Acting Reference #83

I attended a great talk on villains by Ted Ty at CTN and it made me think of this clip from Braveheart. I love how Longshanks is very precise with his movements. He's hardly moving at all and he doesn't have to, he's in charge and doesn't need to prove it. Notice how he never blinks once in this entire clip, which adds an eerie intensity to him. The bit at the end is also great. One of his second in commands compliments his idea and even then he puts them him in their place by questioning the compliment....not allowing anyone to get the upper hand on him.


Acting Reference #83 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #82

I wanted to show this clip from The Rover and talk a little bit about free rigs. There's a lot of free animation rigs out there and we see them over and over in animation tests. Often moving & acting in very similar ways. But check this clip out, it features an almost unrecognizable Robert Pattinson. It's not really a physical transformation, like some actors undergo, but its more of an acting transformation. It's in complete contrast to how we've normally seen him in other movies. (cough cough Twilight) His mannerisms, movements, pacing, delivery. Think about this when you're animating on a free rig. How can you make it new, unique, something we haven't seen before.


Acting Reference #82 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Ballet Animation Process

Here's a process video for the ballet shot I did. Once I got the blocking done I focused on polishing sections at a time, starting with just the root/legs and working my way up. I found this very helpful as it kept me from being too overwhelmed and was able to focus all my attention on certain areas.

Video Game Animation Class

I'm rerunning my video game animation class this December (Dec 1st-29th)
Hope to see you guys there!

Anim: Hysterical Blindness

Dialogue test I did with the sweet Mery rig. Took about 3 days to complete

Anim: Ballet

New body mechanic shot - rig by Joe Daniels

Acting Reference #81

Great little clip from Jaws. I love Richard Dreyfuss' reaction to Quint singing. He's obviously annoyed with him, but he's not putting on a generic "annoyed" expression. Instead its hidden in a fake smile. There's some great eye darts and mouth changes that let you know he's not happy with the situation. It may be obvious, when animating, that your character should be happy, or sad, or angry...but are they trying to hide this emotion behind another?

Acting Reference #81 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

5 Days Left!

5 days left to sign up for my Animating Creatures for Games class. It starts Monday September 15th! Here's some FAQ I've been getting

So what's this all about/how does it work? 
It's a 3 week class going over workflow techniques for animating various creatures. Week 1 is quadrupeds, then spiders and last dinosaurs. Each week you'll have access to various videos of me going over my entire process for animating these various creatures. Each week there is 1 assignment. You'll follow along with the videos, animate the assignment & post it for critiques.

How long are the videos? 
Each week there is around 10 hours of video content. Each video is around 20 to 40 minutes long.

Can I download the videos? 
Sadly no, we want to make it fair for the people who sign up/pay for the class, so we don't want to risk the videos getting out there for free. But, you have access to the videos for an entire year, so you can rewatch them as many times as you want!

Do you discuss other things besides these topics? 
Absolutely, I have secondary videos going over various things including: Exaggeration, Demo Reel Do's & Don't, Lighting & Rendering, and more! 

When/What is the webinar? 
Each week there is a live webinar. I critique work, animate live, answer questions...who knows what will happen! It is Sundays at 11am EST

What if I can't make it to the webinar? 
No worries, it will be recorded! So I only get critiqued during the webinar? Nope! You'll have access to a forum where you can post your progress and ask any questions. I'll critique your progress ASAP after you post it.

Do I need to be an animation master to sign up? 
No. You need a basic understanding of Maya and the fundamentals of animation, but like I said, I go over the entire process step by step so you can follow along.

Ok, this sounds cool...but what's in it for me?
Well, besides awesome animation knowledge, you get access to an exclusive free rig. Week 2 we animate spiders and there is a sweet spider rig that is provided for this course.

Where do I sign up?! 
Click the image/link below! Hope to see you there!

