Getting References = Fun Time!

Ting Fui
Feb 24, 2017
2 min read

Fun time! Video reference shooting is always the fun part in an animation production. However, before I did that, I went to the digital recording studio in Teesside University to record an audio clip for my project, which is the singing part.

I wanted to choose a song that related to most of the audience, especially recruiters. It was a hard time for me to choose an English song as I used to only listen to Mandarin songs. After I got some recommendation from friends and listened to tons of musics, I decided to go for something popular, nostalgic and dance-able. For example, My Humps by The Black Eyed Peas, I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor and Thriller by Michael Jackson. At last, Stayin' Alive by Bee Gees was chosen as I think it has nice beats and has potential to create a funny animation.

My friend, Han who offered to help me in recording the singing version of Stayin' Alive for me.

During the voice recording, video was recorded as my lip sync reference.

Video reference shooting at Teesside University Soundstage.

Asking for help from different people, I tried to find people that suit my characters to act so that I could get a good reference to study. I also prepared the props earlier so that the actors and actress can perform better. I believe the shooting was done effectively as I briefed them before the shooting and managed to give clear instructions.

During the shooting, I decided to shoot the whole sequence with wide camera shot as I wanted to study the reaction and action of every characters.

Below is the first video reference that I compiled.