Refining my idea based on "Acting for Animators"

I've been digging into Ed Hooks' Acting for Animators, and it has really helped to get me thinking more in depth about the ideas in my final year project. For instance, Hooks emphasises the idea of 'theatrical reality' - essentially a reality with conflict that gives it more interest - by writing, "your character should play an action in pursuit of an objective while overcoming an obstacle" (pg. 18). This made me wonder how I could strengthen the scenes in my animation to reinforce this idea of the student pursuing her objective of finishing her animation while overcoming obstacles.

I also began to think about how my character could be more effective, and decided that I would never see her as anything more than the rig I downloaded unless I gave her at least a couple of basic facts. So she is now Phoebe, an independent, 20-year-old student. These seem like obvious statements, but they really do help me to see her as a character rather than a character rig.

Off the back of things I was reading and thinking about, I made a big chart detailing the mood and motivation of each shot. Since both Hooks and my supervisor are big on 'scenes start in the middle', I put in a 'before and after' column so I would know how Phoebe comes into and goes out of the shot in terms of movement and mood. (The purple is for Phoebe's housemate, Melissa.)

I referred to this table between filming each shot of my video reference, and I will do so for each shot as I animate it, too.

In February I will be attending the Animex animation and games festival held at my uni, and as part of that I've also opted to take part in Hooks' Acting for Animators Masterclass that he runs every year. Though the animation of my project will be complete by that point, the class will definitely help to develop my animation skills for the career ahead of me.

Caitlin :)