My next assignment within Acting for Animation was to produce a lip sync to a 5 second audio clip. We were given free reign to choose from a variety of sound bites. I eventually settled on one of a monstrous voice saying “I Smell Human”.

I went back and forward over this audio clip and a few others for a little while. I toyed with the idea of doing a cowboy audio clip and a hedonistic wine drinker. I even started sketching out potential character designs. The old woman was maybe based a bit too much of Ursula from Little Mermaid.

After I had a closer look into what lip syncing entailed I decided the wine tasting audio clip would be a lot of work for my first time and I already had a clear idea what I wanted to do with the “I Smell Human” audio, plus time wasn’t on my side. I had a week before hand-in and didn’t want to faff about too much longer. I decided to stick with I smell Human and get stuck into the character design.

The image I had in my head was of a demon in a chefs outfit opening a silver platter with a cooked human head on it. I looked at a few sources for inspiration from Earthworm Jim, The Simpsons, Leo and Satan and Smiling Friends.

I wasn’t trying to replicate the graphic primal shape designs I’d used in my previous animation. In fact I was drawing in a style more closely related to my own comic style.

However I hated a lot of these designs and felt they were very uninspired and boring. I eventually found myself steering back to simpler primal shape designs I’d used before. It works better for animating and since the focus of the animation was on getting the lip sync right I didn’t want to over complicate it.

This was the design I eventually settled on. It wasn’t anything special but it didn’t immediately make my eyes bleed when I looked at it so it was good enough to continue with.

Once I had my design I started looking at mouth charts online. I was a little unsure about this process as I couldn’t find a concrete guide for how mouth shapes were meant to look, obviously part of this is due to variations in character designs but I was surprised how open ended it felt.

With a rough guide I started on making my own mouth chart for my demon.

William’s Animator’s Survival Guide had an extremely helpful section on lip syncing and mentioned the importance of popping into your vowels, basically using the vowels as your timeline for the “beats” of speaking. So I broke my audio clip down into it’s vowels.

I also wanted a bit of character animation before and after the lip sync so filmed some reference in the living room of myself smelling the platter and removing the lid. I knew I wanted big flamboyant arcs with the arm movements.

I created a rough animatic which turned out looking like this:

I wasn’t too keen on how it looked. The lip sync seemed really janky and stiff to me so I sent it to Sarah for some feedback and this is what she said:

Sarah’s main advice was to tweak the timing and soften the mouth shapes. William’s recommends softening the mouth shapes after you hit the vowels. This helped a lot and allowed me to fill the space between my mouth shapes so they didn’t just ‘hang’ there.

Once I had the mouth shapes sorted I worked moved onto the rest of the character animation. I knew a wanted a big sweeping arc as the demon lifted the lid off the platter so I blocked out the movement with some skeleton joints first before actually animating it. One thing I remember specifically from my earlier animations was how William’s quoted Milt Kahl on adding flexibility into the arm movements by breaking the elbow and having it lead in the arc. So I wanted to include it this time around.

 

With the arc nailed down I just had to add the arm, the platter contents and a little bit of polish.

In conclusion this one is a bit of a mixed bag. The strongest part is the character animation, the lip sync looks fine in of the sense it matches the timing of the audio but it lacks a bit of character in my eyes. If I had another week I would have probably added a bit more polish to the animation, eye blinks, steam from the head and bit more elasticity into the demon’s face when he speaks. His body just seems to pause while he’s speaking, maybe a bit of sway in the hands  and some head movement would have helped to breathe a bit more life into him.

The brief for this module required us to animating two characters of different ages, personalities and professions interacting together at a bus stop. One thing Sarah mentioned during the lecture was the characters didn’t have to be human. This of course led me to devise a scenario where a man and his dog are waiting at the bus stop next to an alien disguised under a heavy coat. The dog begins sniffing the alien who pushes him away with his foot, the dog responds by pulling the disguise off the alien causing the dog to jump with shock into the man’s arms ALA Scooby-Doo.

