In Class:
In today’s class, we took a deeper dive into animating dialogue, focusing on how to make speech feel expressive and believable—not just technically synced.
Vowels Carry the Emotion
When animating speech, it’s not only about matching the mouth shapes to the sound; it’s about showing how the character feels while speaking. Vowel shapes are particularly important, as they help convey emotion through the mouth. Words aren’t just spoken—they’re felt, and that needs to come through in the animation.
Think in Phrases, Not Words
Instead of treating dialogue like a string of separate words, it’s better to think of it in terms of phrasing and natural flow. In real life, we tend to blend our words together—for instance, “how’s it going?” often sounds more like “howzitgoing.” So rather than animating each word literally, focus on the rhythm and energy of the full sentence or thought.
Animate What the Character Feels, Not Just What They Do
One of the key takeaways from the session was to animate based on a character’s thoughts and emotions. Great performances are driven by internal motivation. Try to capture this with a few strong key poses—usually around three—that express what’s going on inside the character. Stick with those poses and give them time to breathe instead of constantly shifting or over-animating.
This approach is something veteran Disney animator Aaron Blaise also highlights in his teachings.
Understanding the Mechanics of Speech
Knowing how the body creates sound helps you animate it more accurately. Here are some main elements involved in producing dialogue:
- Tongue
- Lips
- Jaw – You can feel how the jaw works by placing one hand under your chin while speaking. It doesn’t move in large jumps—subtle motion is more realistic.
- Teeth
- Vocal cords
- Nose – Surprisingly, even the nose plays a part in how we speak. Small movements in this area are often added during the final polish phase of animation.
Phonemes: The Building Blocks of Dialogue
Phonemes are individual units of sound that combine to form words. Understanding how they’re pronounced helps you create mouth shapes that match the sound naturally and convincingly.
My Work:
This week, I started working on my acting shot. I brought the character rig I had chosen into Maya and set up everything I needed to begin.
First, I imported the audio clip into Maya and began by focusing on the lip sync. I started blocking out the mouth shapes to match the dialogue, making sure the timing felt right. Once I was happy with the lip sync, I moved on to the head and body animation.
Using the reference video I recorded earlier, I started blocking the character’s movements and expressions. I made sure to keyframe all the important poses while keeping the acting performance in mind. At this stage, everything is still in the blocking phase, but I’ve managed to build a solid foundation with all the key actions and emotions lined up.
I’m looking forward to refining the performance in the coming weeks and making the animation feel even more natural and expressive.