Planning the "Phone Booth Man" Pantomime Shot

 

Animators need to tell a story without words, to create "pantomime" animation. The art of pantomime is that the audience should understand the story being told without words.   In the example above, by Joshua Reynolds, Joshua tackles the "Phone Booth" exercise, in which the animator must tell the story of a phone call silently, just using body language and expressions, communicating to the audience what the character is thinking and feeling. Start by thinking about the story you want to tell. Then, act it out, draw some thumbnail sketches, and pose out the shot. Make sure the character poses tell the story clearly. 

Planning The Phone Booth Shot

Pantomime animation with "Kayla" by Joris Van Laar

There are six steps to planning the "Phone Booth" shot:
1. Think about the shot; what is the story you want to tell? Write down the conversation. 
2. Act it out. Film your self acting out the scene, and use this footage to find the key poses.
3. Draw thumbnail sketches based either on your imagination or (best of all) on your acting. Make sure the thumbnail sketches tell the story of the shot. 
4. Use your thumbnail sketches to create your key poses in Maya.
5. Break down your key poses (the Tween Machine is very useful for this) by adding breakdowns.

6. Spline and refine.

Phone Booth Animation by Nick Dimitriadis

1. Think About Your Shot

Tell the story in thumbnail sketches

Think about the shot. Write down the story as a conversation between two people. What are they saying? To see why animators need to tell a story, read this blog post.

2. Act it Out

Film your self acting out the scene. We recommend this inexpensive tripod to film yourself acting out the shot.  To see why animators need to be actors, and how to use live action for animation, read this blog post. 

3. Draw Thumbnail Sketches 

Draw small sketches based on your imagination or (best of all) on your acting.  Make sure the thumbnail sketches tell the story of the shot.  We have lots of blog posts on the importance of thumbnail sketches. 

4. Use Your Thumbnail Sketches to Create Key Poses

Import your thumbnail sketches onto an image plane in Maya, and start making poses on Stepped Curves. To see more about Stepped Curves and how to use them, read this blog post.  At this point your animation might look something like this:

Phone Booth Blocking on Stepped Curves by Nick Dimitriades

5. Break Down Your Key Poses 

Now you need to add Breakdown poses. The Tween Machine is a very useful tool for this you can find the updated version of the Tween Machine here. To see how to use the Tween Machine, read this blog post.

6. Spline and Refine

Phone Booth pose by Nick Dimitriades

Now you need to refine your shot on Spline curves. To find out more, read this blog post. 

Phone Booth Tutorial

To see the Phone Booth tutorial, watch the videos below:

Phone Booth Part 1

https://vimeo.com/887979215

Phone Booth Part 2

https://vimeo.com//887979378

Phone Booth Part 3

https://vimeo.com/887979498

Planning and Blocking Animation

To see more resources on Planning and Blocking Animation, read these posts:

• How to plan a Dialogue Shot
• How to block out and plan Creature Animation
• How to use the Tween Machine
• Why Thumbnail Sketches need Facial Expressions
• How do Pixar Animators plan their shots?
• Pixar Animation Workflow with Mike Makarewicz
• "Little Mermaid" Thumbnails by Ruben Aquino
• Lipsync & Dialogue Tutorial
• Why animators Need Snappy Timing

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