Sarah provided the template for the background so I just had to design the characters. I wanted to steer further into the bold flat design I had with my rat in my animation JAM. While the rat design was very 00’s Nickelodeon for my new designs I wanted to keep the strong shape language but with thinner lines. I pulled a lot of inspiration from Barry Reynold’s designs on Book of Kell’s (2009).

Reynold’s designs are iconic and have so much appeal even before they start moving. I really liked how Reynold does larger character’s with rounded shoulders broken up by the head shape and wanted to incorporate them in my own character. I worked out some sketches in my bed late one night. The man’s came together fairly quickly and so did the dog. I really steered into basic shape design with these characters and since I knew we’d be seeing them standing together in an almost line-up I made sure to keep their designs complementally of each other. Each character had a circle, square or triangle shape at the core of their design. The alien was the hardest design to crack. I knew I wanted a long and spindly design with large hat and coat concealing his face. I looked at A Monster in Paris (2011) for inspiration.

After a few sketches I just couldn’t get a design that was as strong as I had with the man and dog. Eventually the image of a rocket lolly popped into my head and gave me the inspiration to boil the shape language down to it’s simplest form, which gave me this:
I was a lot happier with this design and I felt it worked well next to the man and dog.

I took the designs and brought them into Photoshop where I worked them up and added some colour. I knew I wasn’t going to be using colour in the final animation but there was always the possibility of adding colour after the hand-in, plus it’s just too much fun not to colour them!

With my designs out of the way, the next stage was onto animating. I made an animatic to give me an idea of the staging and timing. I knew the man wasn’t going to do much movement outside playing on his phone and catching the dog when he jumps. I got a little caught up in getting his fingers to move right while he was on his phone and ended up filming some reference before I started my animatic. I didn’t really need to get the finger animations to the level that I did at this stage but it didn’t effect my pipeline and in fact it just meant I got them out of the way earlier.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XxuyIwKxJwI

For the animatic I only included a few frames of the finger animation but for the whole short I intended to have them on an alternating loop.

The timing for some actions was seriously off but the staging was good and it gave me enough of a foundation to begin working. My first hurdle was getting the dog to turn around and walk. Quadrupeds are tricky to animate so I looked at a few photos and videos of dogs turning around to give me a reference.

https://www.facebook.com/WoofWoofTV/videos/golden-retriever-puppy-listens-and-dances-to-turn-around-song/194901752028078/

To make it simpler for myself I broke the dogs body down into it’s most basic form and thought about his torso like a sausage twisting around on itself. For the walk animation I looked at a walk cycle for quadrupeds and the standard walk cycle.

I understood the basics for the walk was alternating leg poses and I was surprised by how straight forward I found the process. The walk I created for my square dog ended up being something between a human’s walk and a dogs. I didn’t want square dog to have backwards joints so gave him human legs, I was a little concerned with how it’d appear and whether it might come across as creepy but it worked out in the end.

The rest of the animation was pretty much straight forward until I got to the part where the alien has to push the dog away with his leg. In my original plan the alien pushes the dog away with an arcing sweep.

But after looking at it I realised the logistics of the movement didn’t make sense, the sweep felt like he’d be pushing the dog behind him rather than away. Since I was working on a 2D plane I needed a kick that fit within those dimensions. I asked Sarah to film reference of me in the office kicking away a chair so I could have some idea of how it’d look.

With my new reference as a guide this is what I was able to change the push into.

I liked the leg movement and the animation on the scarf but I really didn’t the squash on the dog so I decided to push it further and really squish him when he gets pushed.

The next section I worked on was the dog bite. While I was working on it I showed my progress to my co-workers and they suggested these changes.

So the dogs sniff became this:

And the bite became this:

Next stage was the tug on the alien’s coat.

Unfortunately the only clip I have from this stage is 1 second long but you can see the main issue if you watch the clip frame by frame. The clothes fly off too fast, there isn’t much reaction from the scarf being pulled and the alien looks very stiff as it coming out of the spin. So in my next pass I added a lot more spring to the alien to give him life coming out of the spin and I slowed down the clothes.

I showed what I’d done so far to Sarah and my co-workers and got this feedback.

