Initial Introduction and Practice.
The final sequence required for the Coursework 2 submission was a lip-sync sequence. This was easily the toughest process out of the 3 animations I had to develop for the submission, I did not have any past experience at animating lip-syncing and so I was going into this whole process with no prior knowledge. For the initial practices, I used a reference that was provided by the lecturer’s slides and also a pair of audio files to animate my initial lip-sync practices. I first started with the 3D animation practice and was able to develop it quite quickly, I also added a bit more animation to the rest of the character model to make the sequence look more organic. If I have any points I would to improve upon, it would be the pacing of the mouth movements, it stops far too early and it is immensely distracting. After this 3D animation practice, I then developed a 2D sequence using a provided character face and audio file. The animating process of this practice was quite time-consuming due to redrawing various moth shapes repetitively for each frame. But I was able to complete the 2D practice too and I was satisfied with the final result, the only aspect I believe that could be improved would be the pacing of the mouth movements on certain words or sounds as it feels like the mouth is moving too fast for the audio. Another aspect I would add to improve the sequence is a bit more facial animation such the face’s shape changing slightly on certain words and sounds to make it look more realistic. After completing these practices I then decided to create my final lip-sync sequence in 2d
Progression of Submission Lip-Sync sequence.
For my finalized submission, I decided to use an audio clip from the film (“Ghostbusters” (1984)) which in this case was an exert from the “in-universe” commercial for the Ghostbuster’s business as it was exactly ten seconds in length which was the requirement for the final submission. I was able to obtain the audio I needed from the official Ghostbusters YouTube channel in the video titled “Full Television Commercial | GHOSTBUSTERS” (2020), I recorded the audio exert I was after through Audacity and then began work on animation the framework of the three character I would be using. This was purely done to get an idea of each character’s body movements down first, I would then Animate the mouth movements in time with the body movement, this was the process I spent the most time on to make sure I got the pacing of the mouth movements to match up with the audio and once I got it to a stage where I felt it was in sync with the audio, I then drew the character designs using the framework as a basis while also adding in a few in-between frames to make the character movements look less choppy and more organic. Due to my initial complaints with my first 2D practice, I also made sure to add a bit more facial animation in the final version to make the sequence more realistic.
Evaluation and Conclusion.
Overall, I feel that I was able to create a lip-sync sequence very well and I’m immensely satisfied with the end result. I’m especially pleased with how I animated the mouth movements to be in sync with the audio I was using and the use of facial animation to add to the movement of the overall character animation which made it feel more fluent overall. Despite my satisfaction with the final animation, I still have some points I think that could be improved upon in retrospect. By far, the main aspect I would improve would be the facial animation on the second character. This is because while looking at it now in retrospect, I feel its a bit too stiff and could perhaps benefit from having more changes in the facial shapes during certain words and sounds especially during the point where he lifts his head upwards as it is far less noticeable and the facial movements are very stiff which I will try to avoid in future projects like this. In any case, after completing this animation I can confidently say that I am more aware of how I should animate lip-sync animations. Especially following this project, I am able to also determine what I should and should not do while developing any lip-syncing animations in any future projects.
Bibliography.
Ghostbusters. (1984). [Film/Movie] Culver City, Ca United States: Columbia Pictures.
https://www.google.com/search?q=lip+sync+animation+reference+front&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwiQxJPR3MSDAxVkmicCHRSaBy8Q2-cCegQIABAA&oq=lip+sync+animation+reference+front&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQAzoECCMQJzoGCAAQBxAeOgYIABAIEB46BAgAEB46BggAEAUQHlDnCFjREGCoFWgAcAB4AIABUogB7gOSAQE3mAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=UCmXZZDcD-S0nsEPlLSe-AI&bih=961&biw=1903&hl=en#imgrc=TYa27co71hHmQM
www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Full Television Commercial | GHOSTBUSTERS. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRee26pfVzU [Accessed 4 Jan. 2024].