Source: Christian Dan

I happened upon this really cool site and thought I’d share. Movieclips.com features tons of clips from lots of different movies…neat thing though is you can sort by actor, director, cinematographer, props used, mood, theme, etc…which is really beneficial if you are looking for a certain type of reference. Click the image to check it out!

Really cool acting reference. Interesting to note, that while his voice isn’t always spot on, his mannerisms/gestures are.. Our voices are only a small part of who we are…..gestures, timing, posture, mannerisms, etc all contribute to ones character/personality…keep that in mind when animating/creating a character.

1000th Post!

I wanted to show this clip from The Way Back because it does a great job showing a fight or flight response. The fight or flight response states that animals/humans react to threats with a general discharge of the sympathetic nervous system, priming the person for fighting or fleeing. Males and females tend to deal with stressful situations differently. Males are more likely to respond to an emergency situation with aggression (fight), while females are more likely to flee (flight), turn to others for help, or attempt to defuse the situation. This clip is a great example of someone going through the fight or flight response.

It starts with Ed Harris piecing a lie together, he has this great subtle little smile once he has figured out the girl has been lying to him, this little moment of realization before he speaks helps the audience know he’s figured something out. Saoirse Ronan’s character instantly gets confrontational, its not over the top, but her voice and pacing let you know she’s afraid/upset. Her reaction is perfect the moment he says “your parents weren’t murdered” the quick head turn, the eye blinks, you really feel she’s afraid, that she’s going into “fight or flight” mode. I love clips like this cause it really shows the battle going in within ourselves, sometimes that battle can be far more interesting than external ones. I did a previous post featuring Saoirse Ronan on my blog here. Mark my words, she’ll have an Oscar in 5 years or less (she’s already been nominated once when she was 13)

I originally posted this on YouTube about five years ago, and then re-posted it a few years later including a higher resolution download. I figured since I’ve started up a YouTube account again, I might as well add it again. All six parts will play automatically below. Enjoy…again

The creator of the Animation Progression Reels blog, Andrew Root, has started a video reference group on Vimeo. Stop by for more videos like this:

Isaak Fernandez has a bunch of sweet process videos from his work on Planet 51. Head over to his Vimeo page to check out more.

Here’s a small clip from The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford that’s a great example of thought process. In this shot Casey Affleck is coming to terms with the fact that he has to kill Jesse James (no its not a spoiler…its in the movie title haha) It’s awesome how you can so easily see the stages of his thought process.

1st – he starts nervous/jittery, his head is moving more, licking his lips, eyes darting.
2nd – he slows down a bit, starts to concentrate, eyes look down thinking about what must be done.
3rd – he reaches his decision, eyes slowly look up in an almost villainous way and then he stands up.

Like your parents said when you were growing up “think before you act” so when you’re animating make sure your characters are doing the same.

I posted this one on my blog, but really wanted to share it here as well. First off I wanted to show this clip in honor of Pete Postlethwaite who passed away a couple of weeks ago. I’ve always been a fan of him, especially his performance in In The Name of The Father. And Steven Spielberg famously dubbed him the “best actor in the world,” which is pretty high props coming from Mr. Spielberg. Here’s a clip of his last role in The Town…if you haven’t seen it I highly recommend it.

This is a perfect example of Secondary Action. This was a principle of animation I had a lot trouble understanding originally. It’s often confused with Overlapping Action. In this clip, his dialog with Ben Affleck is the main action of the scene, the “secondary action” is him cutting the roses. It’s an unrelated Secondary Action, as there is nothing in the dialog that mentions flowers, but it works perfectly with the scene, as it’s a slightly aggressive action which causes a lot of tension. Secondary Action is a great way to add some flavor to your scene because in life we tend to always be doing something when we talk.