Acting Choices and Overacting as a Character Trait

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”.

A few weeks ago, I got to watch Micmacs directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and I tell ya, it was a fantastic movie. It was a great story with rich characters and amazing visual style. I don’t know if it’s the French or not, but it also had some very very interesting acting choices so I jotted down a few.

In the scene above, main character Bazil gets to meet the “mother figure” of the Micmacs, Tambouille. She’s cooking so trying not to shake hands, she leans her elbow forward which was something I’ve never seen before but felt quite genuine. I guess that means I’ve seen something similar beforehand so I could relate.

And there was another scene which I thought was very original and oddly entertaining. Below is Bazil whilst homeless, running after a street cleaning car and trying to use it’s water to wash his feet. What a brilliant idea to create interesting pacing (scenes prior were a bit subtle).

When I was looking through to see some other examples of interesting acting choices that stood out, I realized there were a few characters within the movie who overacted quite a bit. So this got me to thinking, how overacting can actually be a character trait. Studying animation, original acting choices is something you hear quite a lot and overacting is usually a big “no-no”. But I realized the characters in Micmacs who were overacting (La Môme Caoutchouc & Calculette) did so in a very convincing way that it added to their characters. I put up some shots below by Calculette which are not necessarily crazy overacting but when done in animation, would’ve most likely been criticized. But I do believe that in Calculette’s situation, this type of acting adds quite a bit to her playful and emotional character, which is almost child-like. Anyhoo, it’s something to think about. Again, watch the movie if you haven’t already.

Over and out.

Using External Factors to Introduce Characters

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”.

Alrighty, here’s something else that caught my eye and I realized it’s very powerful. Most of the character driven examples of visual story-telling, whether it be in movies or tv, seem to let the audience in by slowly introducing the character. We usually see certain shots of them either interacting or reacting to situations/other characters and we slowly get to build an idea of that specific character in our heads. The process of “getting to know the character” and how much we relate to him/her is built through out the movie.
At least this is somewhat the case.

While watching “Devil Wears Prada”; really fun movie btw, some great acting in there; I realized that even before we get to meet the character Miranda (Meryl Streep), let alone see her, we form a strong idea about her character. And this is all done using external factors, other characters and how they react to her.

There’s a 2 minute scene, which is below, where they get the news that she’s arriving at the office and all hell breaks loose trying to ready everything for her with no mistakes. I think this is a great way to introduce a character without actually introducing them and try and build a first impression for the audience. Watching that scene, you’re already familiar with her and her character which leads to higher expectations. Higher expectations in the sense that, you already have an idea of what she might be like, given to you using the external factors and you expect her character to be that way. And in this example, it’s a perfect match because the performance is delivered brilliantly.

Thought it was an interesting point.
Over and out.

confessions of a superhero.  a really nice and interesting documentary.  i’m starting to get into documentaries with all the variety out there that i had no idea about.  it’s on instant watch on netflix.  check it out

confessions of a superhero. a really nice and interesting documentary. i’m starting to get into documentaries with all the variety out there that i had no idea about. it’s on instant watch on netflix. check it out

Acting Choices and Overacting as a Character Trait
Using External Factors to Introduce Characters

about:

hello.
i'm aziz.
i'm a character animator who lives in london.

these are my daily musings about my work and the stuff that i find interesting done by others.

you can reach my animation portfolio from here, if you want to that is.

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