lipsync animation critique

#1

Hi. I wanted to get some feedback on a lipsync animation I did to a “Grandma’s Boy” clip. I was hoping to put it in my demo reel, but I definetly dont want to put anything weak in my reel since it will be very short.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOQCMSPwRBU

Thanks in advance!

*Edit: Replaced link; last video had no sound

#2

Hmm. Even if you think the animation is mediocre or boring, that would be really useful criticism for me. The only feedback I can get so far is from my bf who only says, “Thats great!”. I know its not perfect, but I am unable to accurately pinpoint what exactly Im missing.

#3

Hey!

The biggest thing I am noticing is during the quick parts of his speech, your lips get a little flappy. You might be trying to hit too many notes, too quickly in that segment.

Also, I think you might be losing the notes around the 15 second mark. Maybe emphasize the “I” a little more.

Thats just my two cents. I think its pretty solid.

Brian

#4

The link doesn’t work for me, it says it was removed

#5

@eaclou: Im sorry about that. Try this link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOQCMSPwRBU

I know it might seem similiar, but I tried it out and it works.

@Brimln: Thank you for your critique, I will go over the lipsync and try to sharpen it up.

#6

Hi ebonyImage, only advice I can give would be for future endeavors. I think you need to go back and work on the basics for the next one, for all lipsyncs you should shoot reference of yourself acting out the audio clip, this will give you a good starting point on what poses you want to use in your animation.

Also try to look at your poses in full body terms, that is to say look at how all of the body parts work together to complete an action, this is essential to understand how body mechanics actually work.

On your next animation I would recommend chosing a sound clip that is waay shorter, 5-10s maybe? Anyways, keep at it and have fun!

I recommend buying these books as well
-How to cheat in Maya 2010 by Eric Luhta
-Animators survival Kit by Eric Williams

#7

@R1c00: Thank you for your honest feedback. I will definetly take your advice to heart. I was trying to test myself with this longer clip, but it obviously just made it easier to see my short comings, lol. I was thinking about participating in the 11 second club, but now I KNOW I should participate.

Also, thank you for the book suggestions. I have the Animators Survival Kit, but I dont have How to cheat in Maya. I’ll have to look that up on Amazon.

#8

First off this clip is WAY WAY too long. For a test like this doing something that is 7-10 seconds that is really polished is going to be way better than doing a gigantic 30 second piece. As far as the animation…

  1. You aren’t animating the hips at all. You are trying to cheat it. You cant cheat in animation. Even if things are off screen you can still feel if the relation of the weight is wrong in the rest of the body. It is all interconnected so for the next time you approach the shot pose out the whole body in your blocking. I am not saying animate stuff with a lot of detail if its off camera but at least make sure the weight and force the actions are accurate for all parts of the body.
  2. Your acting isn’t as strong as it can be. You really need to film yourself whenever you start a shot. Keep filming yourself until you are 100 percent happy with your take. Just keep doing it until you have it, don’t settle for a mediocre take. Also do some study about who your character is. Understand who he is, what he wants, and why he wants it. Also think about what he is saying. Why is he saying this? What does he gain by saying this? What is he really saying by saying these things? aka subtext. Do all of that kind of planning before you even take your reference and keep that planning around through the shot so that you can refer back to it when you start having trouble getting your acting to work.
  3. You need to go back to the basics of posing. Using good silhouette. making dynamic poses and directing the eye. These things really need to be looked at. I would also tell you that before you do another acting shot go do a few physical tests. I would suggest a rig called Lt. Dan (with the tail turned off). Use him and do a ball kick or a jump or something so you can really get a feeling for taking a shot from start to finish. Also make sure that you go post up at the 11 sec club at every stage of the process of your shot. So that you can get some feedback about what it is you need to be paying attention to. The reason I say to go to the 11 second club is because it is a very active community of animators while cg talk is a little more broad in focus and will probably get you feedback less often.
  4. Lastly, I don’t think you are ready to do acting shots yet. I know no one wants to hear that. But at this stage you are only slowing your progress down by trying to tackle these large acting shots which you are not prepared for. You have to understand that it is hard for people to give notes on shots like this because there is very little to work with. So much of what you have is so rough and raw that giving notes is such a gigantic task no one wants to undertake it. I am not trying to discourage you in any way. I am merely being honest with you as far as your animation goes. I wish you luck with your animation learning.
#9

@AFightingPanda: Thank you very much for your honest critic, I need all the honesty I can get. I will be taking all of the feedback I have and using it to get better. Especially, about working on shorter shots. If I am going to ask for critic then I need to make my work easy to critic.

Sometimes you get caught up with what you think you should be doing, and you end up missing the little steps that get you there. You forget that great artists spent years doing studies and excersises to hone their craft before they became masters. I think I need to think of animation in the same way and take my time getting the basics perfect first.

#10

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