Affected

The last few days have been spent putting together a rough dialogue record for "Bullies", which has led to the crushing revelation that the film as it presently exists is TWENTY-FIVE minutes in length. Fucky-fuck-fuck. And, might I add, a fuckity-fuckeroo.
That's actually not so much a concern as far as the production goes - "House Guest" was originally eighteen minutes and took about six months to produce, including the trial and error of cutting my teeth on the software and a more laborious overall animation style. The issue is that longer animated shorts just don't do as well. Sales agents and the festival circuit tend to like their films short and punchy. The exceptions tend to be the types of films that break new ground or just massive studio productions. Mine ticks neither box, so unless Aardman want to pick up the rights (Hinty-McHint) I'm in a lickle quandary.

That aside, I'm really happy with the way the recording went. I may have to redo it more professionally down the line, but for the purposes of an animatic it came off quite well. Here you can see me step up to the plate as a mic stand on top of my directorial duties:

The guy playing Liam is my old school friend Chris Richardson, which is apt as it's a film about old school friends reuniting. Also Chris has pretty decent acting chops, which is kind of important when it comes to, well, acting. We first met at school where him and a couple other kids would record skits impersonating members of staff with eerie precision. They were calamitous, indecipherable at times and frequently abandoned at the midway point due to constant corpsing. But motherfuck, they were funny.

The Larry Soundtrack, for which I designed the cover. Trust me, it both made perfect sense and was incredibly witty back in 2000

I kept trying to insinuate myself into the process, encouraging them to do it professionally in a way that I could make marketable. Even at fifteen I was a fiscally conscious executive douchebag at heart. Fortunately they smelled my despicable agenda a mile away and wouldn't have any of it. But now the tables have a-turned!

In a slightly more professional environment (note the use of an actual pop shield in lieu of an unwashed sock - and they say Kubrick gave his performers shit) I recorded my dialogue separately, on my lonesome which made for a strangely schizophrenic experience:

So, with altogether too much material to work with, the film's preproduction is pretty much done. Sumbitch, I may just end up pulling this off. If I can decide which region of Ireland my character's meant to be from...

Face Time

Best I can tell, faces seem to do 90% of the acting when it comes to animation. Now, there's a good chance I may have just let slip a revealing nugget of naivety by saying that - possibly more learned and scholarly animators would opine that I'm completely wrong. As I'm still taking baby steps when it comes to this animation malarky I'll stand by that for now.
In real life, faces are generally one of the most interesting things to observe. I've inevitably been attracted to women who have been facially interesting rather than what television shows and magazines deem to be attractive. Conventionally 'beautiful' women seem, bizarrely, kinda boring to me - everything's all there, in the right place, no effort required. True physical beauty to me lies in a face that can be explored, imbibed, appreciated in its own right. Until they tell you to stop staring, or reach for the mace.


I get why they're 'hot', it's just hard to muster up any enthusiasm...


...now these faces are full of character, which to me is 1000 times more endearing.

To draw an analogy, think of popular music. You hear a song on the radio, it's been composed to meet all the requirements of 'good' music, and its appeal lasts just long enough for you to buy the single, after which you quickly realise it's horseshit. Hence the financial success of Britney. Now think of some of your favourite songs, the ones quite personal to you that you can listen to a billion times over and never get bored. When you first heard these I'd imagine they didn't instantly gratify you, and that your fondness for them is a consequence of having them grow on you over time. The shared factor is substance, the key ingredient to staying power.
If you have no idea what I'm talking about, fair enough. I'm not sure many people's brains are wired the same way as mine. Kinda works out for me as I'm a tubby fucker so I have a better chance with the weird-looking gals anyway.
A great cartoonist and animator Eddie Fitzgerald wrote on his blog about his own fascination for observing and studying faces in the context of what defines 'ugly' - I'd recommend it as a read.

Uncle Eddie's Theory Corner!: How many ugly girls are out there?

When thinking in terms of cartoons, I've similarly found that the most visually appealing faces are the ones which allow for more expression. Combined with good voice acting, this is what can really allow you to suspend your disbelief and invest yourself in the plight of a character whose existence comes down to just a series of drawings. Chuck Jones nailed this, as has John Kricfalusi - in fact, any animator worth his or her salt can pull this off well.
Me, well, I'm still learning. I find there's often some ambiguity about which emotions I'm trying to convey when doing facial acting, but it's gradually improving. Looking at the concept art, the early Duck design was completely devoid of expression, and as such a more typical 'zombie'. The more I developed the script and, subsequently, the storyboard, I wanted the character to have...well, character. With some modification of the design (chiefly through clearing up his remaining eye) I worked out a way to make him more expressive. Looking at stills from the film as it comes together I think the progress is encouraging.


There's not really much you can glean from this blank expression.


Hopefully with these you get a better idea of what mood or thought process is being conveyed.

Here are some animated expression changes in line-test and full-colour form:


In this shot, we have two states of expression. Firstly a pained wince as the top of his head is blown off, then his aghast reaction when he realises he's missing a scalp. What I was hoping to depict was not pain (as a zombie I don't think he'd feel it) but rather frustration at his further disfigurement.


A little later on a mounted gun falls from the wall, which the Duck catches. This transition - from confusion as to what has just occurred to sadistic pleasure when he realises he now has the upper hand - is a somewhat amateurish homage to the evil grin typical of Chuck Jones's characters such as Daffy Duck, Wil E. Coyote and The Grinch.


Lastly, this is a quick reaction shot when he registers that the gun he's just attempted to fire isn't loaded. I wanted this to be a mortified combination of panic and embarrassment.
In a way, the shots in which all we see are facial expressions can be the most fun to do. Later on I'll go through some of the human characters in the film - meanwhile I'll sign off with probably my favourite face in the acting world right now.

I actually sat through the 'Wicker Man' remake because she was in it. That's a true fan.