When Deciding on Acting Choices, What Factors Help You Decide on Poses?

There are lots of things to take into consideration when you are deciding on poses.
First and foremost, there is the character’s personality, physical traits, and usually a library of movements for that character that provide information on how they move, such as walk cycles, postures, etc, and a character “bible” that you can access at the studio. Those things should always be studied very carefully when you are working on a show so that you have a strong sense of how the character moves.

And then, of course, there’s the story. What’s happening in the shot? What emotional state is the character in, and what actions do they need to achieve during those frames? What happens in the shots before and after the one you’re animating? These questions will have to be kept in mind so that the action you create in your shot fits well in the overall story arc.
Is the action in the shot more extreme or subtle? If it’s more extreme, the poses I create are more opposite in juxtaposition to each other. The opposing body lines will create a lot more energy and momentum for a high-energy shot. If it’s a quieter shot, the poses will have less opposition.

The poses need to very clearly communicate who the character is and what they are feeling at that point in time. Remember, once the shot is playing, those poses are only showing for 1/24th of a second (except in the case of holds of course, but you know what I mean)!
The biggest thing to keep in mind is that good poses will create a very individual personality in the character, rather than just creating generic movement.

Guest Blogger Dana Boadway

What Kind of Workflow Do You Use?

You've probably heard it said that being an animator means being a lifelong student. That couldn't be more true. My workflow is constantly changing. With every shot or task I complete, there's almost always something I end up liking or disliking about the way I went about it. Or, sometimes the technical requirements of a shot will dictate what kind of workflow I'll use. Also, observing the workflow other animators use allows me to pick up new things that I want to try with my next shot or task. The point is, finding a good workflow means trying things out until you find what works for you. I, personally, am still trying things out. However, I'll write down the workflow that I tend to use most often.

Step 1 - Research:
- Talking through the shot with the director or supervisor
- Checking out the storyboards
- Checking out the surrounding shots for continuity
- Researching any available information about character personality
- Gathering model sheets or other character resources

Step 2 - Planning:
- Shooting video reference, trying various takes and editing the best together
- Gathering online video or photo reference
- Studying reference
- Sketching rough thumbnail drawings of major poses to find the best silhouette

Step 3 - Blocking (on the computer):
- Blocking major storytelling/acting/action/key poses, most often in
stepped curves mode, and most often keying the entire character
- Blocking in extremes and changes in direction
- Blocking in important facial expressions
- Blocking in important hand poses
- Pushing poses around in time to find the right rhythm for the shot

Step 4 - Breakdowns:
- Putting in breakdown poses between major key poses, often still in stepped
- Defining rough arcs, overlap and spacing
- Repeating for the face and hands
- At this point I'm usually trying to put every major idea into a pose
- At this point if it's a dialogue shot, I will go through a similar
process on the mouth and face that I went through with the body

Step 5 - Spline
- Hitting that dreaded button to convert to spline curves (or clamped,
or linear, or auto-tangent, whatever you prefer to use)
- Usually making some slight adjustments to overall pose timing
- Shaping and cleaning curves to more accurately define spacing

Step 6 - Polishing
- Focusing on details
- Finessing contact points, often frame by frame
- Offsetting keys as necessary to refine overlap
- Layering in minor secondary action, like breathing or eye darts
- Doing anything required to make the shot as clear and refined as
the deadline will allow

Step 7 - Watching the shot get pried from your fingers and forcibly taken away
- It's rare to feel like a shot is as finished as I'd like it to be
Often deadlines come quicker than we obsessive animators would like

One final thought to keep in mind: this workflow is rarely linear.

Getting notes and changes from a director or supervisor can often mean
going back a step or two to blocking or even planning stages. It’s just
another part of the crazy process!

Guest Blogger Nelson Brown

Who is Your Character and What is His State of Mind?

I frequently remind animation students to always think about these questions when animating a character. It is really important to know who your character is when working on a shot and to know what happened before and what is going to happen afterwards. The character's current situation and state of mind will determine what choices your character will make and therefore dictate to some extent what your acting choices should be. By that, I mean you have to think beyond the mechanics and physics of your animation. Of course, as you start learning the principles of animation, you're more concerned about making your animation look right, to avoid any pops or floaty movements, and that's understandable. But hopefully you will also start to think about WHY your character is doing something, and not just HOW.

I remember watching an episode of Inside the Actor's Studio and the guest mentioned something very interesting that stuck with me ever since. Imagine these two situations: one, you're coming home and you're going to bed. Two, you're going to a hotel and you're going to bed. Technically both objectives are the same. But at home you're familiar with the surrounding, you know where what is and you've done this procedure many times. At the hotel you enter your room for the first time and you need to figure out where what is and you're generally thinking more about your actions. So, to be specific, you enter your house and throw your keys onto the same table as always. Since you've done this many times before, you don't even have look at where you throw the keys. You're mentally one step ahead, so your movements are fluid, casual, etc. At the hotel, you might look around first in order to figure out where you'll put the keys down and do the same in order to get undressed and to brush your teeth. Your movements will be more hesitant and distinct. That approach was really interesting to me and made total sense once I thought about it.

Now on top of that, throw a specific state of mind in there. Is your character tired after a trip, or grumpy, happy to be home, drunk, or is he/she a fugitive, hurrying, etc.? The way a character feels will influence your acting choices and the same goes for his/her surrounding.
So when you have a thief robbing a museum as a shot for instance, is the thief super confident or nervous, does he have to hurry? And so on. It's much more interesting to come up with acting choices once you're thinking a bit more about who your character is and why he's doing what he's doing.


Guest Blogger Jean-Denis Haas

When Deciding on Acting Choices, What Helps you Decide on Poses?

I like to convey the character’s inner thoughts with posing. For instance, the character might be feeling something but not showing it in an obvious way. Maybe the face will say “mad,” but the body pose is a bit frightened, or maybe the reverse. For example, think about a mother who just found her child who had wandered off in a crowded area. Her body language might show relief, but her face might show anger. Choosing the poses carefully will go a long way, helping your character communicate complex inner feelings and depth.

I learned from Mark Behm, one of my mentors at Animation Mentor, to always write the emotions (or thoughts) out in words near your thumbnails while you are deciding on poses and planning your scene. It is a constant reminder of the goal of your posing. I can't say how many times I got into a pose and started working on a cool idea, then looked over at the word written next to my thumbnails and realized that the pose I had drawn was not communicating the original emotion. I had gotten wrapped up in creating an interesting pose and lost focus of the bigger picture. Having the emotions written out helped me to quickly make the necessary adjustments and correct the poses. Mark Behm advised me to go through this process every time, no matter how redundant it seemed. And then he disappeared in a puff of ninja smoke.

Guest Blogger Josh Riley