lip syncing in Spanish

So early on, while doing my first lip sync scene at Catmandu.. I was bitch slapped  for not getting the right phoneme shapes..   Well EXCUSE MEEEEeee..   .. It wasnt easy to parse out the sounds.. I found out that most of the problem lies in the fact that I had to make more oo and u  mouth shapes.  ALthough I didnt hear it, it was there anyway ..  This is going to be tougher than I expected.  I feel for the foreign animators working for DW or Disney or Pixar..  There were a few animators that didnt know much english and I can imagine the problem they may have had..  the muscles used for language and the muscle memory can be in direct vconflict with the language youare trying to learn  I still say moy bien  for muy bien  ( its actually moo ee bien)   the U is always   a short  "oo"  . 
SO the guys at the studio were so gracious to put together a little mouth shape tutorial... 

SOR  pressa  !!

Maya 2012

So we finally upgraded to Maya 2012..  I am so much happier.. I was struggling with the graph editor, getting frustrated by the constant monitoring of the curves  trying to make them behave..  And now they can do my bidding..  It is so much easier and faster with the auto tangent feature turned on as my default curve.  I can now concentrate on the acting and the mechanics of animating rather than fixing and tidying up curves..  Plus we all have two monitors to work with.. If I had something to dowith making those changes than I am glad I could help..
 The AutoDesk people came to visit our little studio last week..  They are the ones who are maintaining the Maya software and making the yearly upgrades.. They are using our studio as  example of a studio making a feature film from straight from the box software and want to help as much as possible.. They want improve on the software for us and asked for a wish list.. If its is successful it will be in the next version  ( probably Maya 2013)  Having been a t Dreamworks and knowing the EMO, the proprietary animation software from there, and how cool it is to work with the graph editor in EMO  I was able to persuade them  ( indirectly) to make enhancements to their graph editor, based on the cool stuff in EMO.. .  That would be great!  You can thank me later..

On another note I thought it would be appropriate to see JJ Campanella's movie that he won an oscar with in 2010 for best foreign film..   "The Secret in her Eyes"   I saw it on the website cuevana.tv   It turns out that Mr Campanella is truely a master story teller..  Quite an extraordinary film so if you havent seen it  whatch it on netflix or some other means..  It comes with subtitles in English so no worries..
    This movie we are all working on is in good hands..   Juan was struggling a bit to find his rhythm doing an animated movie because the process is so different..  but he is getting the hang of it..  It is a slow process and if you want instant gratification, this is not the medium for you .. 

Dog walkers 
  YOu see alot this in BA... Dog walkers.. they get paid to walk your dog..  so many dogs here.. They love their dogs.. I just wish they would love to clean up after them..  One must have to walk on the sidewalk  with their head down .. 

How the dogs behave themselves.. I dont know..  Most of the dogs are well behaved.. not aggressive..  I dont understand it..  You walk by them and they just seem to say  "hey wassup  how s it goin".  You give them a nod and keep walking..

This is the view from apartment at 5 am .  What was I doing up at 5 you ask?  

I was coming home from a "party" 

Employee get together Parilla  ( barbecue)   with friends from work..

Until next time..................
 

Argentina Partying and Sergio.. Not in that order

Sergio Pablo came to the studio last week to help the studio get more in shape for the coming months to make it more productive and to sit down with the animators and discuss with them how they might improve their performances..  It was great having him.. I met Sergio a while back when he came to visit with Dean Wellins..  Jonathan and I had a private consultation with him later , after his meeting with the Spanish animators..  We ended up talking about the industry and where he thinks its going etc..  Sergio, for the uninitiated, was the  brainchild of Despicable me.. He then later sold it to Universal and they changed it a bit but basically the story is his..  Also Sergio worked at Disney.. His animation is top notch one of the best as far as Disney style  ( 2D) animation is concerned and is making a name for himself as a studio in Spain..  The name of his company is SPA..  after the initials of his name  not to be confused with Sony Pictures Animation.  Sergio maybe best known in the animation circles for his great work in Tarzan... His draftsmanship as well as his animation timing is legend.. 

Here is a picture of me and Sergio  .. 




Here are some pictures of after work get together on a friday.. this went late into the night  but not til 5am  like some nights ..

Magic, Jon and Andre Marie 

Jennifer, Magic, Jon, Andre and Fede.

Hamming it up

Goofy faces with Fede.. 

Hola!!!

Ok so lately I met up with some :ex patriots in Buenos Aires.  BAexpats.com    People who live in BA that are from English speaking countries ( mostly) and locals who want to learn more English..
Nice bunch of people.. Hung out with a cool couple  David ( Australian) and Marisol  ( Colombian)
We got invited to go to a Comumbina party after the soccer game and did some Salsa And Latin rock electronica dancing.. Everyone dances here so its ok to just dance and not have a "partner" so to speak.. Everyone just wants to move and feel the beat and enjoy themselves..  and get silly..

Marisol  passing around the hat and taking pictures while the drinks flowed

 

BAexpats at the Colombian party 

ok this is getting rediculous.. 

with the local chicas

The guy in the back is FRENCH with a capital F!  we met two weeks ago  and chances of all chances we met up again.. !!

Me and the two wild and crazy guys from France

 

The French and AMericans

Great couple--  Marisol and Dave

 

David  from Australia

 
Are you getting the feeling there is too much partying going on??
well here is more...

Some of the guys from work..  Michel, Diego and Jon

Hey wassup bro.

The funny thing here is that the girl didnt understand anything Jon was saying..

Every Friday  we let loose and have some chips and beer and .. well... some bongos...

Here are a few guys from work finding the rhythm..

Oh this is interesting.. I saw a puppet show the other day, in Spanish of course,  and in case you were wondering how he "did all this"  I give you a back stage look at the technique..