Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Our use of our eyes is a major part of performance; eye contact can be very
revealing. The way couples in love gaze into each other's eyes is very different
from the look of a mother to her child, though both examples have their roots
in love.
Public speakers often strive to gain eye contact with many members of
an audience to convey a message directly to them or create the illusion
of personal communication. This kind of direct eye contact is intended to
command attention; it may have the added effect of giving the impression
of confidence where none actually exists, of sincerity where there is none,
and of engaging on a personal level where doing so might be impossible.
However, as we have already seen, direct eye contact may also be perceived
as threatening. Politicians beware.
The study of expression and emotion has been undertaken by a number
of specialists, perhaps none more eminent than the psychologist Paul
Ekman, who developed a system of analyzing human emotions through
facial expressions. His research resulted in the creation of the Facial Action
Coding System (FACS), in which he managed to cover a vast range of facial
expressions using thousands of case studies. Ekman's research extended into
nonverbalized behavior that also included body language as applied to the
analysis of lies and lying. Animators will find his work and the FACS system
to be a very useful and powerful tool in helping them fully appreciate the
flexibility and potential for expressing emotion through behavior.
On a very practical level, animators working with characters will find it very
important to ensure that eye contact is maintained between those characters
that you want to interact. Obviously, the exact nature of the interaction
and level of eye contact depends on the context. The result of characters
that do
not
maintain eye contact is an exchange lacking in believability, a
disconnected performance that has little to do with real engagement. In such
a situation it is difficult to create a connection between the individuals, let
alone warmth of feeling between them.
But it is perhaps through the eyes that we are best able to gain insight
into what an individual is thinking. A person might be saying one thing
but thinking something quite different. As animators, we are best able to
create a performance by tapping into characters' thought processes and the
visualization of those thoughts.
The Thinking Process
It has been claimed that all acting has its roots in and is initiated by the
thought process. As a result of the thinking process, such motivated
movement occurs and transcends reflexive movement. I have written
elsewhere that timing gives meaning to motion. We could expand on this
idea a little and suggest that emotion gives meaning to movement. Such
movements have a motive, they are undertaken for a purpose, and it is this
