Animate a "Take" Reaction with "Monty"

Animate a "take" with Monty

In this tutorial, we show how to animate a reaction shot, or "take" with Monty.  Reaction shots are the bread-and-butter of junior animators. On a feature film, once you have graduated from walk cycles and crowd shots, you get given reaction shots to test your skills.

A reaction shot is where animators first start to get to grips with acting and performance.  Just like live-action actors, animated characters on a screen must listen - and react.

Monty "Take"
 

Animate a reaction shot with "Monty"

Animating a "Take"
An exaggerated reaction shot is called a "take". There is a large section in the Animator's Survival Kit on takes, for good reason. 

The starting point for a take is always a series of rough sketches or thumbnail drawings to help plan out the key poses and the timing of the action.

Animate a "Take" with "Monty"

We suggest animating a simple take with the "Monty" rig (which you can read about here)".  Follow the thumbnails above, starting with frame 1, and ending at frame 49 - two seconds of animation.

Monty

Monty is a great rig to learn animation, very robust and simple to use. You can read all about Monty here.

Tutorial Videos

Monty reacts

You can find the "Monty" Reaction shot tutorial below:

Monty Take Part 1

https://vimeo.com/833358261

Monty Take Part 2

https://vimeo.com/833358501

Monty Take Part 3

https://vimeo.com/833358902

Monty Take Part 4

https://vimeo.com/833611514

Monty "Take" by Pernille Kjaer

Below is an imaginative Monty "take" by Pernille Kjaer.

 

Monty "Take" with Joris Van Laar

Below is a "take" animated by Joris Van Laar

Monty "Take" with Morten Anderson

In this clip Morten imagines Monty as a sleepy soldier on the parade ground.

Monty "Take" with Evgenia Golubeva

To find out more about Animation Apprentice, click here for a link to Frequently Asked Questions. To sign up for our November 5th classroom at Animation Apprentice, follow this link.