by John Swanson

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Product Title: "Action! Acting Lessons for CG Animators "
Authors: John Kundert-Gibbs and Kristin Kundert-Gibb
ISBN: 9780470224735
Published: May 2009
Level: Beginner/Intermediate
Current Pricing: $49.99
Site: Wiley Computer Graphics Books

From the website :
"John Kundert-Gibbs is an associate professor of Animation in the Theatre and Film Studies Department at the University of Georgia. He is the author of numerous books on Maya and 3D animation.

Kristin Kundert-Gibbs is assistant professor of Acting and Voice in the Theatre and Film Studies Department at the University of Georgia and has worked as an actress, producer, director, and vocal coach.

In order to bring a character to life, it is beneficial for animators to have a solid understanding of acting principles and this book examines the important skills behind the artistry of creating animated characters. With a particular emphasis on a character’s motions and movement, this unique resource covers the basic elements of acting for CG animation and then progresses to more advanced topics such as internal intent and motivation"

If you are like me and have an interest in the techniques of acting I think you will get a lot out of this book. If you also happen to be a character animator searching for ways to improve your craft, this may be one of the sources you check out.

Some of the best reasons why this book might be of interest to an animator are found right at the beginning of the book in its introduction.

From the book:
“As an animator you are basically doing the job of an actor—just very slowly. You are creating a living, breathing character that tells a story, shares an experi¬ence, and moves an audience. Your character becomes "animated" with the body, voice, and emotions you breathe into it. This process is similar to what an actor goes through when creating a role, so you need to understand the process of creating a realistic charac¬ter on the screen from the actor's perspective as well as from the perspective of the CG artist in order to create the most compelling characters possible.

This book is a synthesis of the fields of acting and animation, a guidebook for you, the animator, who most likely has more training in the technique of animating (motion, keyframing, solid drawing, and the like) than in the process of developing a character with emotion, intent, and a through line (a driving desire that the character has). Within these pages you will discover secrets actors spend years (and often lots and lots of money) learning—and how to apply these secrets directly to animation. Rather than having to read a number of books on acting and animating and figuring out how to put them together yourself, this book is purpose-built just for you: the animator who wants to understand how to create more powerful, compelling characters utilizing the advanced techniques stage and screen actors have perfected over the years."

Of course how well they accomplish that is the subject of this review. I thought that this book, along with the DVD, provided a good look at the tools the actor taps into when developing a character. The authors are successful at conveying this information in a way that an animator can put this knowledge to use. One way they do this is by providing two rigs to use in the exercises in the book.

As an animator you want the audience to connect with your character and the best way to do this is for that character to give a convincing performance. This book exposes you to a number of the tricks and thought processes actors call upon to ‘become’ the character they are portraying.

Let me say right off that I think these two authors, one from the acting world, and one from the animation world, give this book a unique perspective. The collective talents of each were distilled in such a way as produce a worth while, and very readable text on the subject.

The book starts off with an explanation on what acting is. This is done through the discussion of the history of acting – bringing us through the different styles of the theater through the ages. Then we get an idea of what an actor is, and how they prepare themselves for their work. By written instructions and visual demonstrations on the DVD we are led through the exercises an actor may use to relax and prepare the body before they even begin to create a character. I suggest that you physically go through these exercises, as well as the other exercises throughout the book. For the purpose of this review I did go them. I am glad I did. You should take the time to do them because it is the only way to really connect to the process. It was really an eye opener.

In the second chapter we get a history of animation. I don’t know about you but I read the history of animation one more time I don’t know what I’ll do. Actually this is brief and not all that bad. I just wonder about the necessity of this topic in this book. I must say that this chapters review and explanation on the Disney12 Principles of animation is one of the best I’ve read. Rigging is covered here and I should mention that the two models provided are Maya models and rigging. Walk cycles and facial animation exercises finish out this section.

I feel that Chapters 3 through 9 are the real meat and potatoes of this book. This is where I got a lot of useful information that I feel I can put to good use. The subjects found here that I had some passing knowledge of were brought into focus for me. I am glad I have been introduced to the other topics. There really is a lot to this acting thing. I like the way the authors give us examples of characters from popular films and TV shows that we should all be familiar with.

