Character Performance

31/05/24 - 26/08/24

Introduction

This module explored character performance through acting an lip sync. This was an area I hadn't explored in quite some time. Whilst working for Eutechnyx all the cutscenes I produced were mocap driven and the last piece of lip sync I explored was in my second year of my undergrad. So I was super looking forward to exploring these skills again, despite always found this quite daunting and challenging!

This page acts as a contents page for the work produced on this module ranging from the assignments produced to the developmental work produced prior to the assignments.

Assignment 01 - Character Performance 11 Seconds Club

The below video shows my submission for the assignment and the corresponding reflective blog post that breaks down my process. Unfortunately, the 11 Seconds Club competition took a break over summer - right where this module fell therefore I chose instead to make an animation in the same style.

Reflective Blog post : Character Performance - 11 Seconds Club

Assignment 02 - Realism vs. Stylisation :

The second assignment was to study the concept of realism and stylisation within animation. Below you will find links to my critical reader that analyses a range of sources that I used to write my academic blog post in the second blog link.

• Critical Reader
• Academic Blog Post - The Iron Giant is Real

Learning and Development Reflective Blog Posts

The links below show my exploration and learning through the range of the module's different units prior to the assignment. Each show a breakdown of my learning and development as well as the outcomes I produced.

• Unit 01 : Character Poses
• Unit 02 : Phone Booth (mattlawsonhall.blogspot.com)
• Unit 03 - Cartoon "Take" (mattlawsonhall.blogspot.com)
• Unit 04 - Human Take (mattlawsonhall.blogspot.com)
• Unit 05 - Dialogue Shot No Mouth
• Unit 06 - Very Short Dialogue Shot
• Unit 07 - Short Dialogue Shot
• Unit 08 - Medium Dialogue Shot

Conclusion

Honestly, this module was absolutely incredible! I feel my skills have grown significantly and I generally feel a lot more confident to approach this type of animation. Each unit built my skills and I could visually see the quality of my animation improving week after week with strengths in my final assignment. My overall posing and timing has improved significantly in addition to my storytelling and acting skills. This was a tough module time wise due to my injury recovery and additional responsibilities during this period, however, I've been resilient and tackled this well.

I feel I have met the learning outcomes because I have :

• Explored all lectures and refined my approach to character performance animations from preproduction to production and beyond.
• I've explored acting and posing throughout all animations in addition to developing my thumbnailing skills leading to well inspired character animation and interesting shots.
• I've developed deeper analysis of audio diaglogue and creatively explored ideas that help tell a story. I've linked multiple voice clips and characters togethers to build a larger narrative and creatively problem solved challenges to lead to a strong outcome.
• In addition to my own acting and reference I have studied the work of other to inform my acting and help develop interesting concepts.
• I've explored acting in depth through  multiple takes and reflecting on my performance to refine and improve the quality of my primary reference.
• I've successfully analysed the 'Iron Giant' and a range of other sources to build a much deeper understanding of what realism and stylisation mean within animation. This has broadened my horizons of the power of animation and helped me really understand what high quality animation looks like. This has informed my work and my practise generally. 

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

• Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of specialist approaches, processes, and techniques of character performance in 3D Animation.
• Demonstrate a systematic knowledge and understanding of enquiry, methods, practices and theories in acting and character performance in 3D animation and its interrelationship with other relevant disciplines.

Intellectual, Practical and Transferable Skills

• Analyse and problem solve in unpredictable and complex contexts applying creative and specialist techniques in the animation of character performance.
• Develop and critically evaluate their work with informed reference to theory and current practice in 3D animation of character performance.
• Effectively employ acting and character performance animation techniques to communicate narratives or information and evoke emotive responses in audiences.
• Show a critical awareness of current practices, structures, audiences and registers of communication of character performance in 3D animation and adopt a critical reflective, informed approach to creative development.