I’ve talked a bit about thought process in previous posts, like here. Now I thought I’d share an example that always shoots to my mind. The example comes from a film called A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum. It is a very silly film, but it has some GREAT moments (particularly for animators). The acting is very exaggerated and very clearly shows thought process through facial expressions.

In the following scene, we have various characters disguised as other characters. One man in particular has been disguised as a leper, a gymnast, and, at the moment, a bride. In this clip a violent captain, who is trying to figure out what is going on, realizes the person he is addressing is not the beautiful bride he expected…

(A bit of trivia, the old man with the wide brim blue hat is the one and only Buster Keaton- famed silent filmmaker, like Charlie Chaplin)

Here I broke down some minor thought “beats” :

1.  To me this pose reads:

“Something is wrong here…”

2.

“Disgusting!”

3.

“I’m in danger!”

4.

“HELP ME!”

5.

“I will KILL someone for this!”

Much of the entertainment comes from the character showing his thoughts with his body. Here are some more clips I like from the film:

Love Clip

Pretty self-explanatory. I just adore the way the younger character’s face lights up when asked about his love.

Might Win Clip

Again, no need for much context. The emotion change when he says “you might win” is great. (The woman in the background is pretending to be a statue… you have to see the movie)

Gladiator Training Clip

Here I really like the sincerity of the gladiator’s self satisfaction. You just feel it beam out of his smile.

Enjoy!

-Tom

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 23rd, 2008 at 11:12 pm and is filed under Acting, Animation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.