"Acting and Animation" Review

Hello people of the Internet! Today I will be reviewing an article titled Acting and Animation by Doron A. Meir. I highly recommend reading the full article before continuing with this post. You can find the article -> here <-.

The article title is rather self explanatory. In the post Meir writes about the similarities between acting and animation. He mainly focuses on the aspect of "believable acting" and how a characters personality and mood will effect how it will look. The author provides a great definition of "believable acting." He describes it as "the character's actions are the result of its own inner motives." Meir effectively expands on this idea throughout the article and separates it into six different subsections: Feel, think, react, consistency, personality, and mood.

There author does a good job at explaining his ideas but he does not provide many examples of what good acting in animation looks like. This could be because no two characters are the same but it would still be helpful to find at least one or two examples.

The conclusion of the article is short but effective. He writes a quick summary of the whole article and has a satisfying final statement.

The authors argument that acting and animation are similar is believable. As someone who is involved in both theatre and animation I can easily understand how he could make this comparison. Both involve portraying a characters emotions through actions. Granted in theatre the quality of acting depends on line delivery. In animation voice acting is also a very important part of making a memorable character. But animators are usually not the ones voicing their creations. So animators are responsible for letting a characters emotions show through body language and movement.

Personally I love this article and believe that is a good read for any character animators. I am a bit biased due to my love for both acting and art. But disregarding my views  Meir did a fabulous job at writing the article in a way that is easily understandable. So if you people for some reason haven't read the article yet GO READ IT.

"The Present" Short Film Review

"The Present" Review

By Tim Collins


           Hello people of the internet, today I will be reviewing another animated short film. This animation is titled "The Present" and I personally think that this is an excellent story. Beware there will be spoilers in this review so before you continue reading go watch the original video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96kI8Mp1uOU.

     
         So for those who did not click the link here is a quick summary: A teenager's mom brings home a box for her son and when it is opened a puppy jump out of the box, but this puppy is missing one of its legs and the teenager rejects it for this reason. Although when the teenager sees how dang cute the puppy is he decides to accept the puppy. But when the teen stands up to play with the puppy it is revealed that...(wait for it)...the teen is missing a leg as well!

         The character models are impressive and the textures,  especially on the dog, are outstanding. The animation itself is great, the animator follows all the basic principles of animation. Most noticeable is the use of squash and stretch. This can be seen from 1:45-1:47 when the teen kicks a ball that bounces around the room.

         Based on best practice the creator did great throughout the animation. As I have said the textures, models, and animation are all spectacular. However I did notice at a few points throughout the story the animation seems to be too fast. I first noticed this around 2:04 in the video where the puppy(who is under a box) runs into a wall. It might have been done on purpose but to me it seems unnatural.

         Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this animation, it has an interesting story and is definitely high quality.

       
     

Animation Article Review

                      Beware! Past this sentence I will be referring to an article that you can find here
-> http://www.creativebloq.com/digital-art/art-creating-cinematic-cg-trailers-41514644 <- So I would suggest reading the article first then coming back here and enjoying my post in its full context.

           For those of you that didn't click the link then Ill give you a quick synopsis. The article describes the recent success of a CG animation studio called RealtimeUK. It also goes into detail about how RealtimeUK provide full length animated trailers, concept art, and fully rendered cut scenes for video game publishers.

      The article shows how animation studios create more than just cartoons and animated movies.  The field of animation is spreading into different types of multimedia. The author is doing this by showing the readers past works from the studio and quotes from members of RealtimeUK.

      If I had to give any critiques of the article it would be that the author does make any final conclusions or statements. It leaves the reader confused as to why the post ends so abruptly.

         Overall it is informative and I personally find it very interesting. I have been researching many diffrent types of animation myself and I didn't know many of them even existed so I feel that posts that show the growth of the industry should be welcome.

         

"Take Me Home" animation review

Hello and welcome to my first post on this account. Today i will be reviewing the animated short film "Take Me Home" by The CGBros. The story is about a dog trying to get adopted. A little girl comes into the adoption clinic and meets the four legged protagonist.  When the girls attention moves to a

poodle the main dog attempts to impress the girl. This continues until the girl eventually decides to adopt the poodle, but when she reaches for it, it attempts to bite her. In the end the girl adopts the main dog. You can find the full video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Rx4qZ8QRc 

It was made using 3d models, this gives it a slightly more realistic look but with this film they did a good job of stylizing the models so they don't look hyper realistic.


The animation is smooth and has a good flow of motion. Although i found that some of the girls motions seemed robotic especially at 5:53.

It told the story of a dog looking for a home and family that will accept him. This was told in a way that did not need dialogue and relied on facial expressions and body posture. I am still learning how to animate 3d models and I wish I could make this level of fur and hair textures.

 I do have the capabilities of making the 3d models themselves but I still need to improve greatly. The creators did an excellent job at making and texturing the models. The animation itself was good, but I feel like it could be improved.


If you want more information about "Take Me Home" or its creators be sure to check out www.thecgbros.com or check out the actual video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_Rx4qZ8QRc.