Lip Sync – 22023727’s myBlog

Choosing Audio

After having done a slow-paced, mystery based story in my previous elective, this time I decided to do the opposite and practice my comedic acting. I especially want to focus on getting the subtlety of movements that make the acting flow more naturally, like the nodding of the head when excited, or unfurling your hands as you transition from pose to pose. My other goal was to improve my character design skills to make each one as distinct as possible.

With all that in mind, I chose a clip from a game playthrough [link] of some fun friendly banter. The dialogue was a bit too long so I cut and combined it from 15:51-15:58 and 16:04-16:12 (15 sec total).

Audio Track

Then, I jotted down the transcript and the basic storyline:

Transcript

[There are 3 characters: Jimmy, Scar, and G]

J: Yeah but which one of us wins? Which one of us actually wins?

S: (in the background) Ooh, ooh, ooh!

G: Eh you know what- it’s April Fools, why don’t you win.

J: (Loud happy gasp)

J: Thank you thank you!

S: Jimmy?

S: Jimmy- Jimmy.

J: This could be my only win!

S: Jimmy…

J: Yeah?

S: That was an insult, man.

G: (Wheezes and laughs)

Storyline

Jimmy, Scar and G are playing a Hunger Games type video game where only one person can be the last one standing. They have played this many times before but while Scar and G have won in previous rounds, Jimmy has not (and has always been the first to be out).
- I chose to have them be in a video game so that despite their circumstances, they have nothing to worry about- it’s all fun and games. I was planning to show this by maybe having floating hearts or an HP bar above them in one of the shots
As they prepare resources to go into battle, Jimmy raises the question of who out of their team would win.
G throws out a jab at how he’s never won, but Jimmy misunderstood and starts prematurely celebrating his victory.
Scar eventually puts a stop to his blissful enthusiasm and explains straightforwardly that it was an insult. Jimmy takes a second to understand while G laughs in the background.

Storyboard

With the story and script in place I boarded the scene, making use of each character’s silent moments for more acting so it feels more alive.

Storyboard:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KquUKtKz8tuMoHY6TBwprcd5U-FawBcR/view?usp=sharing

Feedback:

I asked my classmates if the acting and story made sense (since I was mostly worried about that at this point) and they all said yes
Tutor feedback suggested to have Jimmy’s face drop at the end so that the audience can catch on the joke along with him
- My original intention for his blank expression was to show that he’s still not quite catching on the full joke, so while I did want to implement that change I didn’t want him to be completely devastated.
- After asking a friend and another tutor for their opinions, they said to have him droop just a little and make him look like the gears are still turning in his head

Designing the Characters

The audio itself already gave me a clear idea of their personalities– G is snarky, Scar is the logical one, and Jimmy stays silly. I aimed to design them so that these traits immediately stand out at first glance.

[Processes in photo captions]

Early sketches of G (left) and Scar (top)

Character exploration sketches – brainstorming their shapes and expressions. I wanted G and Scar to have a more angular design to show that they’re the more capable ones out of the three, while Jimmy has rounder shapes for his bouncy and upbeat personality (and inexperience). All three of them have different smiles, just to add that bit of uniqueness.

Wing studies – A detail I wanted Jimmy to have is ear wings, but specifically canary wings. Canaries are birds brought down to coal mines, and if there is a carbon monoxide leak in the mines then the birds would die first, acting as a warning for miners to exit. I thought this could work to symbolise how Jimmy is always doomed to die first in previous rounds of the game.

Studying the anatomy of wings helped me simplify the design to one that is animation friendly, as well as to understand how they flap and fold

I also did moodboards on the things I was focusing on for this project- expressions and outfit design. I wanted a bouncy and dynamic look to the acting, which particularly pointed me towards Lego Monkie Kid and the Pokemon SM anime as they are known for their exaggerated style.

For their outfits, I mainly looked towards a ragged steampunk feel. Arcane was a big inspiration for this, especially since their costume designs are also based on the battle arena type video game League of Legends.

