Pointing is not a substitute for acting
- April 3rd, 2009
- Posted in Animation
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Having just voted on more than 100 animations for the March 09 11 Second Club, I’ve noticed an epidemic of “pointing acting” shots. You know the type… every – single – beat – of – the – dialog is punctuated by the character pointing at someone or something.
There’s probably nothing wrong with this type of shot in isolation, but when you’ve seen 80 of the damn things in a row, then it becomes evident that it’s problematic.
The litmus test is this: if it’s the *only* thing going on in your shot, then you’re probably not digging deeply enough into your shot.
Pointing is probably more effective as punctuation – you! cant! punctuate! every! word!@!!@!@ – you end up with a complete lack of contrast, where everything is at the same level.
Which is not to say that you *can’t* have a well placed point or two in your shot. People point in the real world. It can punctuate a line very effectively. You simply need a good reason to do it. Have a look at the Christian Bale Animation Contest that the Spline Doctors recently ran (saucy language alert), for some pointing that feels like it belongs.
Having said all that, I don’t believe that people should be pilloried for ending up with a “pointing acting” shot – it usually means that they’re not as experienced and may be having a hard enough time with the mechanics without worrying about whether they’re falling into cliche. We’ve all been there at some point. So treat them gently (forum flamers and those without tact – this means you), and encourage them to dig deeper next time.
Hey mate, just leaving a comment about ya reel. There’s some nice stuff on there but man you have to drop that music track! It’s so off putting that i struggled to focus on the acting cuz i was constantly pausing and unpausing your piece to find out if the music was on your reel or another tab in my browser or what. Someone wiser than me once said “distraction is the enemy of performance”, and that music is a AAA distraction. Dialogue is fine without any other sounds. Good luck with your work mate, i can really see your progress!”
Regards,
Shannon
hehe yeah I should do that exercise more often, I think this is the only way to train our critical eye.
Regarding your showreel I must agree with Shannon, you should at least start the music at the very begining of the showreel but not right in the middle of the shot. I was also trying to find out where the music was coming from 😉 oh and I think you can drop the last “lantern Jaw guy” shot. I don’t think it brings anything to the showreel.
Where is your 11 second entry I really liked? the one from last month I think?
Olive