Would welcome all comments!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDtPFNMxAzE
This is my first stab at a short animated episode (w. multiple scenes). I composed the script, did the animation, music and all the voices.
Overall vibe on the order of Simpsons/South Park, etc.
Thanks!
Ramin
Losamon first episode (satire - 2 min.)
Moderators: Víctor Paredes, Belgarath, slowtiger
Overall I like it. The storytelling worked fine.
I agree with sbtamu's comment on the eye blinks. Without them, characters tend to lack a sense of life
What you also would consider is body sync.
In professional animation, we solve the body sync before we even touch the lips. The way to do it is to listen to the soundtrack not just for the words, but for the rhythm and the accents. Forget about the meaning for a little while: the soundtrack should be listened to like. 'Dam dadam dam DAM. DaDAM dadadam dam DAM'.
Pick out the most accentuated words and in the animation, support these with accents in the head movement (little nods or up and down movements) and in body and arm gestures. You should hit these accents about four frames before they occur in the soundtrack to establish the feeling of synchronicity.
Also, the mouth shapes should be bigger on the accentuated words than on the other words. The mouth shapes should usually be spot on the soundtrack, but there are cases where it works better to shift them a bit.
There were some moments in the animation where it was difficult to see who of the two characters was talking, so this would really help a lot.
Just study any animation in TV-shows or theatrical feature films to see how it's done.
Keep up the good work!
I agree with sbtamu's comment on the eye blinks. Without them, characters tend to lack a sense of life
What you also would consider is body sync.
In professional animation, we solve the body sync before we even touch the lips. The way to do it is to listen to the soundtrack not just for the words, but for the rhythm and the accents. Forget about the meaning for a little while: the soundtrack should be listened to like. 'Dam dadam dam DAM. DaDAM dadadam dam DAM'.
Pick out the most accentuated words and in the animation, support these with accents in the head movement (little nods or up and down movements) and in body and arm gestures. You should hit these accents about four frames before they occur in the soundtrack to establish the feeling of synchronicity.
Also, the mouth shapes should be bigger on the accentuated words than on the other words. The mouth shapes should usually be spot on the soundtrack, but there are cases where it works better to shift them a bit.
There were some moments in the animation where it was difficult to see who of the two characters was talking, so this would really help a lot.
Just study any animation in TV-shows or theatrical feature films to see how it's done.
Keep up the good work!
Thanks Guys!
To be honest the eye blinking didn't even occur to me (and to add it in would have been relatively easy with masking).
Sempie - thanks for the body sync insight. This being my first try beyond short single scene "tests". I was just curious to see if I could even do a complete (albeit short) episode. Turns out I can!
Just a question now of improving the overall presentation. I'm already finding myself analyzing a lot of the stuff on TV. It's cool to at least have some idea as to how this stuff gets made.
R
To be honest the eye blinking didn't even occur to me (and to add it in would have been relatively easy with masking).
Sempie - thanks for the body sync insight. This being my first try beyond short single scene "tests". I was just curious to see if I could even do a complete (albeit short) episode. Turns out I can!
Just a question now of improving the overall presentation. I'm already finding myself analyzing a lot of the stuff on TV. It's cool to at least have some idea as to how this stuff gets made.
R
The great thing about Animation Studio is, that you can just build in on top of the animation that you already have, for hand drawn animation you have to basically redo every drawing for that.
Even if a lot of it cannot be used in Animation Studio, I still can reccomend three books to you - Animation by Preston Blair, The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams, and Disney Animation; The Illusion Of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. Most of the tricks and trades of the animation job can be found there - even if you animate in a way that is not Disney style Some tricks just apply to every animation style.
Good luck!
Even if a lot of it cannot be used in Animation Studio, I still can reccomend three books to you - Animation by Preston Blair, The Animator's Survival Kit by Richard Williams, and Disney Animation; The Illusion Of Life by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston. Most of the tricks and trades of the animation job can be found there - even if you animate in a way that is not Disney style Some tricks just apply to every animation style.
Good luck!