Animating Dialogue
In the lesson today, we went into the details of animating dialogue and lip syncing.
Vowels Define the Shape of Emotion: Approaching Lip Sync
When animating dialogue, it is not just about syncing the mouth to sound, it is about capturing the emotion behind the words. Vowels play a critical role in this; they shape the emotion of the performance. A character does not just say something, they feel it.
Lip Sync as Phrasing, Not Words
Think of dialogue in terms of phrasing rather than individual words. Natural speech blends sounds together. For example, we often say “how’s it going?” as “howzitgoing?” Avoid animating word by word. Instead, animate the flow of thought and speech.
Animate Thought, Not Just Action
Do not animate what the character is doing, animate what they are thinking. Strong performances come from clear intentions. This means using only a few key poses (typically three) that express the character’s inner state. Stay in these poses. Let the performance breathe.
Aaron Blaise, Disney veteran animator, emphasizes this in his approach.
What Makes Up a Sound?
Understanding how we physically produce sound will improve your lip sync. Here are the core elements:
- Tongue
- Lips
- Jaw – Place one hand under your jaw and another on a table. Speak. You’ll feel the subtle movement. The jaw rarely opens abruptly or too wide. Observe carefully.
- Teeth
- Vocal cords
- Nose – Yes, the nose moves too (these subtle movements are typically added during the polish phase).
Phonemes: Variations in Pronunciation
Phonemes are the building blocks of speech, distinct sounds that make up words. Knowing the different pronunciations helps you create accurate and expressive mouth shapes.
Tools & Tips
Software to Download:
- Tween Machine / Anabot – Great for easing poses and automation.
- Chester Sampson – Explore tools and rigs provided by this artist for practice and workflow enhancement.
Voice Acting Blocking
Before diving into blocking for this voice acting animation, I spent extra time refining my reference footage. I wanted a stronger foundation to animate from, but I quickly realized just how challenging referencing can be.
It felt like animating an imaginary face rig on my own face. Beyond just memorizing the dialogue, I had to consciously control every subtle movement: eyebrows, eyes, jaw, nose. Managing all of that simultaneously while staying in character proved to be much harder than I expected. I ended up recording myself over 20 times for a single shot just to capture the right performance.
What stood out to me is how different referencing for animation is compared to everyday conversation or even live-action acting. While it shares some similarities with movie performance, animation requires an added layer of exaggeration and clarity. It is more stylized and cartoonic, and that means the acting needs to be more deliberate.
It is an ongoing process, but every iteration teaches me something new about performance and motion in animation.
This version of my reference is the first major revision I made. However, I noticed the chest movement was too shaky and lacked a clean arc. It didn’t feel snappy or fluid enough. So I recorded another take, aiming for a quicker transition into the second pose and a smoother overall motion. Then I tried to fix this issue, and the second reference seemed better.
For blocking, I decided to take a different approach compared to my previous body mechanics assignment. Last time, I added a lot of keyframes during blocking plus, but I realized that having so many keyframes made it difficult to make adjustments later on.
So for this first version of blocking, I kept it simple and focused only on the key poses. I keyed the main poses and added keyframes primarily when the mouth shape changed. This helped me maintain flexibility and made the shot easier to refine in the later stages.