Keisuke Mori and The Art of Acting for Anime

Japanese anime voice actor Keisuke Mori 

Japanese anime voice actor Keisuke Mori talked to our animation students in Tokyo this morning about his career performing voice overs for Japanese anime.   His credits include the 2018 movie Mirai.

Voice actors have to have to be able to perform a wide range of voices in order to do multiple characters. Vocal range is the key, the ability to perform in multiple different voices and styles.

Keisuke Mori explained that his voice is an instrument, one that he has learned to play over many years of practice working in anime. 

Peter Sellers on Acting - For Animators

Comic genius Peter Sellers

Recently I stumbled across a quote from the late great actor Peter Sellers, on how he approached creating a character. 

Sellers said this: "I start with the voice. I find out how the character sounds...after the voice comes the looks of the man...after that I discover how the character walks...and then something strange happens...the man you play begins to exist."

It's just the same with animation. 

Why Animators Need "Head Muppeting"

What is "Head Muppeting" in animation? It's a term I first heard used by veteran animator Sydney Padua when she was teaching an animation class at Escape Studios.

"Head Muppeting" is a similar concept to that of "hitting the accents", developed by Richard Williams in his book The Animator's Survival Kit  (we have many copies in the 11th Floor Animation Library).

Head Muppeting means that, when you are animating a dialogue shot, you need to keep the character's head in motion, to make the audience believe that the character is saying the lines.

"Ursula" Thumbnail Sketches by Ruben Aquino

With animation, you get nothing for free.  Animators have to fill this blank space with creative, entertaining animation.  

The secret of success is to plan your animation - start with sketches and scribbles ("thumbnail sketches") which create a road map of where you want to go. 

The video below shows how the master Disney animator Ruben Aquino planned out a dialogue shot with Ursula the Sea Witch in The Little Mermaid.  

"And now look at me...Wasted away to practically nothing!"

Stanislavski's 7 Questions For Actors (and Animators)

Konstantin Stanislavski

The Russian actor and theatre director Konstantin Stanislavski said that an actor should ask seven questions to understand the nature of their character. 

Animators are actors - but with a pencil or a mouse. To make our work believable, we need to ask these same questions, so that our work has authenticity.  Just like actors, we need to get into the heads of our characters, and understand them. 

Acting For Animators w Joe Dieffenbacher 11 Dec 2024

Acting for Animators: Joe Dieffenbacher

On 11th December 2024 Escape Studios welcomes actor, clown and improv artist Joe Dieffenbacher to teach a masterclass in "Acting for Animators" with our Second Year 2D Animation Students.

Acting For Animators will take place at Husky Studios (near Elephant & Castle), Studio 2, from 9:30am to 12:30pm. Joe Dieffenbacher will lead the workshop.

Joe Dieffenbacher's class is a practical, physical workshop in acting skills, aimed at helping animators to create more believable, authentic (and funny) acting choices in their work.

Animators are actors - with a pencil or a mouse - and we need to learn how to make a strong acting performance and then turn that into animation.

Dialogue Tutorial with Monty: "I'm Outta Here"

Monty: "I'm Outta Here!" 

In the simple animation tutorial below we show how to animate Monty - a character with no mouth - saying a line of dialogue.  

But how can you animate dialogue and lipsync - with no lips?  The answer is - it's all in the performance.  If the body language is working, then the audience will believe that the character is speaking - even if it has no mouth. 

Acting for Animators - With Michael Caine

 

Animated characters need to look at each other, so their eyes don't wander around screen.  Watch the short video above with acting legend Michael Caine for some tips from the master of screen acting.  The video itself is a little dated (1980s) but the lessons remain just as important today.  According to Caine, the number one lesson for stage actors is to "hold on to each others' eyes".  And, what is true for stage actors is true for animators too.  You can watch Caine's acting advice in the video above - the important part is all in the first 5 minutes.

Comedy Acting for Animators is Back on June 30th

Joe Dieffenbacher

On Friday 30 June 2023 we welcome back actor, clown and improv artist Joe Dieffenbacher to Escape Studios, to teach a masterclass in "Physical Comedy for Animators" with our Short Course and MA Animation students.

Joe's class is a practical, physical workshop in acting skills, aimed specifically at helping animators to create more believable, authentic (and funny) acting choices in their work.

Animators are actors - with a pencil or a mouse - and we need to learn how to make a strong acting performance and then translate that into our on-screen animation.

Comedy for Animators with Joe Dieffenbacher

Joe Dieffenbacher

Tomorrow, Tuesday 6 December 2022, we welcome actor, clown and improv artist Joe Dieffenbacher to Escape Studios, to teach a masterclass in "Physical Comedy for Animators" with our Short Course and MA Animation students.

