Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
A place to discuss, share, and create stop motion films.
Ad
You are not logged in. Please login or register.
I've been doing Brickmotion for a while. but I could never figure out how to animate a talking character. does anyone have any advice for me?
First record the voices. Then animate the arms, head, and body in an appropriate manner that fits the dialogue. I did this with my little short here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42wIX7CctUY
I devote a whole chapter on my guide to brickfilming on the subject. DL the PDF here:
https://app.box.com/s/tourqzz1fu5iqojhu82i
Don't go overboard with hand/arm movements - how often to people really gesture during normal conversation?
When it comes to animating dialogue, I follow a less-is-more philosophy. Not every single frame of the dialogue needs to have animation; when we speak, we're not always animated. We allow time for stillness, and I think that can be reflected in animation. I often go whole seconds without animation at all when I animate dialogue.
What I often do is recite the dialogue I'm animating to myself as naturally as I can (within context of the story), observe the movements I make, including arm movements, head turns, if I move my torso up and down or not, etc., and translate that to a minifig. You may have to take a few liberties here and there, or even throw in a few ideas of your own since there is the handicap of a minifigure's limited articulation to consider, but you can be afford to be picky about what parts of your dialogue you want to emphasize in your animation.
Adding to what mind game said, when you don't animate throughout all the dialogue, you may wonder, "when is the best time to animate while talking?" It is most effective if the characters' movements are in sync with the syllables with the strongest stress patterns and accents. I move hands a lot, turn their heads, and have the characters raise an arm at the strongest word, or the final word. It works best beginning the motion 2 to 4 frames before the sound wave begins to swell. You have to review each sentence spoken, and see if the beginning point of animation should be moved slightly. It looks mechanical if the motion begins right on the accent.
Again, the guide I wrote (above) covers this and a lot more in detail in the chapter EFFICIENT DIALOGUE ANIMATION. Other brickfilmers may have made videos on the topic. It sounds like something you'd find on Nathan Wells' site.
In traditional animation, everything moves in arcs. If a character turns a head, or a hand, there's usually a dip in the mid-point. In Lego, it seems to work better skipping the arc and just moving one joint.
Posts [ 5 ]
