For the lip synch project, I chose the prompt “lost in translation”. My idea was to record a line misunderstanding a common English idiom, in a heavy French accent (since that is where I grew up and I used to have one). In the animation we see her in front of a burning house as she exclaims to the camera “He’s the one who told me to break a leg!”. Implying that she caused this fire as revenge for a threat, (that was clearly not a real threat).
It’s not the most original idea, granted, but I think I make up for it in the execution.
This character’s design was very fun to create, she is a short-tempered character who is wearing a dress and heavy lipstick. The design is meant to suggest that what is happening is happening on a night out, where perhaps she went to a bar or a club with some friends, and the cause of her anger may have been spruced up by a cocktail or two.
I animated this project in ToonBoom Harmony. I had used Toonboom before but not in a very long time, and as I already felt quite comfortable in TV paint so I decided to push myself and rediscover a different software. It took a day or so for me to re-familiarize myself with it. One of the disadvantage of Toonboom, I find, is that the brushes are less interesting than in tv paint. I wasn’t looking for a smooth and polished look, but more of a sketchy pencil look. I did manage to find a brush that would mirror this style. However, I find that importing audio into Toonboom is much easier and works better than in TV Paint.
I chose this more sketchy style because I felt it would lend well to some of the ideas I had for the actual movement in my storyboard. For example there is a shot where she emphasizes the word “break” and I wanted her to morph from her design to a version of her design where she is more angular. I also think the shot where it is an extreme close up of her face and she strangely morphs from one angle to the other works very well with this more sketchy brush.
I decided it would be important to use emphasis in this project. Using the animation and timing to emphasise different keywords to create a dynamic performance. I also had a lot of fun with using the space of the frame, having the character get really close to the camera and then back up again was something I knew I wanted to do as soon as we got this brief.
Overall, the two tools I found indespensible for this project are the lipsynch chart I created and the mirror that I had placed in front of me on my desk while I was animating. Having the chart with my character’s mouth specifically was incredibly useful, but also having that little mirror in front of me as soon as I had to make a mouth shape that wasn’t in the chart was a life saver.
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