Acting Reference #98

Great reaction shot of Sam Neill in Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Lots of nice eye darts & expression changes. This was one of my favorite movies of the year, definitely recommend checking it out.

Acting Reference #97

Jake Gyllenhaal gave an outstanding performance in Nightcrawler, if you haven't seen it check it out! I love how in this particular scene he is constantly moving closer & closer to camera. This creates a great sense of unease and tension. Think about where your characters are when you animate and how you can use their position to further to further tell the story.

Acting Reference #97 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

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Acting Reference #96

If you haven't done it already, check out Stranger Things on Netflix. It has some of the best kid performances I've seen in years. I especially love the work of Millie Bobby Brown who plays Eleven. She does such an amazing job of emoting so much in a very subtle believable way. The moment she opens the music box is a perfect example of this. The shoulder movement, breathing in, her brow expressions. It's all so expressive and readable, yet subtle and not over the top.

Acting Reference #96 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

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Acting Reference #95

Great performance and emotion from Ruby Dee in American Gangster. I especially love the intensity in her last line of dialogue "I will leave you". Take note of the finger point she uses during this line - instead of it being in sync/in line with the dialogue, it comes at the end of her delivery, almost as if its an exclamation point....great stuff.

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Acting Reference #94

Some great exaggerated facial expressions from Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny.

Acting Reference #94 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

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Acting Reference #93

Here's a great example of using composition and character positioning to further tell a story. From Back To the Future.


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Acting Reference #92

Another great example of working within a pose from Fargo. When the guy talking mentions "Mrs Mora" he gestures behind him with his thumb out. Watch how long he stays within this pose. If one was animating this line, it would have been very tempting to have him make more gestures after this. When creating your keys, try a pass with as few as possible and see if you can make it work.

Acting Reference #92 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #91

I'm posting this clip from The Piano because it shows off some really nice body mechanics. Most my clips involve acting, but I want to get into posting some more involving mechanics as well. The shot of the girl dancing is just gorgeous. It has a great carefree and childlike quality to it. Definitely check out this movie as it has some great performances in it as well, especially from Anna Paquin & Holly Hunter.

Acting Reference #90

Short little clip from Ex Machina (great acting in this, check it out!)
I really like the small facial expression Oscar Isaac makes when he exhales. And the hand gesture he makes towards Domhnall Gleeson is very nice. Often when we think of gesturing towards a second character, the finger point is the first thing that comes to mind, but there are many different ways to gesture towards someone.

 

Acting Reference #89

Time to start getting excited for Star Wars! Love the hesitation Alec Guinness has before answering Luke. This is a very tough question to answer and that definitely shows before his line delivery. When animating, make sure your characters are thinking...even when they are not speaking

 

Acting Reference #88

Classic shot of Robert De Niro in Goodfellas. In this shot - SPOILERS - De Niro is coming to the conclusion that he's going to have to kill a member of his crew.

I want to talk about his eye focus/direction. Often when we look at things, and especially people, we're not able to look directly at them for long periods of time. When animating, we often make our characters dart their eyes around, not focusing on things for too long to make it feel more real. But look at this example. Though his eyes are looking around, once they focus on something they stay locked. De Niro's character in Goodfellas is a very intense person who commands respect. When he looks at someone, he stares directly at them, no eyes darts looking away. He's commanding respect/daring someone to challenge him. It's like how a predator would look around a room, and that's what he is...a predator. Keep in mind who your character is and how that changes how they look at things in their world.

Acting Reference #87

Nice clip from Hanna. I really like the swallow the guy does before he delivers his last line. Breathing and swallowing are details that are often overlooked in animation and they can really plus up your shot.


Acting Reference #87 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #86

Absolutely amazing clip of Joaquin Phoenix in The Master. I love the slow build of tension in his face - starting extremely calm, with very little movement and gradually building to very tense with quick movements. Excellent reference for anyone working on close up dialogue shots

Acting Reference #85

I love this clip of Ellen Burnstyn in Requiem For A Dream. She's obviously upset/emotion during this scene, but she's smiling during most of it. Just cause your character is upset, doesn't mean they necessarily have to have a frowny face. Sad does not always equal :(


Acting Reference #85 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

Acting Reference #84

Here's a nice clip from Rudy. A lot of great eye reference from Charles S Dutton (another great underrated actor). Very interesting double & half blinks. I saved out a gif to really show what was going on there. There's no one universal way to blink, and changing up the timing/speed can convey all sorts of different emotions.

Acting Reference #84 from Kyle Kenworthy on Vimeo.

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.

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.

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.

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.