Choreographing emotional facial expressions

Abstract

While much is known about the appearance and human perception of emotional facial expressions, researchers and professionals experience difficulties when attempting to create believable animated characters. Methods for automating or capturing dynamic facial expressions have come on in leaps and bounds in recent years, resulting in increasingly realistic characters. However, accurate replication of naturalistic movement does not necessarily ensure authentic character performance. In this paper, the authors present a project which makes use of creative animation practices and artistic reflection as methods of research. The output of animation practice is tested experimentally by measuring observer perception and comparing the results with artistic observations and predictions. Ultimately, the authors aim to demonstrate that animation practice can generate new knowledge about dynamic character performance, and that arts-based methods can and should be considered valuable tools in a field often dominated by technical methods of research.

A Phenomenological Study of Facial Expression Animation

“…It was predicted that participants would offer detailed insights, developed through studio practice, which would demonstrate their interpretation of; the application of EEC, the effect of EEC on animation authenticity and clarity, and the wider context of EEC in animation. It was predicted that the current study would support previous research (Sloan et al, 2010) in demonstrating that studio practice can act as a catalyst for new knowledge regarding the movement of expressions, distinct from traditional experimental approaches.…”

“…Practice-based research using this framework demonstrated that experimentation with EEC could affect the animator's interpretation of expression authenticity, clarity, and context (Sloan et al, 2009(Sloan et al, , 2010. In addition, tests of observer perception demonstrated that manipulation of EEC can impact on audience interpretation of expression authenticity.…”

“…The second set of animations were emotional expression transitions (surprise into happiness, happiness into sadness, sadness into anger, anger into fear, fear into disgust, and disgust into surprise). These expressions and transitions were previously assessed in experimental tests of observer perception (Sloan et al, 2010). For all scenarios, the participants were asked to experiment with the five EEC configurations.…”

“…As discussed elsewhere (Sloan et al, 2010), the concept of EEC acts as a framework for hand-key animators tasked with producing nuanced emotional expression animation. Specifically, EEC relates to the sequence (Seq.)…”

“…Previous research has shown that an arts-based approach to facial animation research can be adopted to generate detailed predictions regarding the clarity and authenticity of dynamic expressions (Sloan et al, 2009). Subsequent studies have demonstrated that the predictions of artistically produced configurations of facial movement -termed emotional expression choreography (EEC) -can be verified empirically through tests of observer perception (Sloan et al, 2010). As such, the rationale for the current research stems from the potential to interrogate the practice of animators in order to better understand believable -if not necessarily naturalistic -facial animation.…”