And back for the Grand Finale!

Once more, I return with my 3D abilities to create more works of fun. This semester promises to be the most enjoyable of all, as the entire module is focused on my core strength: Character Animation. No longer hindered by entire backgrounds and complex modelling, I will be able to place my full focus on adding several human's-worth of character into a few 3D cartoons in order to bring them to life in all their glory.

The key to this module is, of course, body language. Either through the face or through gestures, it's important for the end animation to capture the entire essence of the character and their feelings. Their emotions need to be portrayed strongly (if not slightly exaggerated) and through the entire body, not just words or 1 motion. Quite lucky then that I've studied body language ('What every body is saying' - Joe Navarro - Highly recommended!)

The topic is 'Emotion'. Whilst this prevents the confusion of focusing on the wrong aspect of the animation, it's incredibly vague on content. Though that would seem advantageous, I'm incredibly indecisive and have already jumped from idea to idea, with a whole host of different characters.

In the end, I wanted to keep it simple. I wanted to stick with what is now my trademark 'white background animation', where the character is interacting on a plain background, thus allowing me to avoid an environment altogether. The initial thought was of an alien in the workplace. I didn't want to model a human... An animal or creature would allow far more creative flair! So I scribbled this sketch down of an office worker. Creating the boss, however, was a lot trickier and I couldn't quite find the right creature to play the role...

So it was from here that I was scribbling odd creatures... only to come across one that was almost dragon-like. That threw up interesting ideas... a dragon and a knight. Sounded like a pretty funny comedy duo, particularly if the roles are reversed and a polite, social dragon is being pestered by a hot-headed pip-squeak of a wanna-be-hero knight in tin foil. The only downside was that the scene ideally needed an environment, and the modelling might err too far on the side of complicated to be practical. The last thing I'd want is to be held back by a weakly modelled character. I'd rather have a simple, but well made character, than a complicated but poorly modelled one. Besides, the more time I have for animation, the better.

So it was whilst throwing around ideas with a friend of mine that I started talking about a 'dummy' animation (for testing and lip syncing) of a cube trying to ask a sphere out on a date... it was at this point where my friend suggested "How about a cube trying to pick up a cube off the floor, and failing?"... and that's when the idea hit me. Of course! A character struggling with an inanimate object! It's a nice plot that never fails to open the door to a lot of creativity. The single object would also render the environment obsolete, which is another added bonus!

But instead of trying to pick something up... the idea of trying to open something is what really seemed like the most fun. It'd also be the chance to show an entire range of emotions in both the face and the body... you have the joy of finding the object, the shock of not being able to open it, the confusion of trying to work out ideas, the rage of being unable to bust it open, and the exhaustion of trying everything and wearing yourself out... it has the lot. Perfect

And it was from here that I went back to the initial idea of the alien. Only this would be an alien on holiday with a suitcase... one that he cannot open! The character went through several sketches... but the basic idea was that he had to be short, dumpy, but with skinny arms and legs. The protagonist is shown below (Though I see the legs as being shorter than displayed here)

I also liked the other alien sketched before, and decided it would be a good idea to bring him into it too... another character to lose it trying to crack open the case! Whilst the short character would be full of energy and rather impatient, the taller alien would be calmer and carry with him more a sense of authority over his friend. A classic comedy duo: The hyper short one and the "sensible" tall one who the smaller one annoys (See: Spongebob and Squidward for a classic example)

The important step now is to start compiling the body language and motions needed to bring these characters to life. The classic Mike Wasowsky (Voiced by Billy Crystal) from Monsters Inc. proved the perfect role model for the shorter alien. The fast movements and sense of energy about Mike seem perfect for the small guy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvOQeozL4S0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__1CpW03yzM

As for the taller alien, it was near impossible to find a good video of Squidward. But then, trying to find the exact situation to the one I planned would be difficult. The get the exact body language of an existing character seemed a tall order (Compounded by the problem that copying an animation would be like a game of Chinese Whispers)... so it seemed a far greater idea to see what body language ideas I had floating about in my own noggin'! So I filmed a video of me outlining the idea for the scene. The handy thing here is that I can see how I move in according with the story, and model the characters on that. Later on, I'm hoping to act out the entire scene, so that I can see it all clearly. But right now, it will be a guide to what's hopefully to come. I tried to upload it, but it was far too big for the blog.

Onwards!