No moment in an organic life is really ‘exact’ same, because time goes forward, never pause or rewind; also, energy stay in constant motion, even when appearing dormant.
And while pattern of movement in daily life appear similar or repetitious, the inner mindset is never the same and would directly affect the outer mechanic, creating subtle variations in theme.
To stay relevant in animated movement is to stay in touch with this inner feel of character at time of animate, experiencing the moment in animated time-space, unfolding one drawing a time.
I like to approach a scene as if 1st time ever. When doing a familiar routine, I avoid remembering a past mechanic that happened to be successful, not to unintentionally try to mentally copy a positioning and unfolding of poses. (A walk or run would require this reminder.)
With each hippo jump, I began by identifying a mindset, often result in focus to the task-at-hand or lost in inward thoughts. Here is some example-
“Gently…a bug on the floor; …pounce!”
“When will she comes…; unfortunate…I’m still here; wasting time.”
“Just drifting…nothing in particular…”
“Someone is watching; concentrate…”
“Hmmm, I wondered…how far I can jump?”
Though likely no one will really get these inner thoughts, but with such thoughts- a movement came to be.
(Much Hippos of late…; hope you’re not taken back by all these repetitions.)
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May 21, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Brian
No. I am not taken aback by all these repetitions. There are many of us who read but never comment.
I should tell you that I enjoy reading anything that you post. Your web log is great.
May 22, 2009 at 1:05 am
rainplace
Thank you very much Brian
May 22, 2009 at 11:29 am
Patrick Semple
Does this applie to a pice that has dialogue where the animator has already got a restriction as to what he/she will be able to do or is it more for non dialogue pices . Actually I guess it would apllie to dialogue pieces if you where repeating an action 2 or 3 times in a scene or sequence then this would aplie and make it more interesting.
This is really interesting maybe could could help me out on this and shed a bit more light.
Thanks so much
P.
May 23, 2009 at 4:15 am
Chetan Trivedi
WOW awesome stuff..
lots n lots of stuff that ive gotta read.
cant believe ive never been here.
i hope u keep on bloggin
thanx for uploading these beauties.
ciao
May 23, 2009 at 8:22 pm
rainplace
Hello Patrick,
Yes, this thought process would apply to movements regardless with dialogue or not. It has to do with slight variations when repeating a similar pattern of movement.
If you look at the hippo, at first glance, the two tests looked very similar and can be identify as a hop; both can even appear as identical if not given time to observe more closely.
When looking closer, each is quite different in detail such as positioning of arms, distance of jump, etc.
What important here is that each hop breathe in its own moment and key to organic life.
And from an animator’s perpective, it makes the act of animating engaging and not redundant.
The choice of repeating a movement pattern in a scene is actually a performance choice an animator chooses.
Hope this help
May 23, 2009 at 8:27 pm
rainplace
Thank you very much Chetan
Please do relay Rainplace to friends who share similar interest if you feel worthwhile… Much grateful!
May 24, 2009 at 2:00 am
Patrick Semple
cheers man , that makes it so much clearer.
May 27, 2009 at 2:13 pm
David Childers
Thanks for these posts! Its really great to get some insight into how to get the energy of the first pass into the tiedown.
Thanks A Ton!
May 28, 2009 at 2:21 pm
rainplace
Thank you David! Glad that you’ve found the post of interest