This will be a studio class, where we will use class time to work on our shots

Homework: 

 Animate the mouth actions. Using your phoneme library, plug in the mouth shapes, using the same key frames as the jaw. Use the 'face camera'.

Shoot some video reference for the pantomime acting of your lip sync. Review tutorial on vimeo.com/dlatour “Polishing Lip Sync Demo.” Watch Keith Lango Posing tutorials. Have first pass of keys and breakdowns on the pantomime, with second pass on the lip sync.2. Act out your reference and create a movie file.

 The purpose of the assignment is to give you a chance get warmed up with your rig of choice, and to let me get an assessment of your current skill level. We're actually doing this backwards from normal animation workflow, attacking the lip sync first! Featured principles: Posing, Timing, and Staging. 3-5 sec. long (72-120 fr). 

Notes from 'The Illusion of Life', by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson

1. Anticipate dialogue with head, body or gestures 3-4 frames ahead of the heavy modulation but mouth sync should be right on the modulation. If it is a closed mouth, it will be on the consonant, and, if possible remain closed for two frames in order to be seen.

2. You need interesting mouth shapes that reflect the personality of your voice. Look for shapes that give you an extra touch of character and are peculiar to this one personality.

3. Try to show enough time on the important shapes so that the viewer will be aware that he has seen a picture of the word.

4. On holds at the end of a phrase or a line of dialogue, try to retain a mouth expression that reflects the word or phrase. Retain the character of the shape in the hold with a softening action to keep it alive.

5. There are not too many straight in betweens in dialogue. You may want to retain one mouth a little longer and then move quickly into the next one, or vice versa. Either way you will favor one extreme over the other - both in timing and the shapes you choose (draw).

6. If you have a word that has been stretched out fairly long, treat it like a moving hold.

7. When using the eyes only for sync in an extreme closeup, start the eyes into the move at least three frames ahead of the accent. If the accents are strong lead by 4-5 frames.

8. When using a blink to get the sync, the eyes should close ahead of the accent by 3-4 frames.

9. If you are going to start your dialogue on a drifting or slow move without an anticipation, it helps to start this movie 3-8 frames ahead of the accent.

10. There are times when your dialogue will have to be on ones.

11. The vowel sounds, A E I O U always will require some opening.

12. The consonant sounds M P B are all closed mouths. Keep in mind that the mood of the character will determine the shape of the mouth. Generally mouth shapes that have the "E"sound show teeth. T and G also can pucker like a U. Y and W can go in a very small O or U shape.

13. Make sure the teeth are not painted white or they will flash. This can be particularly annoying if the mouth is over articulated.