Motion Studies Showreel

This showreel is supposed to show character movement in particular and to see how far I've progressed since my last showreel. In particular I had to focus on character performance to make them seem alive instead of looking like moving puppets. I could have done better with some of these animations but because of the amount of other work I had to do I only had a brief opportunity to go back and improve some aspects of character performance. Now that I have the summer available, I plan to work on performance in animation as this was the only improvement I needed to work on from my first showreel. It's also one of the hardest elements to crack out of timing, weight, anticipation, overlap and performance.

I have studied character performance and motion in particular over the weeks by watching a lot of Dreamwork's Animations (Favourite studio) to see what they do to make their characters look alive. Here's what I've picked up on:

• Constantly moving, even when they're static (i.e. chest moving in out to simulate breathing)
• Facial expressions always moving (our facial muscles are always doing something)
• Not so much anticipation and overlap visible as they're trying to keep the character's movements realistic enough that exaggeration isn't required.
• Constantly performing (Just because the focus isn't always on a certain character doesn't mean their expressions should stop as well)
• Subtle is sometimes the most effective.

Obviously the simple rigs I have access to can never compete with rigs used by Dreamworks which is what makes their character's act on a whole new level but at least I can take what I've learnt from these guys and put these skills into practice. Practice makes Perfect!

Jack Frost: Rise of the Guardians- One advantage for animator's..... he flies. Therefore the lucky devils didn't have to deal with the weight factor so much. Challenges: Cloth and hair simulation, oh and the subtle addition put into the feet that allows the muscles to flatten outwards slightly when he's walking.

Hiccup: How to Train Your Dragon- Obviously, the facial expressions! He's also a spindly character which means his weight is minute so the animator's can basically chuck him around the screen and there's no additional fat to have to move around. Challenges: Same as Jack. Hair and Cloth simulation. Luckily they didn't have to deal with feet this time around as Hiccup had shoes.

 

 

Even though these two films are only a couple of years apart, I can already see the massive leaps in technology. Rise of the Guardians used a complex particle system to create Sandman's golden dream sand as well as Pitch's black sand. Then there's also the way they created prosthetic skin which they scanned in to give the character's more translucent skin.