Tuesday 13 December 2011

Thinkings... about Symmetry or 'Twinning'.

Feedback on my first lip sync test was mainly the symmetry of the arm movements. We've been pretty much told to avoid twinning, though I'm not entirely sure why because sometimes people do move symmetrically. Maybe not exactly but enough so that you can't really see much delay or so that their poses are still almost symmetrical. I'm not saying the idea of avoiding it is wrong but it made me look it up in the Animator's Survival Guide (our lovely lovely bible!). The only reason I wondered about it is because a) I'm pretty sure that on occasion I do move my arms pretty much symmetrically and b) the theory that the more symmetrical the human body is the more attractive it's supposed to be. Though that might apply more to the face than anything but surely some of that idea must apply to the rest of the body?

I shall scan the pages tomorrow but basically Richard Williams believes that "symmetry is an expression of harmony, beauty, balance, order and authority..." It's just about how you use it. It gives the example of a politician who will lay down the law with symmetrical movement then break it up when they reach the point, after which they will return to symmetry. Or "the wholeness they're trying to convey" as Richard William puts it.

I watched a clip of one of Tony Blair's speeches and he does indeed, occasionally (possibly due to this speech being just before he stepped down), move his arms in a symmetrical fashion.



Just thinking really... and rambling.

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