I recently directed a cartoon where the characters rarely spoke However, they emoted constantly. As the graphics were not quite finished, we had to work on emote strings, which to be honest are hard to get accurately.

In this fun animation and Video games workshop we will work on emoting truthfully in any genre, from kitchen sink realism to pre-school cartoons, and study emote strings.

A typical scenario for an emote string would be : Your character (A young hedgehog dressed as a princess) is walking on a path when they find a box, which turns out to be full of slime, but there is a beautiful ring in the slime, so you get it out, put it on, but it starts to burn your hand and you can't take it out. The emote string would be complex : Idle humming, Surprise, quizzical, thoughtful, chuckle of anticipation, effort, disgust, surprise, retching, satisfaction, surprise, concern, pain, burn, panic...

Emote strings are essential in voicing for Cartoons, Animations and Gaming.

In part 2 of the emote strings masterclass, we continue to look and practice emote strings, to then explore the "live" dubbing skill of following a character through their emotes. Be warned : this class is fun.