For instance in the very informative Bioenergetics chapter we are given the description of the Schizoid character. That type, in its entire evil glorification, is brought to life when they site Heathe Ledgers work in The Dark Knight, or Hans Gruber in Die Hard. An example of a good schizoid is Tony Shalhoub portrayal of Monk in that series. You get the idea…

Chapter 6 covers Michael Chekhov’s contribution to the acting profession. Here we are offered a whole host of techniques and ideas to use in our animations. The Essences topic in chapter 7 was little harder to grasp perhaps because of its abstract nature. I mean drawing inspiration from natural objects like mountains or animals like donkeys is hard to buy into but through the illustration given in the book as well as on the DVD it all makes sense in the end.

The book ends with the chapters on voice over acting and lip synch and facial acting. I found both to be informative discussions on each of these subjects. I can see why they were included her.

I think this is a resource that would be good to have at hand when looking for the best way to breathe life into your animated character. Learning the vocabulary of acting can only help you. This look under the hood of acting illuminates many secrets of the professional actor. More than half of the contents in this book I have not come across before in an animation book. I consider myself pretty well read when it comes to animation.

If there are any cons to this book they are far out weighed by the pros. The topics are presented in a clear way with plenty of illustrations. I especially like the inclusion of the diagrams illustrating the bioenergetics concepts. Using a six pointed “character” star we are given a good representation of the forces that make up the psychopath, oral, masochist, the rigid character, etc.

If you are interested in improving your character animation I feel this book will help you. Even if you don’t take my suggestion to do the acting exercises found in the book, you should still walk away with some solid ideas on acting that you can incorporate in your work. I suggest you do the exercises – they were fun.

These are the topics covered and the order they appear in the book :

1. What Is Acting?

2. Foundations of Animation.

3. Stanislavski's System.

4. Commedia dell'Arte.

5. Bioenergetics.

6. Using the Work of Michael Chekhov in Animation.

7. Essences.

8. Laban.

9. Alba Emoting.

10. Voice Performance for Voice-Overs.

11. Lip Synch and Facial Performance.

Here is the full table of contents :

Introduction

Chapter 1 What Is Acting?
A Brief History of Acting
How an Actor Works How Acting Relates to the Animator
Beginning Acting Exercises

Chapter 2 Foundations of Animation
What Is Animation?
Why Animate?
A Brief History of Animation
The Disney 12 Principles
Facial versus Body Animation
The Facial Action Coding System
Rigging in a Nutshell
Animation Exercises

Chapter3 Stanislavski's System
The Beginning of His Life in Art
The Moscow Art Theatre
The System
Exercises in Stanislavski's Method

Chapter 4 Commedia dell'Arte
Acting Commedia
The Characters
Relating Commedia Characters to Animation
Commedia Acting Exercises
Animation Exercises

Chapter 5 Bioenergetics
Energy
Character
Bioenergetics Acting Exercises
Bioenergetics Animation Exercises

Chapter 6 Using the Work of Michael
Chekhov in Animation
Michael Chekhov
The Chekhov Technique
Exercises Using the Michael Chekhov
Technique
Using the Michael Chekhov Technique
in Animation

Chapter 7 Essences
What Is an Essence?
Exercises for Understanding Essences
Using Essences with Animation

Chapters 8 Laban Effort Analysisv Rudolf Laban
The Effort Shapes
Exercises to Use Laban's Movement
Categories in Acting
Creating Laban Effort Shapes in
Animated Characters

Chapter 9 v Alba Emoting
Development of Alba Emotingv
The Patterns
Alba Emoting for Inanimate Characters
Exercises to Create Alba Emoting Patterns
Exercises for Creating Alba Patterns in
Animated Characters

Chapter 10 « The Voice and Voice-Over Acting
What Is a Voice-Over?
How the Voice Works
Working On Your Voice
Developing Your Character Voices
The Voice-Over Session

Chapter 11 Creating Lip Sync and Facial Performance for Voiced Characters
"Reading" Audio Performances
Capturing Audio (and Video) for
Voice-overs
Creating Lip Sync
Exercises in Lip-Synced Facial Animation

Appendix

About the Companion DVD

Index


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