Turnarounds

G has patched up clothing, cargo pants and sturdy boots, which not only helped with making his design more square-like, it also shows his experience in the game as those choices are the most practical. I was also thinking of Carl from the movie UP when designing him- both are short and snarky. Red is his main colour to show his headstrong side.

Scar’s outfit is more relaxed but still keeps its practicality, as although he too has experience in the game, he’s mostly here to have fun. His colours are a gentler foresty palette, good for camouflaging and to show that he’s less upfront than G. The obi around his waist is the same as the cape G wears as a symbol of previous wins. [Note: in the final animation, the large scar on his face extends to his ear to make animating easier and cleaner.]

Scar’s alternative colours that I scrapped because I felt like they were too casual

Jimmy’s look is deliberately made to look like he’s going on vacation instead of a deathmatch. The circles in his design coupled with a mild blue for his main colour shows off his bubbly attitude more so than his fighting abilities.

Height difference reference – I had G be the smallest and Jimmy the tallest for comedic effect. G being taller than Jimmy wouldn’t have worked anyway because his lighthearted jab would feel more condescending than just friendly banter

Designing the Background

As an exercise in choosing colours and tone, we were tasked to colour one of two ready-made backgrounds in grayscale. I used the exterior background since the setting for my project was also outside, and went for a grand but not intimidating mood, as if someone had just discovered a civilisation living in the canyon.

This quick practice solidified my decision to use brighter colours in my backgrounds for a welcoming, fun feel.

When I started painting my background, I originally painted my trees like how I normally would, but later changed it to be more blocky to give it a more video game-esque look, similar to Minecraft trees.

Adding details – the leaves were drawn with a square brush so it looked like pixels

Final Backgrounds

Backgrounds are lineless so that the characters can stand out, but I added a touch of lining at the edges of the leaves so it looked more cartoonish and artificial. I ended up using the square brush for the trunk details and bushes to keep with the theme.

Mouth Shapes and X-sheets

Production

I knew the transition from Adobe Animate to Toon Boom Harmony would be rough (that’s what I’ve heard a lot) and sure enough I had some bumps, particularly getting used to keyframes (in AA terms) being called “drawings” instead, while the keyframes in Harmony stores the values of transformations. Tweening keyframes in the two different softwares also work quite differently so I had to relearn that as well, although I didn’t end up using it in the end.

Failed tween test – There was a part where Jimmy was supposed to stretch up in an exaggerated manner very quickly, but tweening it didn’t look very good so I did it manually instead

Link for above video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NzZy43S-3GaVwgqt5FbmtMofXlyy8B8P/view?usp=drivesdk

Other things like having to duplicate the drawing to be able to edit it separately was also confusing at first, but eventually I found that very helpful since I had some reused keys that needed fixing later on. I was also very happy to find that there was a mirror canvas function in Harmony because it’s been something I’ve always wished for in Animate.

Thumbs and timing chart brainstorming – the goal was to make it bouncy and lively so there were a lot of favours

During the in-betweening phase I also learned a lot about timing charts. I’ve used them before in previous projects but never this in-depth nor did I use that many, and I also played around with having different charts for different body parts where appropriate. I felt that it helped make the process of in-betweening less daunting as I had a direction to follow and the overall movement less robotic.

Fun stretches/smears I liked! My goal was to have them be unnoticeable but still keep the fluidity of the action

During the production weeks, I got a bit more feedback periodically to check on progress:

(At the animatic stage) Facial expression of G needs to match what he’s saying — the body doesn’t always match up with what the characters are talking about but their face always does
- So have G’s eyebrows down on the emphasis “it’s April Fools” and back up when he leaves
Remember to add blinks especially for Scar as he’s explaining to Jimmy and when they swing their head another direction

Feedback will be applied as I work on the final animation.

Animation Process

link for above video: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1m3WESsjZk3702B-h_BfJuzUxyg3DNYyG/view?usp=drivesdk

Compositing

Some final touches were added in After Effects, like having the HP bar slide in with an sfx when Jimmy asks who’s winning, audio adjustments, putting backgrounds back in, as well as a gradient overlay on the characters for depth.

Final Outcome

[Link to video]

(Reflection in pdf submission)