Unit 1 : Character Poses

Body Language

To begin this new module, we dive into body language and the importance and impact it has on the audience. Body language can form a narrative even before any dialogue or setting/scene can suggest. The aim of this unit is to be able to create expressions effectivly by using the knowledge and tools of Maya, as well as animation theory.

It is essential to understand the fundamentals of body language and the subtlities of each movement that create context, enriching stories and a layer of depth and emotion. After watching the thoery video provided, I took away a few points to help create and begin the process of character animation. A few points are ; Animation is about caricature, act out the poses yourself, strong silhouette and line of movement, assymetry to enhance dynamics and weight of the character. There is a lot to consider even when making a simple animation, but brings life and personality into the character. We had to complete a task to help with the understanding of conveying simple emotions by using a flour sack. This is a classic principle of animation that challenges the animator to convey emotion and weight through an inanimate object, showcasing how important position of shapes are.

I used a rig from highend3d.com of a flour sack, which is a really well designed rig for this exercise and has plenty of useful controls. As the video and task suggested, I used stepped tangents and set a new position every 24 frames so you can see a sequence of expressions. I found this exercise exciting as it was a good challenge to see how effective I can convey a range of emotions.

To create these "human-like" emotions, I focused on how the weight of the body can help with this, as well as using the "feet" and "arms" to add extra form and enhance the dynamics. I also focused on making the "feet" and "arms" asymmetrical by placing them at different levels and rotations. An element I prioritized was to clearly showcase a strong line of movement in the body, which overall helped create a solid expression. A few things I took away from the exercise were the impact "curves" have in conveying emotions. For example, curving the body outwards and away from the body suggests a big and energetic emotion like joy or anger, but curving the body inwards creates an isolated and vulnerable quality that might suggest sadness or shyness. I looked at the book Drawn to Life for guidance on maintaining weight and attitude for such an exercise.

Various poses with the added expression

The next task is to create six poses of a character at a phone booth and convey the different ways someone can express themselves on a phone. This was a way to challenge ourselves and really push body language and emotion using a human character. I created my different poses in Maya again by downloading the "MAX" rig from highend3d.com, which is a really good simple character with a lot of controls and possibilities.

As well as posing the character, I created a very simple and basic set to represent a photo-booth and phone, just so it is consistent with the original task idea. I wanted to showcase a range of emotions whilst also revealing a narrative of this character across one conversation. Hopefully, it is clear what the emotions are and how the conversation goes from casual to extreme and passionate.

Line up of the different poses

The next theory video discussed facial expressions and how crucial they are in creating a characters' personality, whilst pushing the narrative of the scene. Understanding and creating expressions can create a moment far more powerful than with words and can dictate the whole scene from just one look. There are many facial dynamics that can create a single look or emotion and we look into "real" expressions vs "pantomime" expressions, the latter being more exaggerated,over the top and easy to read, and the former being natural and subtle. As in animation, it is down to the animator to create such emotions and keep the audience captivated, all by understanding the different facial cues. We explore the 9 basic expressions; neutral, disgust, contempt, anger, determination, happiness, sadness, surprise and fear. Some being similar to each other, yet recognisable based on things such as the eyebrow placement or the shape of the mouth. It is really interesting to learn what exaclty defines these emotions and the importance of placing the facial features effectivly to convey to correct emotion for that character. It's also important to help set the narrative of the dialogue as there is text and subtext. The text doesn't change but the subtext can change the entire mood.

Facial expressions

We were tasked to create a shot of a character in a car and experiment with the change of expression in a moment. The character had to turn, blink and change expression. I think this was challenging to create the change of expression quickly, smoothly and effectively. I wanted it to be simple and clear, yet fun and exciting. There were only so many emotions to pick from and to also keep in mind of the action of the character. Therefore, I decided to start the character sitting in the car, waiting at a traffic light on his way home from work. The character is tired and a bit moody between contempt and determination as he wants to get home quickly. As he is looking around at other drivers, something catches his eye, and by surprise he realises it's his friend and it fills him with happiness and joy, so much so he leans right out of the car and stretches his arm to wave to his friend, making sure he catches his attention. The character goes from being low energy to big energy in an instance and makes you react with happiness too. This engages with the audience and the exaggerated reactions adds some humour to the moment.

Since this was merely an exercise to experiment with facial expressions, I rendered it using Maya's render at low poly and low resolution. Instead of spending time adjusting settings and fully rendering a shot, this approach aids in my understanding of facial expressions, which will contribute to the final animation for this unit.

Eye Expressions

Another significant feature of the body that reveals deep thought and emotion are the eyes. You could say the eyes alone express more emotion than any other feature. They unlock peoples or characters true intentions and adds a deeper sense of communication. Naturally the audience will look at the eyes to tell them the story and it is down to the animator to add that depth and precisely convey the story. People can recognise emotions more clearly through the eyes, regardless of what the character is saying, and there are various ways to create this. There are a few priniples to note about eyes and eye movement to create an emotional and natural flow. The eyes move very quickly in a "dart-like" manor and tend to blink naturally on each change of direction. This motion typically happens in a few frames but can differ depending on the mood or story, but a normal natural blink is very fast. The pupils move down with the upper eyelid and the lid comes up slower than going down, with the pupil in now a new direction. Eyes tend to move a lot naturally, but could mean a number of reasons like worry or excitment. This is where eyebrows come in which can help determine which emotion these characters are expressing. As your eyes and eyelids move, the eyebrows also move simultaneously. They can create a whole range of emotions with the eyes and eyelids and make a big impact on the audience. I thought all of this was very interesting, and dives deeper into creating lively characters with a sense of individualism, but more importantly, emotion that enhances the connection between character and audience.

Reflecting on body language

From studying the theory of body language, I have gathered the importance of precise and expressive dynamics that can reveal a range of emotions in a character. The animator has the ability to craft effective emotions by determining features like the eyes and eyebrows. Whether the character is sad or surprised, the eyes can reveal all, especially if it is an anthropomorphic character. Positioning the body clearly is very important as well; from the head to the feet can also convey how a character is feeling. Whether they are slumped over could suggest sadness or standing with their chest out could suggest confidence or happiness. It's also fundamental to understand body language brings subtext to the dialogue, which can push the way the audience reacts to the character, uncovering their true feelings and intentions. This theory has helped add another layer of depth to my process in animating, and to really push the personality, unique qualities, and relationship of a character to the audience.

Bibliography -

Stanchfield, W. and Hahn, D. (2013). Drawn to Life : 20 Golden Years of Disney Master Classes : the Walt Stanchfield Lectures. 1st ed. Amsterdam ; London: Focal Press.