Lip Syncs

Here are my lip syncs that i made in Premier for the Bass and Backing Singers.

Mouth Shapes

These are the mouth shapes I came up with last week to lip sync with the audio.

Backing Singers

Bass 

Bass Test Animations

Over the last week I have been testing the movement of the base character.

These are my first few test. I found that some of the movements didn't work well for timing but was a good start to understanding what i need to do when animating.

After all the tests I did I cut the full track into 4 pieces and animated the exact movements I plan on using for our final animation.

Mice Mouths

Now, try saying that quickly!

So, we have began to make mouth shapes. First making the teeth and lip shape and moulding it out of silicon (blue stuff in the photo). This keeps every teeth and lip size the same and consistent for the replacement animation. 

We then rolled out black backgrounds for the mouths out of sylcon and bake them for a solid back. Then add the white teeth and then put on the lips on top (made also out of sylcon) and cut off the access background and bake again so the whole mouth is solid. 

And here is Sam with his mouse army!

Photo of first replacement idea

This is my first models testing my first movement idea for my replacement models. It was the idea of the mice swaying side to side with there whole body. I tried hard to make it work but it just didn't work.

An earful indeed

24 Ears later

Life onion skinning 

Cheeky chums, witness the fitness

The local post-office

Done and donner

Guitar puppet test

Guitar lip shapes

Lip-squeaks

What is happening?

We have been a very busy group this week, making Photoshop mouth shapes, sorting them in Premier, sorting dope sheets, mixing plasticine for final colours and making our replacements.
Thankfully, we are all on schedule. We were wishing to make our mouth shapes before the end of this week but unfortunately Mary could not see us to help us with this process until Monday. So, a long day on Monday finalising replacements, making mouths and eye lids and hopefully doing a test of one of the scenes so we can start animating on Tuesday.
Sam is sorting out everyones dope sheets this weekend so they are all in time and in order for each scene (he is a clever boy).
Also, we have got ourselves three level 1 students who would like to help us with our animation (WHAAAY!). As there is only 3 of us in our group this hopefully will help us a lot if we ask them to help us here and there.
So... go go go!! Just need to keep to schedule and get stuck in.

Replacement tests for Lead Guitar mouse

Replacement test 1

Within this test I tried replacement tests with the idea of the mouse swinging his head through his whole body. With a wave effect flowing through the 'blob'. This test is shot in 4's to get an idea. I feel like its needs for inbetweens to make the move smoother.

Replacement test 2

I tried testing the wave movement through out the body again adding in two more replacement shapes. I feel it still doesnt work and this movement might be to complex for such a simple shape. Also, I need to mix more colours more so the whole colour is mixed through properly. 

Replacement test 3

This test is a very quick one that I did at the end of the day, after I mixed the colour of the plasticine even more and made replacements with the idea of the mouse 'booping' his head up and down, left and right. Even though this is very quick you can already see that the simpler the movement the easier it reads with the simple shape. I did to smooth out some of the replacements but I think this will be my final replacements.

Lead Guitar mouth shapes

These are the finalised mouth shapes for the Lead Guitar Mouse. It is based on some mouth shapes I worked with at Flickerpix during work experience and Preston Blair mouth shapes. These will also be brought into Premier with the lead final recording, which we recorded last week and edited over last weekend. When we set up all the mouths in Premier in time with the recording then we can write the mouth shapes on our dope sheets.

ALL OVER LIFE!

SCHEDULE UP UNTIL CHRISTMAS

Friday 16^th November

ALL MOUTHS COMPLETE AS JPEG

Start testing with mouths and music in Premier

WEEKEND

Sam – synopsis, script, log line

Claire – Set and painting of theatre

Cathryn – One sheet and poster

Monday 19^th November

In University all day putting mouth shapes to your character in premier

Create a dope sheet for everyone to use Monday night

Tuesday 20^th November

Look at everyone’s mouth shapes in premier. Review and correct.

Everyone write his or her mouth shapes onto dope sheet for each scene

Wednesday 21^st November

Make mouths and eyes for your character

Test under camera with dope sheet

Thursday 22^nd November

Make mouths and eyes for your character

Test under camera with dope sheet

Sort out movement with mouth shapes on dope sheets

Friday 23^rd November

Test mouth and movements put together on dope sheet under camera

WEEKEND

Sammy Gammy visits

Mr and Mrs Mealey visits

NOTES

Max Miller 7.30pm on Monday

Case studies in on Tuesday 2pm

EVERYONE MAKE MODELS AND REPLACEMENTS ALL WEEK HAVE TO BE DONE FOR SUNDAY NIGHT

Have main replacements made for Wednesday to compare to everyone else’s characters under camera and to confirm mouth shape sizes

((Claire have set done FOR SUNDAY NIGHT)))

Monday 26^th November

Claire set up lights and set

Test scene of 3 characters in it – movements and mouths. Final test!!

