After finishing the advanced body mechanics, we’re now focusing on acting animation. George gave us a new task: find an audio clip that we don’t know or don’t remember the acting from, to come up with a fresh idea. The criteria for the audio were that it should be between 3-5 seconds long.
Once we find the audio, we need to draw some thumbnails and create a layout of the idea. In that layout, we should show the “before,” “now,” and “after” of the character. Additionally, we should write the dialogues of the audio and illustrate the emotions of each sentence using the emotion wheel.
Finding the right audio was the most challenging part, as George had predicted. I listened to many clips, searching for one with an emotional shift. Finally, I decided to go with an audio clip from Dwight from The Office. I’ve watched The Office many times, but luckily I don’t remember the actor’s action choices for this particular scene.
Additionally, I found a cowboy rig with a silly look and a stupid hat, which inspired an initial idea: a cowboy in a saloon, furious about something that had happened to him. After my session with George, we decided to shorten the audio to just “Alright, who did this?” and make it about a bullet hole in his hat, showing him looking pissed about it.
I realized I need to reshoot my reference because, for now, I’m looking at the camera, which isn’t good for this scene. Next week, I’ll start the animation in blocking in Maya and reshoot my reference.
Here’s my plan for next week:
- Reshoot Reference: Make sure not to look at the camera.
- Start Blocking in Maya: Begin animating the scene using the new reference.