Maya Tips 05-Acting, Pantomime, all the things, gestures, flails, etc that make our character alive + other tidbits

This was actually one of my favorite classes in College and according to this photo of Cynthia from DOUG, AKA Fluke, it's also one of her favorite classes too.

Pantomime is what drives the performance of everything acting has to offer for both 2D and 3D animation. Whether it be subtle

Or in this case downright chaotic

The point being is that acting and pantomime performance is based on how you look at a character's personality in particular. And it serves as an analysis of what your character is or isn't.

It depends whether your character is condescending such as GERI THE CLEANER

 

or as smug such as the CHADLY looking Japanese Soccer fan from this 80s anime who's being memed to death on Facebook, Reddit, etc.

"CHAD CHIN-SAMA here is actually being supportive of shoulder shot guy but most meme sharing people don't care about CHAD CHIN's original characterization."

While pantomime is often what drives the personality of the character, it's also to allow yourself to apply all that knowledge of body mechanics. 

If you haven't seen my body mechanics post, I suggest you go there before absorbing my tidbits about Pantomime. 

Here's the link to my Body Mechanics Post

https://maverickmartinezarchive.blogspot.com/2024/02/maya-tips-04-body-mechanics.html

Anyway back to acting and pantomime, I'm very meticulous when it comes to acting. I usually prefer a direct translation of LIVE-ACTION style acting but in the recent months, I've conceded.

What I push for in acting whether it be 2D or 3D is either a FILM ROMAN style of acting or the acting used in anime...... 

Well to be honest, the less crazy aspects of Comedic anime and more in line with the acting I see thing like dramatic anime like COWBOY BEBOP or Hayao Miyazaki films but I don't have a photo to share so instead, here's a screenshot from 801 T.T.S. AIRBATS.

Part of my Maverick attitude against the standardized acting I see in most CGI movies today is because I feel it's overused and it's holding hostage many new animators on what to expect for an entry level job. 

I get it's an extremely competitive field but telling beginning animators that this is the only acting style to follow on movies or tv series that's rendered in CGI is enough to really deflate your confidence as well as deflate your style... similar to 2D art style mandate that's holding hostage every artist in North America.

I can't change the attitudes of what showrunners want but what I can do is share my tidbits of what I've acquired from both College and my Blu-Rays of Animated Films.

Pantomime like I said is driven by the acting and performance melding together with your knowledge of body mechanics. Only this time, your other half of your animation brain is being taken over to animate performances using the controls.

And it's not based only on your knowledge of Body Mechanics but also with how to execute the personality being driven off that performance..... combined with body mechanics.

"Bob Clampett's Bugs Bunny will demonstrate to you all how to take advantage of smug attitude combined with loving ballad performances and weighty body mechanics."

Another reason I'm also meticulous about performance in animation acting as well as a renewed obsession with body mechanics is because I see in most Puppet Rigged 2D Animations where the animation's constrained on-modelness can sometimes result in floatiness in the acting.

Remember a time where animation in your favorite 80's cartoons could barely be seen as lively or fun no matter how hard you defend those shows due to nostalgia?

Well a lot of us who grew up with those shows were very young and didn't know how badly the animators were suffering with having so many good ideas thrown into the bin by executives or art directors.

"Believe it or not, during my time at College, I saw a 2008 video on animation acting for CGI where the animator discouraged from copying THE SMURFS."

It wasn't until 1987's Mighty Mouse 

and later the 3 original Nicktoons:

DOUG, 

Rugrats, 

and THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW

Brought back all the creative control to children's cartoons.

As well as specific acting and pantomime compared to the standardized crap that was littering all over the place.

"STIMPY YOU EEDIOT!!! STOP DISTRACTING MR MAVERICK GUY!!!"

Why thank you Ren. I needed to get back on track.

How to execute believable acting in your favorite movies or tv shows depends on how to execute it.

I've seen many people state that you need reference in your acting so you can copy your reference and improve on the gestures.