Tuesday 27^th November

Scenes 2 & 6

Wednesday 28^th November

Scenes 3 & 5

Thursday 29^th November

Scene 9

Friday 30^th November

WEEKEND

Mother Gamble visits

NOTES

Creative writing handed in Tuesday 2pm

Monday 3^rd December

SCENE 4

Tuesday 4^th December

Scene 10 & 8

Claire animate curtains

Wednesday 5^th December

Scene 11

Thursday 6^th December

Scene 7

Friday 7^th December

WEEKEND

Make small cheeses, roses and pick bra

NOTES

Monday 10^th December

Scene 12

(cheese, roses and bra)

Tuesday 11^th December

Scene 1

Wednesday 12^th December

Thursday 13^th December

Show off day. CV, blog and business card

Friday 14^th December

Blue = Claire

Green = Sam

Red = Cathryn

Testing scenes

Had two days doing quick 4 fps scene tests under the camera. This was for us to get into the swing of the movements and the hang of timing. 

As the director I will make my own notes for myself, Sam and Claire on what I feel needs to be improved.

Who is animating who, I hear you ask?

Well, I am animating the Lead Singer.

Sam is animating the Inflating Guitar.

Claire is animating the Bass and Backing Singers.

I also will be directing every scene and after the Guitar deflates, Sam will help assist me and Claire on our parts. 

Final Animatic

After talks within our group, peers and a tutor we have came to our final animatic (sigh of relief). We have included the idea of a poster at the beginning, promoting the concert that Micetro are singing in. This establishes the era, setting and feel of our piece. 

Concept Art

I looked at stages and the different possible looks they could have. This is what I came up with.

I like the shading on this one gives the image depth.

I like the colour in this one but may not be appropriate for this set up.

Possible final story?

Drawn by myself. Edited by Sam. 

Lead singer lip sync tests

I focused on testing lip syncs for the lead today and perfecting one words at a time. 

Backing Singer Movement test

Today I tried out replacement animation for the backing singers movements. I found it went really well and was very pleased with it until I walked home and realized that I had got so sucked into perfecting the movement that i had completely forgotten the sound track. It is just small adjustments to be made but due to the backing singers singing separately and then together.

Lip Sync Tests

Today I went into Uni to test out lip syncing. I was a little worried about how we are going to get the timing right for the mouth movements at the same time as animating as if we get it wrong we have to start all over again if we don't notice soon enough. Trying it out today i realized that the sound and animation has to be broken down into small sections of about 10 secs top to fit in with stop motion pro. Here are the tests I have created.

Mozorella - In this test the 'M' is a little unclear so I would need to make sure i have that mouth shape visible for longer. Although the rest of the lip sync seems good especially at the end on the 'LA'.

Parmesan - I really like this one although I feel that I didn't quite get the 'S' shape in well enough.

Gorgonzola - This one works well because i have changed the size of the mouth shape on the 'A' based on the sound created.

Edam - I really enjoyed this one due to the fact there were so many different mouth shapes to use and because it was a fast moving track i found it a bit easier.

Stilton - I'm not to sure about the timing of this one on the 'L' but the rest of it seems in time.

Derby - This is a very simplistic lip sync and I think I need to try it again to see if the mouth shapes are  correct. I think there needs to be a circle shape on the 'ER'

Camembert - For this one i have followed the mouth shapes for the word but the sound track sounds different and so I need to figure this one out again to create a better lip sync.

Brie - In this one the mouth shapes at the beginning are all the same making it look false and fake so I plan to look at this one a bit closer.

Cheddar - This one needs a clearer shape for the 'D' so that it is a better performance and so i can understand the movements more clearly.

Guitar - This one I didn't enjoy. I found it tedious as i couldn't get the mouth shapes to look right maybe i needed to use another shape in between. All i got from doing this lip sync is I really don't want to animate the guitar character.

Bass Rythem 1 and 2 - Although these two are very repetitive I found these lip syncs fun as the mouth shapes were all very similar but the slight differences make the animation seem realistic.

Backing Singer 1- The cheddar lip sync isn't quite right and I plan to look at this further at uni to get this movement right. Aside from this i feel that the goats cheese was quite successful.

Backing Singer 2 -  The movement for this lip sync seems exactly the same as the one above and i feel that once again I need to look into the sync of the cheddar again.


This task was at most an enjoyable task apart from a few. I found that sometimes i would loose track and have to go back and delete or add frames to make the sync work. Generally on the longer notes but with a bit of practice I will get used to the timing and get a better sense of which shapes work best.

