Lip Sync Final Evaluation

I struggled at the beginning of this project; I think I got so absorbed in the Bestiary Project that I found it hard to start thinking about something else. My initial idea was to combine different elements such as collage, 2D, and video to create an interesting, different animation. This is something I would still like to do one day, but I think I started to focus too much on the design of the project rather than the animation itself.

Because of this I changed direction a few weeks in and I think this was right decision, from this point the project took on some momentum. I think my understanding of after effects has greatly improved, skills which will be invaluable in future projects. I am excited to build on this further. I created my character reasonably quickly, which has taught me you don’t always have to spend weeks on something, quality can sometimes be more important that quantity. I think my actual lip sync was somewhat successful, I think keeping the shapes simple and focusing on the timing help[ed with this. Saying that though there are plenty things that could improved. Next time I would draw out more shapes before hand.

If I were to do this again, I would have more of an interaction between the two characters, and be more creative with camera angles rather than have everything from the front. I really enjoyed designing the background and this is something I would like to spend more time on in the future. I think the key failure of this project was my time management between the two projects, and I know that this isn’t my best work. I will learn from this though, and hopefully in the future I will be able to create a more successful animation. I really like the process of lip syncing, and I think next time I would like to try and combine it with elements of stop motion.

Lip Sync Experimentation Reel

Experimentation reel for the lip sync project. From making this I can see the progress I have made, I am happy with what I have achieved so far but I feel that I could have used the time more wisely and made further improvements.

Lip Sync Weekly Reflection 6

12th-15th February 2018

Development

In this last week I have created a more polished version of my animation, building on the footage from my first pass. I am happy with some elements of it, such as the moving background at the ‘floating’ effect of space. I added some sound, and had the Alien squash the work character at the end, with a ‘squash’ sound. I think this added a sense of humour to the piece, as he just kind of floats off creepily at the end. This almost goes against the children’s cartoon style I was going for, adding to the humour. Overall I think the lip sync is effective, but not perfect and looses it’s accuracy in places. This is mostly due to running out of time, and if  I could I would have gone back and edited it further possibly adding more mouth shapes and making it more expressive.

Areas for Development

I will take the skills I have learnt about time management and iteration into future projects, and also what I have learnt with in after effects. I think this has been the most positive outcome of the unit.

Resources

Using my previous animation and building on it in after effects.

Second Pass

For the second pass of this animation I adjusted the lip sync further, although it is still not quite right. Unfortunately my time management hasn’t great on this project so I don’t know if I will have time to correct it to a standard I will be happy with. I drew up a story board so that the alien squashes the worm, I added a sound effect to this which I think is quite funny. I like the moving background as it adds another layer to it, and creates a more real world. I think this flat, 2D style of animation is something I would attempt again.

If I were to do this again I would be more creative with my camera choices and have different angles and lighting. I would also have more interaction between the characters, and clearer movement that links up with the audio more. I know that this isn’t as good as it could be, but I am happy with my improved skills on after effects which is what I will take away from this project.

Lip Sync Weekly Summary 5

5th-11th February 2018

Development

I have began to create a more solid idea of my animation, and I am happy with the progress and I feel that my new idea will be more effective that what I initially had planned. I sketched out a few ideas initially then used simple shapes on Photoshop to create a circular alien character. I think he looks like something you might see in a children’s show, a style I think it funny considering the ‘evolution’ audio clip is completely wrong. I like the idea of a children’s show that just tells kids completely wrong information. I have included some elements of my first concept in the second character, a little alien worm. I want this character to be slightly ambivalent to the alien.

I used these characters to create a first pass of my animation, which was a good start I think but has lots of improvements to be made.

Areas for Development

My next step is to refine my animation, and create a bit more of an interaction between the characters. Although I think I have made a good start the lip sync still needs some work, and could go with the movement of the body better.

Resources

I used my rough sketches of mouth shapes to inform the shapes in the animation. I used after effects to animate characters made in Photoshop.

Story board

I created a short story board for my animation. Based on the test run I made, I decided to make it moe interesting by having the alien character squash the worm character. I think this adds a bit more interest to it and shows more interaction between the two characters.

First pass

This is the first pass of my animation, using the assets I created in Photoshop. I tried to create the effect of my character floating and I think I achieved this. I drew out a few different mouth shapes for different phonemes and interchanged these with the sounds of the audio, scrubbing through it slowly to sync them up. I made a rough dope sheet before I started that helped loads, unfortunately I have managed to loose it, but it is something I will definitely use again. There is still a little way to go with the mouth movements but I am happy with how they look so far. I need to create more interaction between the two characters as well. Overall I like the concept though.

Changing direction

I have decided to change my idea for this project as I have been struggling with the concept I have created. I don’t really like it anymore, and although I like some of the experimentation I have done it isn’t going to plan. I wanted to scrap it and start again, juts because I was getting so frustrated with it I wanted a clean slate.

I am keeping the sound clip but changing the concept entirely. I started by playing around with some shapes on photoshop. I think I was previously focusing too much on the design and ascetic of the characters and not so much on the animation. I decided I wanted to keep it simple and easy to animate, but create a really smooth, entertaining piece of lip sync.

These strange little aliens were the starting point, and I then went onto create another version that I could import into after effects and animate. I then used my own photographic reference and images from google to create a set of mouths for different phonemes that I could apply to the character.

Images and ideas

Trying to keep my ideas simple but effective, I used a few circles to make a little alien character. I used some other simple animations like ‘Pepper Pig’ as inspiration, although not the height of artistic accomplishment they are well animated and uncomplicated. I think this lends itself well to children’s cartoons, which is kind of the style I want to achieve with this animation.

Creating a background

I thought it would be funny to have my alien character float across the screen as if he is in space in low gravity. I created a background based mostly on images from the moon and my own imagination. I also looked at some videos of low gravity to get some inspiration for movement.