 

Anim: Feb 11 Second - Spline 02

So...I may have missed the deadline lol
I have a bad tendency to start animations and not finish them...not this time! I'm gonna finish this.
Here's an update - first pass spline. Gotta go through and start cleaning stuff up/polishing it
Feb 11 Sec Club - Spline 02 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #80

Here's a classic piece of reference from The Godfather. Great example of thought process & eye movement.
Acting Reference #80 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Animating Creatures For Games

I'm going to be rerunning my creature animation class this September. We'll be animating quadrupeds, spiders & dinosaurs. Hope you see you there! Click the image to go to the course promo page. And check out some awesome work created by 2 of my previous students.

Alex Alvarez

Alex Alvarez - Spider Reel - April2014 from Alex Alvarez on Vimeo.

Alexander Antoniade

Creature Cycles ( Albertosaurus, Spider and Dog ) from Alexander Antoniades on Vimeo.

Toy Story Midway Mania Reel

Never made a showreel for the Toy Story Midway Mania ride I worked on, most the shots were just sprinkled in my otherdemo reels, so thought I should make one. This isn't all the animation I did for it, but a good chunk of it. Was a blast to work on!
Toy Story Midway Mania Reel from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #79

Here's a clip from Killing Them Softly. I love the reaction Scoot McNairy has when the name "Dylan" is mentioned. It starts subtle but you can clearly see the fear wash over him. Great stuff
Acting Reference #79 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Video Game Animation

I'm rerunning my video game animation class this June (June 9th-July 7th)
Right now there is an early bird special - sign up by Thursday and receive $50 off
Hope to see you guys there!

Anim: Oka with Sound

Played around with adding some sound to this animation I did about 2 years ago.


Oka Free Run with Sound from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #78

Here's another great example of simplicity. Without spoiling too much, in this clip from The Last of the Mohicans Alice has been captured and is being taken away. Uncas, who loves her, is telling his father I'm leaving and going after her. But instead of saying this through dialog, he simply puts his hand on his shoulder and shares a look with him. This is much more powerful that any dialog could have been. There's also nice varied timing in the beats of this shot. Noticing the girl, putting the hand on the shoulder and then looking into his father's eyes.

Acting Reference #78 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Anim: Who Would Be So Bold?

Little personal test for fun using one of the Dota 2 rigs. Pretty happy with result considering its limited controls


Who Would Be So Bold? from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #77

Amazing clip of Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years A Slave. So much raw emotion. Great reference for eye darts, building emotion, thought process. I highly recommend this movie, though extremely intense, it has some wonderful performances in it.


Acting Reference #77 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Last Week For Sign Ups

Last week to sign up for my Animating Creatures For Games class. Check out the animations I'll be creating step by step




Here's the link to sign up! Hope to see you there :)

Acting Reference #76

Nice clip from Searching For Bobby Fischer. Though Ben Kingsley has most the lines, I like how the focus in on the boy. When animating to dialogue, we often just cut to whoever is speaking. Instead of doing this, you should make sure the camera is cutting to what's most important, regardless of who is talking. In this scene for instance, the most important thing is showing the boy struggling, trying to figure out this test. So instead of cutting to the speaker, they kept the focus on him. This movie was shot by the late great Conrad Hall, who in my opinion is the greatest cinematographer ever.


Acting Reference #76 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Anim: Feb 11 Second - Spline 01

Started cleaning up the first part


Feb 11 Sec Club - Spline 01 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Animation Reference #1

So I've been doing Acting Reference on my blog for quite some time, I want to start doing Animation Reference as well. My plan is to add very short shots to really be able to see/analyze what is going in animation wise. So without further ado, here's the first one from Frozen

Anim: Feb 11 Second

If time permits I hope to enter this months competition. Here's first pass blocking



Feb 11 Sec Club - Blocking 02 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #75

Ben Mendelsohn has quickly become one of my favorite actors. Here's a great clip of him in The Place Beyond the Pines. He always just feels so natural and real. I love the shoulder shrug he does and how he licks his lips towards the end. Really excited to see him in Rogue One this winter.

Acting Reference #75 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #74

Short little clip from The World's End. Really like the little head gesture Simon Pegg makes after he says "Newton Haven", has a lot of personality in it. There's also a lot of nice contrasting speed in his movement. He's got some quicker head moves and then a nice slow one at the end. Contrast in speed can add a lot to your shot!

Acting Reference #74 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.