This made me realise I’ve been having an issue with the timing in a lot of my animation, I tend to make ever movement very even and with the same amount of frames. This was especially noticeable in the dogs jump. But by deleting a few frames and holding the pose for longer at the top of the jump I was able to get a better result. I also implemented the feedback about the scarf, the leg and the dog tugging. Due to time reasons I didn’t add more reactions to the alien but I feel the end result still works. Below is the final version of my animation.

I realised when I finished the animation in true Aodhan fashion I gave myself a good bit more work than I probably needed to do, the brief said the sequence only needed to be 10 seconds and mine comes in at 30. But all in all I’m mostly happy with this piece. The character designs are strong, the staging is good. Some of the timing is a little lifeless in some parts and I’m not entirely convinced by some of the movements in the tug of war between the alien and dog. I think the scarf tension in the end looked a lot better but the way the man and dog move during the tugging, their back and forth just seems a little off too me.

I do really life how much life the animation has towards the end with the alien’s bounce and the man catching the dog. Although it has made me realise the rest of the animation is a kind of stiff and lifeless by comparison. I noticed it with my animation JAM too, the nicer more fluid animations are always towards the end. I think it might have something to do with the fact both of those animations featured a walk animation in the middle which I tend to only redraw the legs on so the rest appears as the a singular drawing moving across the screen. Either that or it takes me a hell of a long time to warm up with my animation. Whatever the reason I’m marking this animation down as a win, it’s a clear progression from my previous work, if still a little stiff/unappealing. Perhaps more exaggeration is needed.

 

 

 

 

 

For my research assignment I decided to look at Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal (2019) and how it’s such an effective piece of storytelling without using a single line of dialogue. My presentation will look at how Tartakovsky uses visual techniques to engage his audience emotionally, communicate the character’s thoughts and convey deeper themes. I broke down the techniques Tartakovsky uses into:

• Colour.
• Editing.
• Cinematography.
• Character Design.

In this blog post I’m going to show in detail the material I found to support my opinion.

Colour:

“We feel emotionally, through the use colour, what we’re suppose to feel for the character.”
– Daniella Strijileva, Production Designer at Pixar (2017)

We know the importance of colour in films, but it’s become such a natural staple of film making today that it’s easy to forget how much colour plays a key role in defining the mood of a scene and how specific colours can be used to evoke subtle emotional reactions from the audience. Numerous film makers use colour to enhance their storytelling, a perfect example is Pixar. They have a wonderful series on Khan Academy about their film making process and have several sections about how they use colour to enhance their narrative.

In the above video the art department clearly demonstrates how they use colour within a scene from their intro to “Up” (2009) to visually communicate subtle metaphors about a character’s emotional state, by framing the old man in shades of blue he appears more sad and lonely, whereas framing the old woman in warm colours like orange and yellow make her appear more positive and happier. Pixar use this approach to colour for great effect in their intro to Up, like Primal it’s an animated sequence devoid of dialogue that relies on visuals to tell a complex story about grief. The intro was singled out within numerous reviews;

“It’s one of the most extraordinary openings to a film, much less an animated film, ever to have been crafted.” (Sukhdev Sandhu, 2009)

“This movie is remarkable for a brilliant montage sequence at the very beginning… It is a masterclass in narrative exposition.” (Peter Bradshaw, 2009).
This is a key example of just how effective colours can be in manipulating the audience’s emotion.

I knew now how important the use of colour was in a story, next I wanted to explore why Tartakovsky chose his particular colours and explore further the psychology behind colour. Mary Risk (2020) from Studio Binder has a great e-book and video discussing the topic:

In the above video they discuss not just the use of colours but how the Hue, Saturation and Tone of a colour can change the emotional response it elicits from an audience. So a lighter pastel red can evoke feelings of love and tenderness while a darker more saturated red can evoke feelings of anger or danger. I found this interesting but not directly relevant to the point I was trying to make about Primal, I did however find more use in their e-book which details colour schemes, particularly the section about monochromatic and analogous colour palettes and transitional colours.

