begin offsetting the animation

To quote Richard Williams, 'people unfold'. Some parts of the body lead the motion, and other parts follow. Things don't all move at once.

One method of adding offset and overlap is to use the graph editor. For this method it is best to focus on one section of animation at a time. Grab the curves down the spine and offset from the root for actions led by the hips. Grab the curves from the head down to the root for movements led with the eyes. There will be a lot of experimentation at this point. Try things out. The torso has more weight than the head. Make the movement of the head quicker than the torso. If you don't do this, then your characters will feel weightless and puppet like. Create playblast quicktime files to look at the result. Continue to shift timings. Once you have worked the entire animation in sections, create a playblast of the entire animation. Now you may see things that you didn't notice before. Make the fixes and adjustments, and create a new playblast. Repeat this process as many times as necessary to get a full overlapping pass for both your characters.

Jenner's Blocking

Week 5 Blocking continued

Topic: Reviewing the rough animation, phrasing actions and poses

Notes: Phrasing actions and poses to dialogue beats. ‘Phrasing’ is defining beats in your shots. Sometimes we need to combine beats so that the scene is not ‘over animated’. Other times we need to emphasize beats to make the acting clearer.

Lecture/Demo: Adding counter balance to the rotation of the spine, based on the movement of the root.Working out the movement of the feet, even if they are offscreen.

Activity: Watch Richard Williams DVD Dialogue 1, Phrasing actions and dialogue

Dailies: Critique blocking

Assignment: finish blocking

Animating Dialogue

When you are planning the acting remember: We're not illustrating words, we're illustrating thoughts. The expression chosen is illustrating the thoughts of a character and not the words he is saying.

Listen to the track and visualize. Look for a change of attitude. Look for Humor and Entertainment. Be sure you have the right staging to show all the expressions in your scene to the best advantage.

Keep it simple and have fun!

This week we are working towards final blocking.

As you are refining your poses:

• Add head nods, ground the action all the way down the spine. Copy the curves to the chest and hips, and scale them down.
• Add counter balance to the rotation of the spine, based on the movement of the root.
• When the hip is tilted right, the chest counter rotates left for balance. If necessary, work out the movement of the feet, even if they are offscreen.
• Keep movements snappy - less time on inbetweens, more time on the poses.
• Rework and refine the poses for the arms, repositioning if need be while keeping the timing intact.
• Block in facial expessions. So far we have worked with the brows and eyes. Add mouth movements that are driven by emotional changes (as opposed to dialogue). The expression must be captured throughout the whole body as well as in the face.

• Adjust the timings of the poses to work with the dialogue more properly. Anticipate dialogue with head, body or gestures 3-4 frames ahead of the heavy modulation (accent)
• Lock down the poses. Remove any unnecessary movements, exaggerate and hold poses as needed for clarity. Resist the temptation to tell too much in one 'drawing' (pose).
• Resist the temptation to begin overlapping before the posing and timing of the shot has been worked out!

ASSIGNMENT : final blocking for next week.