Concha Lorente: Inner world, comedic timing and appeal

Inner world, comedic timing and appeal

1. Inner World

“In every physical action, unless it is purely mechanical, there is concealed some inner action, some feelings. This is how the two levels of life in a part are created, the inner and the outer. They are intertwined. A common purpose brings them together and reinforces the unbreakable bond.”

                                                                                                    ― Konstantin Stanislavski

When I had to choose an audio, I knew I wanted to go to a darker atmosphere but I didn't want it to be so in your face. While searching in series, films, etc. I found this audio that slowly pulls you in to reveal the not so pure intentions of the character... that's the reason why the camera also brings us closer to our character as the audio progresses

My two main challenges were that I hadn't really animated a shot with a lip-sync with more than one word in it, so getting it to look as organic as possible took quite some time; also to keep the focus on the characters face and the cup while also trying not to make the rest of the body look dead was challenging.

I had the pleasure of Animschool posting my animation on their social media and Eric Marcén a Lighting and Compo artist reached out to me to do a collaboration and by sharing our ideas that's how the final render came out.

2. Comedic timing

What if what you expected was going to happen didn't go exactly as planned?

I'm sure everyone's had that feeling, but today our character's imagination was... on another thing.

I have seen animations: standing up, sitting down, walking, running, swimming... And I wanted to try and mix those with a soft surface like a bed.

(I can guarantee you that for all the reference takes I did, I had to remake the bed quite a few times)

As you will see later, I had already been investigating a more snappier style, but in this animation I wanted to mix realism with quicker/cartoony movements. The two things that were the most complicated for me were the entrance of the character, which I have quite a few iterations of, and the ending when he gives those final steps. It was not only that it was a challenge for me, but I wanted to make sure the mechanics were good and that it matched the character's personality.

In the end, although I know very little about simulation, with Maya cloth simulation and some deformers I was able to have the character interact with the bed to finish helping to sell the bounciness of the bed.

3. Appeal

Although I had been animating for quite a few years, I had never tried doing a cartoony style animation and at this time Oh Dear! did I learned a lot. Not only was the quick change of poses that could happen in a few frames, but the eases ins and outs, the clarity of the poses and the new possibilities that this opened up that made me rethink the way I animate and how to push it.

In this animation I also learned that even with a simpler character the same emotions could be expressed as in a more advanced rig. Forcing the faces line of action, exaggerating the expressions and posing it in a more graphic style really helped to convey the emotions.

Hope you like it and follow my journey while I continue learning and telling stories!

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All this animations were for the Animschool animation program where I am currently enrolled and couldn't have been possible without my amazing instructors: Aleksandar Kolev, Tyler Phillips and Anand Somasundaran; and the incredible help of Bill Haller in the General Reviews.