Into animation? Here's a #toptip from the studio via our Animator Scott Ramsay - this one's about getting your reference footage right.

Scott: You need to get your reference right, don’t build a house on sand!

You want to get your acting choices right in reference because you don’t want to waste hours animating your poses based on poor acting choices and have to start all over. It's important to have a good foundation to base your work on.

I would recommend sharing the reference footage you film with your peers for feedback. It's easy to be shy when acting in front of the camera and then daunting to share it with folk but your reference is what you build your animation from and you need to get it right!

So learn to share it and get constructive feedback on your acting choices etc. and you’ll stop getting embarrassed and enjoy it more.

You can improve your acting for a scene by answering a few questions about the character you're portraying and remembering what happened in the previous scene as that would affect your current scene. Here are some questions to ask before acting out your scene:

What makes this character unique?

What aspects of their personality do you want to make clear to the audience?

What happened before the shot?

What do they want?

Why do they want it?

What is stopping them from getting to their goal?

How do you want the audience to feel watching the shot?

Describe their personality:

List ideas on how to visually show the audience who they are:

You can also join a theatre group or an improv class to help improve your acting and boost your confidence!