'Making of' - Week 9

During this session we were tasked to research independently 'Pantomime Animation'. I have found several videos which show what seem to be some good examples of pantomime animation, which has given me a good idea on what a pantomime animation is;

From these videos, I can gather that pantomime animation is a silent form of narrative, where in order for a viewer to gain an understanding of the emotion and drive for a central character, actions as well as facial expressions are often exaggerated, and characters rely on the motions of their arms and hands to put emphasis on their mood. The exact definition of pantomime is as follows:  

Which aside from the music aspect, all these videos accomplish perfectly. It seems as though each animation features several distinct, clear and strong poses which would have an appealing silhouette in order to lead the viewer into important actions whist being visually strong. I'm sure that timing is a huge priority when animating these characters, as it would help to show where the effort and speed is being applied to their actions. My favorite of the three is the second one, as all that we see the character do is ring a bell to get someones attention, but without the need of dialogue we clearly get a sense of his irritated attitude, all though they way his eyes lead to show his intention, his facial expression and arm gestures. I have a lot of interest in comedy, so I feel that this is a perfect animation method that I should try out sometime as it offers some huge opportunities in terms of slapstick.

Weekly update on my 'Ongoing Project' #2

This week I managed to make four new Simpsons Celebrity Caricatures, all of which are based on characters from the TV show 'The Inbetweeners'.