Using a Video Reference, Positive and Negative Aspects.

The facial acting and the body acting exercises have been the first time we’ve been explicitly encouraged to use a video reference of ourselves. I used one for the facial acting task, and found it a really interesting and informative experience, as it both helped and hindered me in the process. I found it really useful as when videoing myself I realised that our faces are so much more expressive than I was aware of, and it provided a wealth of information to animate from. However, in the same vein, this over-complicated things, as I followed the reference pretty closely and found myself animating a 19 second video, when I could have probably achieved something similar in half the time. Furthermore, I think with animation you generally expect a lot of exaggeration, but as I was following the reference pretty faithfully so the end result is quite subtle. I am however happy with the outcome, and I think it works pretty well. I would definitely use video references again in the future, but would be more aware of trying to keep the animation concise where needed.

I loved animating the hands unfolding and refolding the note.