Disclaimer: Lately I don’t get much of a chance to discuss about animation and acting so I figured I might discuss here on the blog, an “out-loud thinking” if you will. These are merely some of my observations and things that stick to my mind about acting and animation so none of it should be taken as if “set on stone”.

Gear change or change of emotion in character was one of the very fundamental things we were taught. Most of the time, it’s given as an assignment to show emotion change in a character and then as an animator, you are expected to implement it into certain shots/scenes and make it work as the story keeps going. You’re supposed to show thought process and change of emotion while melting it with the rest of the scene so it doesn’t come across disconnected; both from the scene and the character.

And this is true for good acting we’re objected to, audience usually doesn’t mention a specific emotion change but rather a scene with great emotion and believability. But while watching The Office, one the greatest shows out there for character-driven acting, I came across a scene by Dwight Schrute (Rainn Wilson) which could almost be defined as the inception of gear change shots: a gear change within a gear change within a gear change within a … and I thought it was share-worthy so here we go. Attention though, it’s quite spoiler-ish from now onwards.

Below is a little scene from the episode where Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is leaving Dunder Mifflin and Dwight is annoyed at Michael for not recommending Dwight for his position. We see Michael hand him a letter, which turns out to be a letter of recommendation and the whole scene is Dwight realizing that the letter is actually a very heartfelt genuine letter.

Honestly here is some great acting of Dwight being sarcastic/annoyed in the beginning and as he keeps reading the letter, he realizes that it actually is meant to be very heartfelt so he gets teary eyed but tries to maintain opposed. Though he totally gives in once he hears about the paint-ball proposal. We see him reading a bit and then looking at the camera, making remarks and sarcastic comments about what he’s reading. The eye connection he keeps making with the audience shows that he’s not caring so much about what he’s reading and really emphasizes the situation.

As he keeps reading, we see him get more and more immersed into what he’s reading, reaching a point where he tears up and doesn’t make eye contact at all. Also the timing of the whole shot is a perfect addition to the acting to show gear change. In the beginning, it’s all quick movements, quick reading and there’s some great texture in timing & holds as it gets slower and slower almost reaching a still point as he gets emotional. This also helps because we’re not able to see his eyes so the timing of him reading helps make it very clear.

Towards the end of the emotional part of the scene, there’s a great tiny gesture, a lip-purse which again is a very good way of communicating with the audience. Since we can’t see the eyes, the lip-purse shows him trying to pull himself together and maintain his stand about the whole situation as it was in the beginning, mad and annoyed at Michael but he can’t. Until he sees the little card that invites him to paint-ball which is a 180 degree turn-around in his emotional state. He get joyous, we get eye contact, fast movements, and off he goes. This shot really stood out to me as a very complex gear change scene and wanted to share it. Oh and, The Office is a must watch for character studies.

I think it’s about time I tried paint-ball, seeing how happy Dwight gets :)

Over and out.