Character Designs - Pencil

I felt like my last final Character Designs in Photoshop looked childish and not professional enough so I felt that I should post my pencil drawn Character Designs from my sketchbook.

Movement Tests

These are just a few movement tests I did the other day, to see what actions will work for the characters. I found that replacement animation was the more effective compared to just moving the plasticine, as the plasticine looses its shape and structure the more it is moved.

The Wag, I tried to get a swaying movement but it is a bit too fast and looks more like a wag. I have given the 'character' a brow to define the movement and character.

Head Bob 4, In this test i tried to get a head bob but it ended up just looking like a fast repetitive nod. i figured if i worked with an angle and slowed down the timing then maybe the movement would be clearer.

Head Bob 5, I tried again and this was more successful but i think it looks more like a head bang but is something to work with to a beat.

I tried some swaying and bobbing but it didn't work to well maybe if i try using replacement then it will work better.

Bumb Wiggle, I wanted to look at the possible 'dance moves' the backing singers could do while singing. In this one i moved the lower part of the plasticine to make a little wiggle.

A fast twist and turn that may need to slowed down but was done with replacement and the form of the plasticine is alot clearer and smoother.

A jumpy fast dance move that is quite amusing but probably not suited to the music.

A very rough twist but was a first test. I plan to do some more to see if i can get the timing right for the swaying and wiggles.

My Animation Tests

Lead Singer Tests 

In these tests I tested the guitar player swaying to the music. I found my first try was too fast and learnt quickly from that. I tried to make him flick his 'head' to the music with a fast and slow movement. I feel this worked rather well.

In the second test i tried him putting his head back and swaying and shaking his head. I feel that this doesn't work but if I add hair it might. The head shake was just an idea for when he could be belting out a big note. Will probably try this idea agin but include hair to see if it looks better.

Lead Singer Hair Test

In these tests I tried the lead singer flicking his hair. In the first two tests I found it hard to show him swirling his head to flick his hair. It was just too much.

In the third and fourth tests I tested the lead singer swinging his head back to flick his hair. I felt this looked much more readable and I understood what he was doing more. I still need to work on the ease in and out though but I think I have the basic idea there.

Backing Singers Tests

With these tests I was testing the backing singers movements into there shots. The first two tests are for when the singers come in when harmonising on the word "Cheddar" during the chorus. The movement work well and will obviously need to be slower for the real one but at least I have the movement sorted. 

The very quick last test is on how the backing singers should appear when saying "Goat's Cheese". I feel them popping up at the front does not work and seems very threatening. I tried the idea of them poking out from behind the lead singer and preferred the look and composition of this on the camera. This movement and timing will need to be looked into more before animating the final thing. 

Feedback from Review on Tuesday 8th November

Everything went smoothly with us showing our progression since the last review. The only thing was that the story needs a small thing of conflict. Nothing too much, nothing too little. Something that makes its just a little bit more than a music video.
I find that we have found it hard to find the happy middle of too much and too little on our storyline.
I agree that there needs one small bit of conflict - just like our influence "Despicable Me 2 Trailer".
We have came up with two ideas of small conflict between the Guitar and Bass in the background.
I have drawn out the Animatic and Sam will be editing it and putting it online tonight. We will review this Animatic and decide if its the final one or if it needs work.

FINAL ANIMATIC

Final character design sheets

Including a few turn arounds, expressions and lip sync.

Colour may be altered in the future. 

Log-line is to Beaver as Cheese-line is to Mouse... I need to get out more

After brutal word-bashing sessions the log-line has been finalised and beauty has been formed.
Tissues at the ready? Read away:

Micetro are the most established rodent band this world has ever seen. They’re taking to the stage and ready to melt hearts, but will the crowds still go wild when a key member decides standing in the background just isn’t enough?

Beautiful wasn't it?

The main points I needed to include where  that they were mice performing on stage, that they're an established band and that the bass character wanted more limelight and less swaying in the background. With no real conventional narrative, it was a difficult one to create a log-line for.

Here's a few of the other ones I wrote out as I got closer and closer to feeling it:

Five successful mice take to the stage to perform a worldwide hit. But will the crowds still go wild when a key member decides standing in the background just isn’t enough?

- this one got the point across well but I felt like the characters needed some kind of backstory to make the audience understand the scope of it. So I came up with the next one shown below.

Micetro are the most established rodent band this world has ever seen. But one fame-hungry member poses a threat to the bands famous smooth groove. Will the crowds still go wild, or is this the end for Micetro?

- This one was better for establishing the band and incorporating the title but we didn't like the second half of it. So I combine the beginning of the second one and the end of the first one and connected them together to create the final result that you see at the far top.