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. 

Animate a "Take" With the Pixo Jr Lamp

Animate a "Take" reaction shot with the Pixo Jr lamp

In this simple free tutorial we show how to animate a "take" (a reaction shot), with the Pixo Jr lamp rig which you can download from highend3d.com. 

The tutorial is a simple one, aimed at animation beginners, but it helps if you are already familiar with the Maya Interface.  Follow the thumbnails below to replicate the tutorial.

Smear Frame Animation Tutorial in Maya

In this brief tutorial we show how to animate a "Smear Frame". Smear Frames simulate motion blur in super-snappy animation, in the style of the old Tex Avery or Chuck Jones cartoons.

But how do you do a Smear Frame in 3D animation, using Maya character rigs? Watch our free tutorial to find out.

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.

Lipsync Tutorial with Marc Stevenson

Lipsync with Twigs the Cowboy rig

Undergraduate Programme Leader Marc Stevenson has created a series of Lipsync Tutorials for our students working on character animation. 

The tutorial uses the free "Twigs the Cowboy" rig which you can download here.  You can also find a copy of Twigs in UG Shares.  This tutorial is aimed at our animation students learning the art of dialogue and lipsync. 

Rookies Ranks Escape Studios No 1 in The World

2023 Rookies Rankings

The Rookies, the international competition for aspiring VFX artists, has ranked Escape Studios No 1 in the world for Production Excellence in Immersive Media - a huge achievement for our students and staff. 

In other categories, we have been ranked No 3 in the UK for 3D Animation, 4th in the UK for Game Design, and 3rd in the UK for VFX Production Excellence.

FaceWare MoCap Visits Escape Studios

Jess Hiles tests out theFaceware Mark IV helmet system

Last week we had the pleasure of a studio visit from motion capture experts Faceware.  Faceware are specialists in Facial Motion Capture technology, widely used in Games, Films, TV, Commercials, and live performances. Their clients include Rockstar, EA Games, Kojima, Disney, and DreamWorks. 

Faceware provided us with an overview of the Facial MoCap workflow and their latest tech, including the cutting-edge Mark IV helmet system.

"End of The Line" MoCap Breakdown

Above is a breakdown video above for some of the shots animated by the award-winning animator and director Eren Arnold on the short MoCap project End of The Line.  The original MoCap acting was done by Lead Animator Wiktor Brodowski.  End of The Line was directed by Eren Arnold, and has already won "best Sci-Fi" at the Future of Film Awards.  To see End of The Line, follow this link. 

MoCap at Escape Studios with Clem Gharini

Wiktor Brodowski MoCap

This week our third year animation students have been experimenting with motion capture, led by Escape Studios cinematographer and MoCap expert Clem Gharini, operating the XSens Motion Capture System. 

Wiktor Brodowski (left) was acting out scenes from his new short film,  a third year Studio Project in which our students work together to create studio-quality work.

Once the acting performance is captured, the XSens data is edited and retargeted onto the production rigs, animated and cleaned up in Autodesk Maya. 

Wiktor described the experience as "an amazing opportunity to participate in mocap recordings for my current uni project. I have never "animated" so much so fast in my life.  Lots of fun! Really awesome to try this technique. Probably will be lots to fix about it anyway, but I'm eager to see how it looks in Maya".

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.

Acting for Animators Returns on 1 Dec 2022

Jack Laskey

"Acting for Animators" is back: on Thursday 1 December we welcome Star Wars actor and RADA graduate Jack Laskey for an "Acting for Animators" class with our undergraduate animation students. 

Jack's class is a practical, physical workshop in acting skills, aimed specifically at helping animators to  create more believable, authentic 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.

Jack Laskey "Acting for Animators" 24 November

Jack Laskey as Mandetat in Episode VII

"Acting for Animators" is back: on Thursday 24 November we welcome Star Wars actor and RADA graduate Jack Laskey for an "Acting for Animators" class with our undergraduate animation students. 

Jack's class is a practical, physical workshop in acting skills, aimed specifically at helping animators to  create more believable, authentic 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

Amedeo Beretta Webinar on MoCap Animation

 
Escape Studios animation tutor Amedeo Beretta joined us on Tuesday for a brand new webinar on Motion Capture animation.  Amedeo's webinar explored the motion capture workflow, showing animators how to control animation when dealing with MoCap data in Autodesk Maya.  Of all our animation tutors at Escape Studios, Amedeo has the most experience of handling motion capture data, taking the process from start to finish so that our students have usable, editable data that can be refined and tweaked during the animation process.  

Steve Lall is Back Teaching MoCap on 5th Jan

Motion Capture with Steven Lall

We're delighted to welcome back Escapee Steven Lall, who will teach a class in Motion Capture Animation to our Second Year animation students at Escape Studios, 

The second year students are tackling CR5001,  the Animation Specialism module, in which students begin to focus on one particular skillset within the animation pipeline.

In this module we bring a variety of tutors in to the classroom to explore different parts of the animation process.

On 5th and 7th January our students will get a masterclass in Performance Capture animation, taught by our very own Studio Assistant Steven Lall.

MoCap Comes to Escape Studios

Last week Motion Capture came to Escape Studios, as cinematographer and film-maker Clement Gharini tested out his new XSens MoCap suit on our student projects. We're delighted to be working with Clem  - the XSens system is one of the best on the market, and offers a user-friendly solution to the challenges of motion capture hardware.  MoCap expert and Escape Studios tutor Amedeo Beretta was on hand to process the data - a "soup to nuts" pipeline in which the MoCap performance was successfully captured and then re-targeted onto the students' animation rigs.