A monochromatic palette is harmonious and lulling, it can be used to help sink the audience into a complete world or the mood of the scene. An Analogous palette is kindred and due to it be mostly common in nature appears more natural and pleasing to our eyes. Transitional colours are used to show a shift in the narrative, either a change in the character or scene.

Lewis Bond (2015) on his channel The Cinema Cartography goes into detail about transitional colours and how it can be used not just to show a change in location but also a change in the character’s state of mind.

Bond uses the example of the colour scheme in ‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’ (2013) to show how transitional colours can be used to subtly communicate to the audience the characters emotional state. In the film, blue represents the main character’s freedom and expression so when we first see her love interest with blue hair it symbolises her emotional relationship with this character. From here the blue palette in the film becomes more intense and prominent, showing the character becoming consumed by love. Over time the blue remains as prominent but becomes more pale and faded showing how the love is fading but she’s still consumed by it. This is a fantastic example of how a change in colour can subtly convey to the audience a change the character’s emotional state.

Tartakovsky utilises all these techniques with the colour in Primal, especially transitional colours which he uses to guide the audience through the main character’s emotional journey. Each colour Tartakovsky uses in these scenes ties directly into the narration he’s is trying to tell and each colour chosen is used to amplify the emotion of the scene. It is worth noting here though, that the specific meaning of a colour can be subjective. Where red is traditionally the pigment of love, the director of ‘Blue is the Warmest Colour’ chose to represent love with the colour blue. Studio Binder offers a guide on some common interpretations of colours.

As you can see some colours, depending how they’re used can evoke almost contradictory emotional responses. This leaves a certain level of subjectivity to my presentation but I’m fortunate that the assignment requires me to argue my own opinion.

Below is a colour script I put together of the opening to Primal. What I felt was of particular note was how the colour scheme followed the gradient of the colour wheel, which I feel was done to allow a more gradual change between the emotions of each scene.

In the beginning of the episode we see the main character ‘Spear’ surrounded by green. This green is largely monochromatic and gives us a natural and peaceful feeling which continues for the next few shots until becoming more analogous with the introduction of blue, which gives us a sense of calm as we see Spear observing his home from afar, here everything is still as it should be in the character’s world. In the same scene however we also see Tartakovsky subtly introducing purple which in the next few scenes grows in intensity becoming more ominous. It’s in this same shot that Spear notices something is wrong with his family. The purple shifts, becoming even more intense as Spear runs to save them until the scene turns red, amplifying the violence and danger we feel as Spears family is murdered before his eyes. This red comes to symbolise Spear’s anger and pain when we see him wiping away the cave painting of his family.

From this scene the colours almost seem to move backwards through the colour wheel, becoming purple and ominous again as Spear climbs a cliff to commit suicide before he changes his mind and we switch to a deep blue, representing his depression. As the sun rises Spear experiences a vision of his family at peace in the afterlife and the colour scheme becomes bright yellow representing hope and rebirth. In the next shot Spear is lit by a warm orange giving us a sense of happiness as he comes to terms with his family’s death. The next shot in sequence brings us back to the green representing the return to norm.

Editing:

Editing is another important element of filmmaking. Depending what sequence of images you show the audience you can vastly change the narration you are telling. Showing images in chronological order to audience can cause them to form a relation between what’s shown on screen. Tartakovsky keeps his editing simple and makes extensive use of the eye line match to show us the internal thoughts of Spear and his wants.
As Kyle Deguzman defines in his 2021 article;

“Eyelines are determined by where an actor looks during a scene. They can help inform viewers of the scene’s geography, as well as conveying actors’ relationships and moods. Eyelines are also a powerful tool for telling a story through visuals and directing the eyes of the audience to portions of the frame.”

Studio Binder has another video on their YouTube which breaks down in more detail what an Eye line match is.

Tartakovsky first uses this technique in Primal to establish Spear’s goals and convey to us his relationship to his family. We first see Spear looking off screen at staring at a smoke plume on the horizon then cutting back to his smiling face. This establishes that whatever he’s looking at is what makes him happy, which is eventually revealed to be his family.

This technique is used again to show us his sadness and pain over the death of his family.

