Hey guys! It's January the 25th 2011 4:26 pm over here in Aussie land. Today's topic will be about Secondary actions. So wat exactly IS secondary action? Most people tend to get it mixed up with actions like: Arm dangling after and huge action. Tail dragging along. Hair trailing behind the head, etc. So just to clear the air, secondary actions are actions undertaken by the character that are seperate or apart from the direct action of the said character. Most often, these actions tend to either show the character's mood, habits, characteristics or thought process.
For example, if i would to say, animate a character saying "Hi" to someone. I could do this is many many different ways. I could have him be embarassed while saying hi. To show this i may have him rub his elbows while saying hi (Secondary action being rubbing elbows). Another example would be if a character is greeting some friends while he's adjusting his tie. (Secondary action being adjusting his tie. Maybe he's trying to appear neat)
Secondary actions are a really neat way of helping you phrase your key poses together. It ties in the action from one point to another all the while keeping the character focused on what state his mind or thoughts are on. It's always good to add some form of secondary action in your animations as this will really bring your characters to life and convince the audience that what they are seeing isn't an object moving but rather a character in a show or movie that is believable and one that can be empathized with.
Becareful however so as to NOT distract the audience with too much movement from your secondary actions. If it starts to move the focus of the shot away from it's original intention, then you've probably taken it too far.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
The Tadpole
Nice and cute animation by Passion Pictures Paris. Love the animation and the asthetics look and feel of the clip.
Passion Pictures., The Tadpole directed by Bonzom , 2010.
The Tadpole from Passion Pictures on Vimeo.
Passion Pictures., The Tadpole directed by Bonzom , 2010.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Ice Age FOUR
Will it ever end? Probably not. This is the latests teaser for the next installment of the Ice Age series labelled Ice AGe 4 COntinental Drift. It's more of a short than anything else, starring everyone's favourite Ice Age character Skrat. It actually has a really nice err story, the short i mean so do check it out.
Pantomime - Just a noob thought
This is my first post! I am so excited~
Just a thought about animating pantomime, robot/mannequin dance move and popping /locking dance move, I, personally think that it is harder than animating normal body mechanics. Reason being that, when these movements are made they are done with the intention to imitate mechanical movement and pretend actions, so, doesn't that means that it's easier to animate since then the clip do not require overlap/ follow-through of normal body-mech, since they're suppose to be mechanical/"blocky"!?!
*Pls don't spit on me, that was me before I know how to animate...*
BUT then I realise it is even more challenging to do a good mime shot or dance move shot(esp. those mention above), simply because when being animated, the shot is suppose to show subtlety of human movement yet it's made to look mechanical.
So simply put, animator have to make something mechanical(the rig) behave like a human trying to act mechanically like a human doing it....if not properly done, it will not look convincing to audience that the animated character is human!
Anyway, below is a clip that i thought was pretty good for learning a little more about pantomime.
These clips are not bad too - check it out if u have the time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRfREJBv7yw&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiFuXeo7MoI&feature=related
*I will aim to animate pantomim for the new clip...i think...*Grin*
Okay so that's about all the ranting i have for my first post. Constructive? Pls forgive me if it doesn't gel with the rest of the boys' post. See... it says in the title, I am a noob.
P.S will try to improve on the content of my post in near future.
Just a thought about animating pantomime, robot/mannequin dance move and popping /locking dance move, I, personally think that it is harder than animating normal body mechanics. Reason being that, when these movements are made they are done with the intention to imitate mechanical movement and pretend actions, so, doesn't that means that it's easier to animate since then the clip do not require overlap/ follow-through of normal body-mech, since they're suppose to be mechanical/"blocky"!?!
*Pls don't spit on me, that was me before I know how to animate...*
BUT then I realise it is even more challenging to do a good mime shot or dance move shot(esp. those mention above), simply because when being animated, the shot is suppose to show subtlety of human movement yet it's made to look mechanical.
So simply put, animator have to make something mechanical(the rig) behave like a human trying to act mechanically like a human doing it....if not properly done, it will not look convincing to audience that the animated character is human!
Anyway, below is a clip that i thought was pretty good for learning a little more about pantomime.
These clips are not bad too - check it out if u have the time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRfREJBv7yw&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiFuXeo7MoI&feature=related
*I will aim to animate pantomim for the new clip...i think...*Grin*
Okay so that's about all the ranting i have for my first post. Constructive? Pls forgive me if it doesn't gel with the rest of the boys' post. See... it says in the title, I am a noob.
P.S will try to improve on the content of my post in near future.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Setting The Background of your Character
This week i thought it would be nice to delve a little into how to make your acting clips more believable. An important aspect of this i believe, is setting the background and/or backstory of your characters. How the audience percieve your animation as believable or not is mainly based upon whether or not they empathize with it. It may be something that happened to them that was similar or to someone they know, that makes it real. Or that the scene brings out certain familiar emotions that people can relate to.
So here's just a little bit from something i've learnt of an easy way to setup your character for your acting shot.
AGE: How old is your character? This will have an impact on how he/she behaves.
Ethncity: Asian? Coacation? African? etc... Cultural variations
Occupation: Defines outlook of life? Stress levels.
Core personality traits: Timid, Bold, Crafty, Selfish, Helpful etc...
Next comes the context of your shot
Where does your scene take place?
When?
What did your character do before entering the scene?
What is the long term goal of the character?
What is the character's wish? What is his scene specific goal that brings him closer to achieving his long term goals?
The Conflict: What does he have to overcome to achieve that goal?
Actions: Actions taken that describe the shot.
These are just a few examples on how you can break down the planning stage of your shot to help things along.
So here's just a little bit from something i've learnt of an easy way to setup your character for your acting shot.
AGE: How old is your character? This will have an impact on how he/she behaves.
Ethncity: Asian? Coacation? African? etc... Cultural variations
Occupation: Defines outlook of life? Stress levels.
Core personality traits: Timid, Bold, Crafty, Selfish, Helpful etc...
Next comes the context of your shot
Where does your scene take place?
When?
What did your character do before entering the scene?
What is the long term goal of the character?
What is the character's wish? What is his scene specific goal that brings him closer to achieving his long term goals?
The Conflict: What does he have to overcome to achieve that goal?
Actions: Actions taken that describe the shot.
These are just a few examples on how you can break down the planning stage of your shot to help things along.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
New Year
Welcome one and all to the new year of 2011! I hope everyone had a fruitful and fun transition into the new year. Really excited and looking foward to this year...i've got a feeling it's gonna be good!
Just wondering if anyone has any new year resolutions, especially ones related to ANIMATION! Like: "This year i'm gonna animate my butt off", or "This year i plan to get into a big animation studio!" or "This year I plan to up my animation level by 100%!" etc you get the idea!
Well whatever your resolution is, let's try to strive for our goals and get there as soon as we can!
Just wondering if anyone has any new year resolutions, especially ones related to ANIMATION! Like: "This year i'm gonna animate my butt off", or "This year i plan to get into a big animation studio!" or "This year I plan to up my animation level by 100%!" etc you get the idea!
Well whatever your resolution is, let's try to strive for our goals and get there as soon as we can!
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