Animators can choose to act in front of the mirror:

Or shoot video reference of themselves or a friend doing said acting

But like previously on so many of my posts that I'm not a fan of Recorded Reference.

Part of the reason is the awkwardness of acting like a cartoon character on camera which feels out of place compared to a live action film or anime.

Plus, I'm not what I call the most photogenic type of person to appear on camera. I can tolerate my front profile but I generally can't stand to look at my side profile due to all the weight I've gain in the past few years.

So what I go for is recording other people or just act in front of the mirror.

Late Pixar Animator Glenn McQueen does prefer that over camera recordings.

Here's him acting in front of the mirror

And shown below is how he translated that into A BUG'S LIFE.

All without a SONY HANDYCAM camcorder in both 1997 and 1998 when this film was in production.

What's wrong with acting in a mirror or having others perform for you? If Glenn McQueen can act in front of a giant mirror, then so can you. I have a big-ass bathroom mirror in my house's bathroom that be good for my own pantomime performances but I also have another mirror that I can hang on to a door. It's kinda narrow but It can still work.

As a matter of fact, this piece of animation I made in college, I didn't even need to record myself on camera due to me not even standing to see my profile but who's going to hold my iPhone for me?

I believe Aang's performance was acted out by Arthur Ponzeto while Malcolm's performance was acted out by Tiago Oliveira. 

I've since lost the reference footage but I do remember shooting reference with both Arthur and Tiago in college back in 2021.

And no they weren't wearing masks in the footage. They probably were already vaccinated by that point, plus, PANTOMIME PERFORMANCES need mouths because that's the Peanut butter and Jelly flavor added to acting which is the face.

If you want to see the works of Arthur Ponzeto, here's the links to his Websites.

Main Work

3D Animation Work

For Tiago's that was a little more difficult since he doesn't have a WIX or Adobe Portfolio website so instead here's links to his

VIMEO

&

ARTSTATION

Speaking about mouths and faces, that's very important to talk about in pantomime performance.

It's not just the physical pantomime to talk about. It's also the facial expressions that needs to be addressed too.

The facial expressions also tells the viewers how this particular character is feeling.

Plus, the way they can express themselves depend on how they are drawn or in the case of CGI, how the character's polygons and facial muscles are manipulated with.

As  you can see, even though Nigel and Dory share the same expressions here, they don't share the same facial construction. A surefire way to tell you that not all facial construction is equal.

And here's another thing to pay attention to. Something which an animator in the Vancouver Animation space has told me to pay attention to:

EYE DIRECTION

Well.... not that kind of Eye Direction such as someone looking at a camera but sort of like that.

You know what, let's bring back CHAD CHIN-SAMA back here.

Notice his Eye Direction? He's clearly facing the shoulder shot guy. And so is the guy on the middle.

Here's another example of proper Eye Direction. Ukyo and Shampoo beating the bejesus out of Ryoga. While Akane is watching in horror.

Eye Direction is frugal. It not only allows other parts of your character to emote or look lively but it's also used as a guide to let the audience know what to focus on. 

Like for example: Heffer Wolfe's Pizza Obsession

Or in an original sense, Aria's focus on a basketball net

Special thanks goes to Malena Mokhovikova for this 2013 comic at my High School.

It's also important to make sure that your character's eyes read properly too. I've heard that Sully from MONSTERS INC. went through multiple eye tests in animation before he was put into action in the Marionette Software and at one point, he wore glasses. Thankfully, he passed the eye direction test so he ditched the glasses.


Remember to pay attention to your eye direction. If Nagatoro can convince her friends to understand eye direction below, then so can you.

Oh boy this was my most complex post that took me nearly several days to type. Next up, we're going to deal with reference footage which I explained in this post but in a truncated manner. The next will be more complex.... as well as some posts on lighting.

Feels very surreal but like I said on my previous posts, my MSI Monitor is totally busted. I now have an ASUS TUF GAMING VG27AQ monitor. It has sort of the same specs as my old MSI but it has better capacitors, GSYNC to minimize screen tearing in games, and a 1440p resolution so my Viewport issues with MAYA is now solved.