Morpher - Carl

With the bones now in place - It was time for the final stage of Preparation: Creation of the Morphers, which would hold the key to the expressions of the characters (Rather than having static faces as they play chess). Keeping the ideal of the original script in mind - (Play chess - Carl thinks he wins - Carl celebrates - Kris turns it around - Carl sulks) - I worked out the main expressions I needed the characters to show. Considering that he has a brow and needs a celebratory dance: Carl would have the most diverse range of expressions. Working out the extremes I needed (After all, many smaller expressions could be achieved with scaled-down versions of the extreme ones) - I came up with 13, where the brows were separate, purely to allow greater versatility with the mixing and matching of expressions.

Obviously, I needed to make the expressions as accurate as possible. The good news was that I had one of the most efficient resource materials possible: Me. I considered looking online for facial expressions... but the biggest problem would be finding a single 'normal' face, and watching it transition to the expression. What I realised was that expressions aren't just about the 'finished' result (i.e. The downturned mouth) - But are all about the subtle muscle movements that occur during this. I needed a rersource which could basically show transition-after-transition at will, to allow me to see exactly what parts of the face moved - Preferably the same person so I can see the transition to and from each and every expression I needed. Me and my cupboard mirror proved a perfect candidate.

So for the next several hours, I would look left and pull a face. The changes would then be applied to Carl. I have to say, not only did this method help to inflate my ego - But it also allowed me to notice the intricate details which you never normally notice with expressions.

The following are the results of this. Needless to say, I did close my curtains as I did this, otherwise my neighbours would probably have called the Funny Farm.

Right Eye

Ok, so it's not quite an expression... but the eye obviously need to blink, and thanks to the ability to apply the morpher on a scale of 0-100%, I could apply it a small way to have Carl squint. Each eye was morphed separately to allow greater control, rather than having both move in unison. As an example, when we are 'in thought', we often tend to squint one eye. The eye closing was very simple, as I just had to bring the top eyelid down around 70% of the way, and bring the lower eyelid up the remaining 30%. I had to take care to keep the brow and other muscles around the eye intact. After all, blinking doesn't contract too many of the brow muscles, and it would look odd having Carl's brow quiver everytime he blinks!

Left Eye

The left eye was basically the same as the right - Only on the left, shockingly enough.

Pout

Aww. The classic face of sorrow. The pout is not, however, just a downturn of the mouth. What I noticed whilst pulling faces in the mirror, is that the mouth has a downward curve, yes... but that's not because the corners of the mouth drop - It's actually because the chin pushes upwards and pushes the centre of the mouth up, causing the sides of the mouth to appear lower. In fact, the centre of the area beneath the lower lip almost 'pinches'. So when creating the pout - The important thing to do with Carl was to push the lower lip up and out, and only apply very slight changes the corners of the mouth. The result is the above. The good news with this is that, depending on the eyes, it can be a face of sorrow but also double-up as a defiant glance (The sort of face you pull when plucking up courage in the face of adversity)

Smile

Happiness is only particlally transmitted through the mouth. The majority of it is through the eyes. If you don't believe me: Try and smile without moving your eyes (As in squinting them and tensing the muscles of the upper cheek). Doesn't the smile look phony? Personally, this is the reason for many bad smiles in 3D - People make the mistake of thinking it's about the mouth. The eyes do more of the job (I remember a good friend of mine last year got his character to smile, not by moving the mouth, but purely by moving his eyes and eyebrows. The mouth was only in a very slight upward curve). So the same principle was applied to Carl here. I pulled up the corners of his mouth slightly, and pushed up his lower chin a bit (So it's more of a mild smug / content look). In the animation, the rest of his smile would be taken care of with his eyes and brow.

Grin

The grin works in a similar way to the smile, and can be pretty much built off of it. What changes a smile to a grin (Other than the obvious bearing of teeth) is that the 2 corners of the lower lips pull down and out slightly, whilst the corners of the mouth pull up a bit more. What was interesting was the shape of the mouth: The top and bottom lips are relatively horizontal. Again, this grin is nothing without the added effects of the eyes. Of course, there is a slight lack of teeth at the moment: So I had to make a few guesses here until they're added in.

Yeah!

The 'Yeah' expression is essentially a cheer (Funnily enough, the sort you'd see if you shout 'yeah!'). The top lip is very similar to the grin, as it stays relatively horizontal bar the corners of the mouth, which push up slightly. The lower lip and chin are considerably different, however. Because the lower chin drops to open the mouth, the sides of the lower lip are pulled down into the arc. If you grin and then say 'yeah', you'll notice that the 2 corners of the lower lip which pulled outwards to make the grin now flatten and follow the curve.

Ooh

The 'ooh' was a difficult expression to make. Almost the entire mouth pinches to make the 'O' shape, but not only do the lips purse slighty, but they also pucker. Sadly, I didn't have enough edges to really emphasise the 'puckered' shape that extends from the pinching. The main thing to note is that the majority of the 'Ooh' comes from the corners of the mouth, which simply contract inwards. The top and lower lips seem to pretty much just react accordingly. I think this the weakest of the morphers, as it looks like Carl is drinking through a straw more than saying "oooooh"

Err

Mainly a look of gormless confusion, the 'Err' face's main role is in Carl's thinking. The main use is to just open Carl's mouth when he's mulling over a problem. This was pretty easy to achieve, as the whole face is pretty much relaxed. All I had to do was drop his lower lip slightly so it 'hung' open.

Bite Lip

Biting the lip is a good expression to use for this. It's normally associated with thinking hard or making a decision of a particularly difficult choice. Like the 'err', only the lower lip is particularly involved... though this was made quite entertaining with the distinct lack of teeth. The main motion with biting the lip is that the lower lip moves to one side, retracting half of it inside the mouth (The part the teeth chew on) - causing the other half to fold up and bulge out of the mouth. As well as creating a look of shock, I could also quickly toggle between this and the normal mouth to create the impression of chewing his lip. (A common behaviour to alleviate nerves)

Meh

'Meh' is perhaps the only term which can describe this fun look of dismissal. The main feature is the raising of one corner of the top lip, creating almost a 'sneer'. Rowan Atkinson (Blackadder, Mr Bean... etc) is certainly brilliant at this expression. In every case where he's annoyed/bored, you almost always see the sneer appearing. Interestingly, the opposite side of the lower lip also seems to move slightly when the sneer/meh face is pulled. The use of this face is right at the end when Kris makes the winning move. Carl sits back down with a "Meh... it's only a game" expression - Created by this lovely expression.

Raised Brow

Used for shock, sadness, surprise... the raised brow is a handy jack-of-all-trades. Quite simply, the whole brow raises, although the areas above the eyes seem to extend higher than the centre of the brow. This was a quick and easy one to make.

Frown

The key to the frown isn't just the down-turned eyebrows - It's the fact that they scrunch up towards the centre of your brow, just above the nose. Instead of just pointing down, both brows move inwards to create the little pinch. Try it. The more stronger you frown, the more your eyebrows push inwards.

Curious

Curious/Confused - Whatever it's name: Is made simply by combining the frown with the raised brow. One brow moves in, whilst the other raises up. I pretty much just as to apply the tactics for the above 2 to create this one.

And there you have it! The many faces of Carl!