Performance Workshop

Acting for Animation

“Animators should focus on the acting…make the characters think and act..start with the body first, next focus on the eyes, and last focus on the mouth. When reviewing reels we look at the acting first.” John Lasseter

Think about the body and movement as telling the story. You should be able to understand the mood and emotion of a character without sound. 

Think about the twelve principles of animation your character need appeal think about the silhouettes of the character, exaggerate the emotions. Play!

“Big hero six” Disney walk into a room test. Look how these characters are made so individual by walking into a room differently, each one has a different personality made apparent by the way they open the door walk in and sit down at a table.

Actor analysis, a lot of disney films looks at analysis silent films and there movement. Chaplin, Keaton, Harold Lloyd. These are what proceeded the larger studios. Exaggeration = over reaction. The key thing is that theres no dialogue but we all get a sense of what the character is thinking, their motivation behind there actions. 

Jacques Tati, 1950’s silent gags. 

It’s not about your technical abilities, it’s about the kinesthetics, you need to embody the hats of a film maker, actor puppeteer to embody and inhibit your character.

www.awn.com/mag/issue4.12/4.12pages/lieffacting.php3