This project will be the culmination of all of the hard work you have put into sharpening your animation skills through both Animation I and II. No pressure!
Seriously though this project is likely going to simultaneously be the most challenging and most fun challenge to date. Before we get into the specifics of the art/techniques of pantomime acting you should take a few minutes to reflect back on all of the different assignments we have built upon and applaud just how far you have come in a short time. Bouncing ball, heavy/light ball, pendulum, obstacle course I, ball with tail, flour sack I and II, walk-cycle, side-step, heavy box lift and finally to obstacle course II.
If you were lucky enough to have taken animation I with me you should remember how much I harped on the fact that the emotion of the performance is the number 1 primary objective of any shot. It was a bit abstract of an idea to explore/express when you are animating a ball bounce, but you now have the chance to truly make emotion readable because that is what pantomime acting is all about.
Pantomime acting is acting without dialog. It is the kind of acting you see mimes do. PantoMIME... Mime... get it? This acting does not involve the use of any dialog at all so everything you do with the face and body needs to read very clearly to the audience. The best actors in the world use the skills of pantomime even when they are using dialog to help ensure that the feelings and message they are trying to communicate is unmistakeable.
Take a look at this clip of Ian Holm in the Fellowship of the Ring (1:02 - 1:06) to see what I mean.
I found some great advice about pantomime acting from Sean Kelly who is a former Pixar animator and head of of Animation Mentor. I didn't think could be said better myself so here here is his advice:
This is SO number one that they should invent a number that comes before 1! This is your top priority, and every decision you make should be one that makes your actions and emotions ever more clear. That's not to say that every acting decision needs to be obvious or cliche, of course, but even within the complex subtlety of your performance, clarity should always be your primary concern, because if the audience misses an important action or misreads your character's emotion, then the performance is a failure and nothing else really matters!
Particularly for action scenes, this couldn't be more important. You want the actions to not only be clear and read quickly to the audience, but you want them to be fun to watch! Dynamic poses point the way towards more dynamic and exciting actions, and the more exciting the action, the more fun it probably will be to watch it. This extent to which you can exaggerate this concept will obviously be determined by the overall style of the project (realistic vs. cartoony), but the definition of "what is dynamic" within that project is *also* determined by the style. In a more cartoony piece, you'll have to REALLY push the poses in order for a particular action to feel dynamic, whereas animated characters in a "realistic" film will feel dynamic for "half the price."
Either way, the point is to consider the most exciting, fun, and entertaining way to approach your pantomime shot, and particularly when dealing with strong actions (fighting, sports, etc), dynamic poses can often be your best friend.
This is a part of clarity, but it bears emphasizing that you should make acting choices that will be recognized by the audience. While many gestures are culturally specific, many (if not most) are universal, so choose your gestures very carefully. The same thing applies to your facial expression work -- most facial expressions tend to be universal, so be sure not to get so caught up in "not doing anything cliche" that you end up choosing bizarre facial expressions that don't properly convey the emotions of the character.
The eyes can help SO much in a pantomime shot, and without any dialogue, you should pay them extra special attention. The audience will look at the eyes FIRST for cues, so take that opportunity to grab the audience's attention and lead them through your shot. Let the eyes help convey the emotions. Let the eyes help your audience know where to look in the scene. The eyes can help you sell the joke, tell the story, or help us not miss an important action. Eyes are key! Film yourself *really* acting the scene out, and study what your own eyes do before caricaturing them in your scene.
In a shot with dialogue, the audio can really help you in so many ways. You have audio cues to tell you when and how to move the character. The words and subtext dictate the gestures. The spoken words can help you tell the story. In many ways, you can rely less on the body animation, and the audience may not notice some wonky mechanics here and there. If the character tells a funny joke, they may not notice or care that the weight is a bit off, for example.
But in a pantomime shot, every single pair of eyes is going to see that weight shift in the wrong spot, and while they may not know how to fix it, or even what feels "weird" or "fake" about the scene, they will feel the mistakes in their gut. In light of that, spend some extra time studying and planning the body mechanics of any pantomime shot so that you really nail the weight shifts, timing, lead and follow through the body, anticipations, etc. That stuff is KEY to selling a good pantomime shot.
My last piece of advice would be to actually imagine that there are lines in the scene. Imagine the subtext. What is your character thinking? What is he feeling? You can even write some lines of dialogue and record yourself performing them, if you like. This may be very helpful if you feel like the "blank slate" of an audio-less shot is intimidating and holding you back from coming up with strong ideas. If you make up some lines that the character is THINKING as they are doing their performance, it can be a huge help in coming up with timing, facial expressions, gestures, etc.
This first assignment in this series will once again consist of the planning for your Pantomime acting shot.
During this shot your character needs to have a single change of emotion. For example, in the beginning your character is happy, and when something happens, at the end of the shot they are sad. Or for better example, A little girl is excited to get a birthday present, but when she opens the box, she is sad when she see's that her parents got her a football instead of a Doll.
Your shot should be no longer than about 240 frames (10 seconds). Keep your ideas simple, and think about the emotions the character will be experiencing during your shot.
Your planning should consist of the usual thumbs, reference and planning notes.
Once you have completed everything please submit your thumbs (jpg), reference videos (h264) and notes to UNM Canvas by midnight next Sunday.