Then again to show us his anger at the T-rex that killed his family and his desire for revenge.

I decided in the end to cut editing from the main presentation to save time, an awful lot of it also crossed over with cinematogrpahy so I wasn’t missing much.

Cinematography:

The framing and composition of Primal is another tool Tartakovsky uses to tell his story. By carefully framing his characters Tartakvosky can convey symbolic relationships between them and convey deeper emotional meaning behind scenes.
The examples I will be focusing on will be his use of repeating compositions, extreme close ups and how characters are framed in relation to each other.

Extreme Close Up:

The extreme close as defined by SC Lannom;

“An extreme close-up shot frames a subject very closely, often so much so that the outer portions of the subject are cut off by the edges of the frame. On an actor, this is commonly used to show specific portions of the body, like the face or hip, but it can go closer to show only an actor’s mouth, or even a single eye.”

and as Master Class explains this type of shot is “…an emotional moment that draws in the audience and portrays a character’s innermost feelings. This makes the viewer feel like they’re part of the action.”

Studio Binder has a wonderful break down of the film Nightcrawler (2014) which explores how focusing on a character’s eyes helps you empathise with them.

Marcos Mateu-Mestre makes a similar statement in his composition and storyboarding book, Framed Ink:

So when Tartakovsky uses extreme close ups of Spear’s eyes it shows us what he’s thinking and his emotional state. (I get a little bit of overlap here from previous images I’ve used in editing, but such is the nature of filmmaking.)

Repeating Compositions:
The above image is also a great example of how Tartakovsky uses repeating composition to relate the similarities between the two main characters. The top half of the above image shows Spear watching in horror as his family is devoured by the evil T-Rex, the bottom half shows his similar reaction as Fang’s family is attacked by the same T-Rexes.

Tartakovsky uses a similar shot of Spear throwing his weapon in both sequences. This helps to tie the two characters together and convey Spear’s empathy with Fang.
Tartakovsky also uses this technique to also show to us how Spear has overcome the death of his family and returned to his normal day to day life. The shot on the left is from the opening of the episode and the shot on the right is after Spear has overcome his grief.

Framing Character’s Relationships:

How Tartakovsky frames his character’s gives us subtle implications of their relationships. When we’re first introduced to Spear and Fang. both are shown to be fishing but are placed on opposing sides of the screen. This shows the character’s are similar but but currently working in opposition to each other.

This carry’s over to when they first meet, they’re framed in direct opposition now, they’re almost portrayed as enemies.

Tartakovsky even uses the same framing technique to demonstrate Fang’s adversity to the evil T-Rex.

But what’s key about Spear and Fang’s relationship is that Tartakovsky uses framing to show us their arc. At the start their against each other but by end of the episode they’re framed in the same silhouette, in dead centre of the frame. They’ve literally crossed the screen to come together.

Character Design:

The shape design of the characters helps to tell us a story about them. Each design conveys to the audience the idea of who the character is, so when we first see them we instantly get an idea of what they’re about just through visuals. Tartakovsky makes great use of shape language within his character design.

Spear’s character design is blocky and square, which conveys to us feelings of strength, power and reliability. Even the shape of Spears silhouette as he moves helps give us an idea of who he is. He runs on all fours like an animal and when he jumps his body shape becomes like that of a primate.

 

His skull in profile even looks more like an ape that a human. This all helps give us the feeling that Spear is bestial and animalistic.

Fang on the other hand has a square and triangular silhouette. Suggesting power and speed. Her body is also covered in stripes like a tiger which suggests to us she is a predator.

If you look at her in comparison to the evil T-Rex it’s clear to see they have very similar silhouettes but Tartakovsky breaks up the design by including more triangles, this gives us the impression this dinosaur is more dangerous, violent and scary. They even include more triangles within his patterns, Fang’s stripes cross from one side of her body to the other but the evil T-Rex has his stripes end in points, appearing sharper and deadlier.

Even the palette shift to red makes us instantly feel like he’s more villainous and evil. To make the evil Mother T-Rex stand out as the “big bad” they simply gave her the biggest triangle shape and then covered it in even more triangles.