Joe's class is a practical, physical workshop in acting skills, aimed specifically at helping animators to create more believable, authentic (and funny) acting choices in their work.

Animators are actors - with a pencil or a mouse - and we need to learn how to make a strong acting performance and then translate that into our on-screen animation.

"Is it Good?" By Lee Caller

"Is it good?" from Lee Caller on Vimeo.

Above is a fine acting shot animated by Escape Studios tutor Lee Caller, one of a number of pieces of animation that Lee has started as a student demo, but - as he puts it - "rarely gets to finish".  In this case, the purpose of the demo was to show students that great animation it not always all about over-the-top super-exaggeration, but more about subtle facial expressions and believable acting choices. The acting reference was taken from the TV series Killing Eve - you can see the original shot here: youtu.be/HDdhotN0Dnw?t=223

Why Animators Need Grammelot

What is Grammelot? And why do animators need it? Sometimes you want your characters to speak, but what they are actually saying isn't really that important.  Much more significant is the tone, and what that tone tells us about the character doing the speaking.  Think of the adults in the old Charlie Brown feature films; they spoke in a dreary unintelligible monotone.  We didn't know what they were saying, but we didn't need to - their tone of voice told us everything we needed to know.  And the content of their speech was far less important than what the Peanuts' kids had to say.

How to Animate Lipsync

Above is a short video on how to animate lipsync, showing how to keep the process as simple as possible.  The idea is to break things down into easy sections so as to make sure that your work starts off simple and gradually grows in complexity as you layer in the detail. At its simplest, good lipsync is just about opening and closing the mouth on the vowels, and closing it on the consonants. But, developing a system to keep it simple and at the same time get a sophisticated result, is all part of mastering the art and craft of animation.

Animate a "Take" with Monty

We've uploaded a new animation tutorial to our growing Vimeo Tutorial Channel.  One of the most common assignments a junior animator will be given on a feature film is to animate a reaction shot.

Reactions can be big or little, exaggerated or subtle.  In this short tutorial, I explain how to animate an exaggerated reaction shot (a "take") with "Monty", the green pea with legs.

Improv for Animators Starts on 7th October

Improv with Bruce MacKinnon and Framestore

Actor and comedian Bruce MacKinnon, (The Office, Guardians of The Galaxy, Bohemian Rhapsody, Inside No.9, Black Mirror) has teamed up with Ross Burgess, Head of animation at Framestore, to create a new acting improv course, specifically designed for animators, starting on 7th October in Central London.

The purpose of the class is to "push animators creatively and explore through workshop how actors approach character movement and comedic storytelling."

As we know, animators are actors, and we strongly recommend our students take acting classes in order to improve their acting skills and choices. 

Acting For Animators on 13 August

Sarah Perry of Shapes in Motion is returning to Escape Studios to teach a one-day "Acting for Animators" workshop on 13th August with our short course animators.  Sarah is an expert on teaching acting skills to animators, having taught acting classes at MPC, Framestore, and many other UK animation and VFX houses.  To find out more about the class, and about Shapes in Motion, watch the short video above.

Acting for Animators Starts 18th February 2019

Sarah Perry of Shapes in Motion is returning to Escape Studios to teach an 8 week evening class titled "Acting for Animators", starting on 18th February 2019.  Sarah is an expert on teaching acting skills to animators, having taught classes at MPC, Framestore, and many other leading UK animation and VFX houses.  To find out a little about the class, and about Shapes in Motion, watch the video above.

Acting for Animators Starts 18 February 2019

Sarah Perry of Shapes in Motion returns to Escape Studios to teach an 8 week evening class "Acting for Animators", starting on Monday 18th February 2019

Sarah is the "go-to" person to teach acting skills to animators, and we're delighted to be able to host her class at Escape Studios.

Acting for Animators Wednesday 21st Feb

Sarah Perry of Shapes in Motion is returning to Escape Studios on Wednesday 21st February and thursday 22nd February to teach our animation students a practical, physical workshop in "acting for animators".

Of course, everyone knows that animators are actors - but what does that really mean in practice?

Sarah's workshop will help our animation students explore acting methodology, and help them to become better actors. 

Michael Morgan Teaching Acting at Escape

Michael Morgan

Next week Escape Studios will host a special guest tutor: animator Michael Morgan, an animator with an extensive list of credits in video games, TV Commercials and Feature films.

At one of our recent "Evening with...." events, Michael shared his experience of working on projects such as Star Wars - The Clone Wars, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy vol 2, Jungle Book, Beauty and the Beast and Planet of the Apes.  In particular, he talked about how to get "From the Classroom to the Studio".

Next week Michael will be teaching our 2nd year animators the secrets of acting and character performance.