Some GREAT people reference

I promised myself I wouldn’t do the apology for not blogging/podcasting, so forget it. I’ve been working. 🙂

On a little break I came across these clips that I just had to share. Each and every one of them is a goldmine of reference, containing those juicy moments that would challenge any animator. They’re clips of people discovering how to play the new Nintendo Wii. They are put in this room and given the controllers with no instruction. The range of emotions is beautiful to watch, and many times I found myself smiling as much as the people on screen. I hope you’re as captivated as I am by their expressions, body language, and reactions to their discoveries.

I found myself so immediately engaged in watching these people and it reminded me of the Freddy Moore quote from The Illusion of Life:

They love to see the drawings move and the characters think! Remember that! It’s what they like to see in our scenes. It’s what they liked with Fergy’s Pluto, you know. We should always let them see the characters think!

It’s also an ingenious bit of advertising to not focus on the graphics and tech, but on the people enjoying the game. Isn’t that what really matters anyhow? What a great way to sell the darned things.

Enough blabbing. I’ve got more work to do.
Click here to watch and study. I wish there was a way to save these.

My favorite clip is the Japanese couple. The woman’s reactions are priceless!

16 Comments on “Some GREAT people reference

  1. thanks so much for sharing those videos Clay. i enjoyed all of them. also makes me want to buy a wii when it comes out. thanks as well for the great quote. i really have to sit down and read that book sometime. at the moment i’m doing an animation for class and that’s a great little tidbit to keep in mind.

    can’t wait for the next podcast!
    cheers,
    ngn

  2. Awesome Ref.
    I love the reactions.
    If people are being filmed and they get lost in playing the game, you know you have a successful thing on your hands.
    I like how the French Gal really gets into it.
    Voila!

    Here is another great piece of reference and the physics behind it.
    By Popular Science.
    Tumbling amateur pole dancer.

    http://popsci.typepad.com/popsci/2006/10/flight_of_the_p.html

  3. Awesome stuff! The most interesting ones are the ones where you can see those people have never played a computer game before in their lives. Like the japanese couple. Thanks a lot!

    And Matthew, why don’t you share that with the rest of us?

  4. sure thing. I was going to give Clay a chance to do something with them first. If he wanted to post them on the blog or something. But your right. I should’ve provided to the link in the meantime. sorry. I blame the early morning sleepy eyeball that was dominating my direction.

    here goes.

    http://bishoplynx.net/images/People_Ref/

  5. I know the real reason why you like these clips.

    the hot girls!!!

    oh yeah and the great clips. this is definately a nice study for anyone creating real characters for our industry.

    thanks for the post.

  6. Mugattu – Buy the book! NOW! You’ll never regret it. If you get it through the “Shop” link at the top of this page I can finally retire with the cash kickback I’ll receive.

    Irk – I saw that other clip after I mentioned this one and considered posting that one too. Thanks for adding the link. I REALLY like the idea of that one too – the analysis, not the clip, though that clip ain’t too shabby neither if you know what I’m sayin’. Everyone should look at that one too. I wish there was a way to just subscribe to those clips instead of reading all the popsci posts every week. Not enough time in the day!

    Matthew – You rock! I won’t be able to get to them until next week, so hopefully you’ll still have them up. That’s very generous of you to do that. Any tips on how us mortals can do the same type of capture in the future? I probably will leave the hosting to you if you don’t mind. Hopefully if people want the clips, they’ll get them soon.

    Benjamin – good to hear from you again. How’s the AM this semester?

    Dave – You got me! I guess it didn’t take too much reading between the lines. I thought I’d mask the truth by linking to the old lady – a thinly veiled attempt to hide my excitement for the more spritely movement of the younger women getting into playing games – hot!

  7. hey no problem at all. I will leave them on my site for as long as needed. I’ve got enough elbow room. I used Camtasia Studio 4. It is great because you can define the area to capture, record then it will walk through the process of exporting the clip to ipod, mov, avi, whatever. I downloaded the fully functioning trial and it was immediatly usable. I have never used one of these programs before so I do not know how it stands against the others but. Regardless. The job is done.

    Cool.

  8. MAN..haven’t gotten a chance to check this site in a WHILEEEEE! Great to see the fans stayed loyal n Clays’s still..well….Clay…BUSY AS EVER!! Great example that hard work, reaps success…yet to see if that’s true wid my schoolwork…Keep workin hard CLay…n Benjamin Ds…great to see ur still aorund…as well as evryone else…ANIMATION ROCKS!! WOOOOOOT!

  9. Just want to say great podcast Clay! I listen to these interviews over and over. Helps get me inspired and entertains me when doing dull office work.

    About the Nintendo Wii player videos. You can download all of them here:

    http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?fs=1&id=1656

    Just look for the link on the right hand side of the pop-up video player.

    Cheers

  10. Great stuff, Clay! I particularly like to watch the folks who are a little inhibited loosen up and give in to the fun!

  11. cool. Thanks

    Hope the next podcast is coming along nicely 😉

  12. Awesome stuff Clay! Loved the Wii… going to have to get one for me! Good to see “you’re back”! Great refs too!