As of writing this post, we have finished with our lip sync animation. I’ll attach it below;

Our animation was met with mostly positive responses. We were complimented on our sound design, as each noise was carefully selected and matched the character’s actions well, and the overall soundscape was believable and harmonious with the visuals. We were also complemented on the interaction between our characters, as they were expressive with their actions matching their words and tones, and they matched each other well by reacting to what each other were staying (e.g. the girl laughing at the boy’s ironic comment, the boy pulling an awkward expression after the girl gets excited about money, etc.)

Our criticisms were mostly to do with our lack of scene changes; the camera angle and setting never really changed once the two characters started talking, so it got a bit stale. We were advised to use more moments like the cutaway with the exploding car, as they kept the scene from getting too still and long. In future, I’ll consider the shot composition more during the storyboarding stage, so that I can ensure nothing lasts for longer than it should or becomes too repetitive.

Overall, I’ve learned a lot through this elective; I had never lip synched an animation before, and it turned out to not be as daunting as I thought it would be. This was also the first time I went through the full process of pre production for an animation; initial designs and research, character designing, storyboarding and then animation, and it was useful to experience what the workflow is like as I can plan things more appropriately in the future now. I’ll work hard to improve on varying camera angles, and I’ll practice the new skills I’ve picked up.