Adapted from "Twins and Tangents"
Before beginning to animate, you must take time to select a good dialogue clip for your test. Here are some tips and tricks that will help you get started:
Before beginning to animate, you must take time to select a good dialogue clip for your test. Here are some tips and tricks that will help you get started:
- Do not choose dialogue from an animated film. Because you are just starting out, it is very tempting to use a line of dialogue you're very familiar with. The danger with that is that you will end up copying the original acting the original animator done. You're competing against the original and people will compare it to what the original done.
- Do not choose dialogue from a talk show. Most talk shows have iconic voices, which can be challenging. In addition to that, there are things like canned laughter, applause reels, and other distracting sounds. Lastly, animating straight dialogue can be challenging for beginners.
- Do not choose dialogue from an underground/independent film. Usually those films have a huge nerdy/cult following. Most animators love underground/independent films because they are nerdy movie buffs with a love of film. These can be a tough audience to sell your line to.
- Do not choose dialogue with swearing, vulgarity, or very dark/violent themes. Not only is this very unprofessional (imagine trying to pitch a line of dialogue from a Quentin Tarantino film to a studio like Disney...) but you are also in a school environment. Keep it school appropriate!
- Choose dialogue with good context. It should have a start, middle and end. Having a clip that starts halfway through a sentence or ends partway through a conversation will feel odd. Searching for dialogue that is not only 8-10 seconds, but also fits this requirement may be tricky, but in the end it will be beneficial.