lip synching made EASY(er) - a quick tutorial

Gepetto · Post by **Gepetto** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 7:55 pm

That's two. One more and you're out.

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 8:57 pm

I've actually found that to get a 'true' looking lipsync for straight up dialogue, you just wing it, throwing in mouth movements and then fixing up what doesn't look right, isntead of doing it all from scratch. This is because when they voice an anime they do NOT actually match a mouth movement to every syllable and pause, so you get an equal looking result.

I honestly think that when you do match every syllable it looks over worked and unnatural.

...But that was what I learned doing trailers. Whole nother animal when singing. Miss one syllable, sound or pause, looks like you have a robot randomly flapping its lips to the lyrics. Totally unnatural looking. x.x

downwithpants · Post by **downwithpants** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 9:17 pm

some more advice:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... p?p=755902

my input:
synching lips is only 50% of the recipe to making the character look like she's vocalizing the words. the other 50% is body language.

also, it's generally not a good idea to show a stationary lip synch scene for more than 5-7 seconds.

oh yeah, if you're interested in becoming a mod, speak with paizuri. we could use an extra pair of eyes.

AMV_4000 · Post by **AMV_4000** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 10:06 pm

DJ_Izumi wrote:I've actually found that to get a 'true' looking lipsync for straight up dialogue, you just wing it, throwing in mouth movements and then fixing up what doesn't look right, isntead of doing it all from scratch. This is because when they voice an anime they do NOT actually match a mouth movement to every syllable and pause, so you get an equal looking result.

I honestly think that when you do match every syllable it looks over worked and unnatural.

...But that was what I learned doing trailers. Whole nother animal when singing. Miss one syllable, sound or pause, looks like you have a robot randomly flapping its lips to the lyrics. Totally unnatural looking. x.x

normally i would disagree with anything you say just to be a prick... but i have to agree with you... this is something i didnt like in videos such as Quid Pro Quo... they look like robots... like puppets... but... hey, to each their own....

Scintilla · Post by **Scintilla** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 10:16 pm

AMV_4000 wrote:
DJ_Izumi wrote:I've actually found that to get a 'true' looking lipsync for straight up dialogue, you just wing it, throwing in mouth movements and then fixing up what doesn't look right, isntead of doing it all from scratch. This is because when they voice an anime they do NOT actually match a mouth movement to every syllable and pause, so you get an equal looking result.

I honestly think that when you do match every syllable it looks over worked and unnatural.

...But that was what I learned doing trailers. Whole nother animal when singing. Miss one syllable, sound or pause, looks like you have a robot randomly flapping its lips to the lyrics. Totally unnatural looking. x.x
normally i would disagree with anything you say just to be a prick... but i have to agree with you... this is something i didnt like in videos such as Quid Pro Quo... they look like robots... like puppets... but... hey, to each their own....

I think it depends on how flappy it looks... which can sometimes result from having only one frame of a position before moving to the next, as was already mentioned above, or from closing the mouth after each syllable, which was also already mentioned above.
I don't know if Mckeed still pays attention to the fora, but to use him as an example, I remember commenting in 2004 how his lip synch videos always looked too flappy, because the mouths just moved too fast... however, I saw his latest Naruto parody at AnimeNEXT this year, and it still had that same look to it.

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Sun Oct 22, 2006 10:42 pm

Could that be an issue of the facial expression and such of the character not maching the lyrics or words he's saying?

iamfanboy · Post by **iamfanboy** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 2:17 am

AMV_4000: But motion lip synching is something I haven't done yet; how can I do a guide on it?

Maybe it'll come up in my next video; I can already think of a spot where it might well be useful.

Generally speaking (not always, obviously, or the problem would never come up, but generally) animators would try to avoid that sort of thing - it isn't as though their budget is infinite. ^^; I can imagine, though, that our doing it would simply be a matter of care and careful attention to detail, in using overlays and going step by step to make sure that it looks right.

Geppetto: I think I'll do that. It'll take me a while, though, and I need to garner some more information from what these guys think (thanks for your input, fellas!)

DJ Izumi: The significant problem is that most amateurs tend to assume that the default mouth stance is 'closed', so when they try to do it they're so hung-up on the closed-mouth frames that they can't even think it isn't right. And winging it is inherent in the idea of only needing three mouth positions - technically speaking, there's something like seven or ten different basic ways the mouth can be positioned when talking (I forget), but animators generally don't stress it so we don't have to either. ^_^

And body language wasn't something that I felt like covering, because it can be such a tricky thing. Fer example, in the frames I chose, Naruto is lip synching, "And this is for the ones who stood their ground" which suits both the posture and the actual content of the original scene.

But here's my verbose verbiage on it:

Lip synching is just a TOOL. It won't make a bad video good; however, it can make a good video bad. Don't do it TOO much unless that's the point of your piece; try to make it so that it the lip synching is an unusual moment and heightens the tension.

There aren't any hard-and-fast rules, but the most vital skill for an editor to possess is the ability to watch the same video over and over again, seeing what doesn't work, and not being afraid to change it. Don't say to yourself, "They'll understand it, they have to", "I can't do any better than this", or any other excuses. If the lip synching doesn't fit, if it doesn't enhance the mood and is just suddenly jarring and ugly, don't be afraid to cut it out. One of my favorite Sailor Moon AMVs to Smile.dk's "Future Girls" is almost ruined because the editor put in some absolutely wretched lip synching.

Maybe I'm a mutant, but even after two weeks of listening to almost nothing but "It's My Life" and watching my video over and over, I STILL like it and STILL want to watch it. I can't see why everyone can't do that...

DJ_Izumi · Post by **DJ_Izumi** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 10:54 am

http://rapidshare.com/files/375741/lipsync.avi.html

I found another way to cheat static scenes into looking better.

dj_ultima_the_great · Post by **dj_ultima_the_great** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 3:23 pm

downwithpants wrote:oh yeah, if you're interested in becoming a mod, speak with paizuri. we could use an extra pair of eyes.

/me offers

o.o

Moonie · Post by **Moonie** » Mon Oct 23, 2006 3:35 pm

downwithpants wrote: oh yeah, if you're interested in becoming a mod, speak with paizuri. we could use an extra pair of eyes.

Im interested in this...
I probally could handle it since im around here alot anyways ^_^
How would i contact paizuri?