Thursday, March 20, 2008

Personality and Character in Animation


I've been working on a 3D animation test involving and old man walking with a cane who reacts to an approaching figure. At the blocking stage I was relatively satisfied with the movements that I had, but I knew I was lacking all the personality and character that makes the figure on screen real. In other words I had motion, not emotion.

So I posted it up on The Acme Network and recieved feedback from two professionals (I'll keep them anonymous, but they are fantastic animators). One of the pros recommended I check out the lawyer character, George Hautecourt, from The Aristocats. Now I haven't gotten around to watching the whole movie, but I found this utterly amazing and mind-blowing scene that shows true character animation at its finest. I could instantly see what I was missing. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it (for instance, how did they reconcile his quick movements with his shaky movements and still keep it believable and convincing???!!!). I'd like to know who animated this character, but I have suspicions that it might be the great Milt Kahl himself, but if anyone knows for sure please let me know!

I don't know the legality of this clip, so it may not be up forever, but if you get the chance or have the movie itself, watch this scene! I promise you won't be disappointed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNaSroGJPVc&feature=related

7 comments:

Chris Palmer said...

Will you post your blocking?

LampshadeMan said...

Yeah, I think that's a Milt kahl scene. While I thought the overall movie wasn't that good(Seemed like a blander version of Lady and the tramp) The animation is always top notch and this scene is no expection. And yeah, post the blocking!

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