One of the first dialogue exercises tackled by students at Escape Studios is how to animate a character speaking a line of dialogue – but with no mouth. Students almost always look skeptical at this idea – how can you animate Lipsync – with no lips?
The answer, of course, is that it’s all in the acting and the performance. If the body language is working, then the audience will believe that the character is speaking – even if the character itself has no mouth.
Lipsync with Monty
Lipsync with “Monty” by Rich Jeffrey
In Rich’s animation, the body language communicates the dialogue, even though Monty has no mouth. This is the secret with all Lipsync – get the acting right, and the Lipsync will follow. In fact, many animators leave the Lipsync until (almost) the very end of a shot, focusing their efforts instead on the acting and performance.
Dialogue Shot with No Lipsync by Charlie Aitken
To see another example of a dialogue shot using a character with no mouth, see the example by Charlie Aitken below:
We have many resources at Escape Studios on animating dialogue and lipsync. To find out more, follow the links below:
Lipsync Tutorials
Vimeo and Panopto Tutorial Channels
The Escape Studios Tutorial Libraries (Vimeo and Panopto) are our main hubs for our animation and VFX video tutorials, making it easy for our students to find tutorials to support their classroom studies.
Our tutorials cover Animation, 3D VFX, Compositing, Rigging, Motion Graphics, Storyboarding & Character Design, Unreal Engine and Cinematography. Many hundreds of tutorials can be found at our Vimeo and Panopto Libraries.
The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects.
