The audience believes a character not just when they move, but when they perceive thoughts and emotions in them—which are conveyed through acting, facial performance, and the synchronization of speech with articulation. These skills differentiate a confident animator from a novice and directly influence the success of narrative games, animated films, series, and commercials where characters speak and experience emotions. Animators proficient in acting and facial expression are especially sought after in studios producing cutscenes and cinematic content, and a strong dialogue shot in a demo reel often determines whether the creator receives an offer.

The course begins with a theoretical block: students will examine what acting, lip-syncing, and facial expressions mean in 3D animation, why they are necessary, and what they contribute to the character and the narrative. They will then dive into practical application: learning to build an acting objective for a shot, working with body language and facial performance, animating speech, and transitioning smoothly from one emotion to the next. The final outcome of the course will be a complete dialogue shot featuring a character that integrates acting, precise lip-syncing, and expressive facial animation.

✦ Animators with basic or intermediate experience who wish to transition from motion mechanics to developing character and emotion.
✦ Graduates of foundational 3D animation courses who aim to solidify their skills on more complex tasks.
✦ Animators in game studios who need to confidently produce cutscenes and dialogue sequences.

✦ Formulating the acting task for a shot (goal, emotion, character subtext) and transforming it into an animation plan; ✦ Filming and analyzing personal video references to discover acting solutions; ✦ Animating the character’s body to convey emotion and intention (weight, gesture, shift in thought); ✦ Sculpting facial expressions using a facial rig, working with eyebrows, eyes, eyelids, and facial muscles; ✦ Performing lip-sync: deconstructing the audio track into phonemes and visual speech imagery, and structuring articulation; ✦ Combining dialogue and emotion, ensuring seamless transitions between facial expressions; ✦ Independently creating a complete dialogue shot.

✦ Analysis of acting performance in several scenes from films and animation (class discussion);
✦ Filming video references and developing an animation plan for a selected audio track;
✦ Exercise in conveying emotion through posture and gesture (non-verbal);
✦ Series of facial expression exercises using a facial rig;
✦ Lip-syncing a short line (3–5 seconds) with detailed articulation practice;
✦ Final project: a dialogue shot (10–15 seconds) incorporating acting, facial expression, and lip-sync.

✦ Proficient command of at least one animation package (Blender, Maya, or equivalent);
✦ Knowledge of fundamental animation principles;
✦ Completion of at least one character animation piece