Cinematography | Looping < Animetion Techniques

Posing | Talking

Looping is when a few frames of animation are seemlessly grouped together to form a cycle and that cycle is repeated over and over and can be used anywhere from mouth movements or clothing billowing in the wind, to the extreme example of recycled animation like transformation sequences and magical attacks (a la Sailor Moon).

The sound is a little off, depending on your computer speed! sorry!

In anime, mouth movements are not lip-synched. It may seem strange at first, but it is a highly cost-effective technique and allows more time and energy to go to other areas ^_^ It also allows for easier dubbing into other languages, especially important given the world-wide audience of anime.

There is a general attempt to make the movements last the length of dialog but not have the mouth actually form the shape for the corresponding sound. So the illusion of talking is created by looping 3 frames or a mouth:		closed mouth
		semi open mouth
		open mouth

Here's an example of the mouth movement in sequence:

Of course not all anime use this looping technique, especially theatrical releases since they have the budget for lip-synching. Most notable is the famous Akira movie.

Other shortcuts used by animetors include having characters facing away from the screen (a la Ghost in the Shell) while talking, or having a persons hands in front of his mouth while he speaks (a la Gendo Ikaru in Neon Genesis Evangelion) and far away shots where faces cannot be seen (a la Evangelion too!).