Laban movement Analysis

[Simon Edmondson]

I am preparing a research project for the course recently started and was thinking of looking at Laban Movement Analysis and applying it to animation. Does anyone have any knowledge of using LMA and could suggest some possible sources for looking into it further. Theres mention of it in the Ed Hooks book, "acting for animators" and I've just ordered "The Animation Bible" as it has a chapter specifically on the subject but wondered if anyone could recommend something more specific ?

regards

simon

[Rodney]

I believe it was Ed Hooks's book that had me looking into who Laban was and what his thoughts were concerning (animated) movement.

I delved as deep as seemed appropriate before moving on to the next shiny bauble.

I don't recall much of what I found at the time so I'd best not guess at that...

 

Edit: A quick review reminds me that the most important concepts covered were 'weight, space, time and flow'.

As I recall, the aspects of mysticism convoluted the whole.

 

There is a chapter on Laban's work in this online ebook (as well as many other subjects online): LINK

 

Here's another good read: LINK.

 

Being the visual person I am, at the closing of my study I did collect some drawings that supposedly captured Laban's theory of movement and my memory suggests that it was all from the same book.

[Rodney]

Here's a pretty decent slideshow presentation (although entirely too short):

 

Laban's Effort Shapes

 

Of note, Laban's effort appears (to me) to be primarily one of recording (human) movement.

His notation allowed for analysis and 'playback' (and therefore communication) of that record.

If I am not mistaken, Laban is credited for being the principle pioneer in that work.

Although that level of usage wasn't Laban's original goal it was extrapolated/extended from his invention; a process of notation for human movement.

 

I'll be interested in seeing what you discover.

 

 

Edit: I just dumped a bit more that I was adding to this post and if I can summarize it better I'll add that into the mix.

Most of what I was adding can easily be seen in the referenced links above.

[Simon Edmondson]

Rodney

Thank you very much for the links and info, much appreciated. We are supposed to prepare a research question that will take up the next few weeks of study. I've got 4-5 just need to find out how much depth they want and what type and mix of research required, practical and academic. The Laban interests becauses I know of it, but know nothing about it specifically and, its always more interesting to find out stuff you don't know.

regards

simon

[Rodney]

I will add these tidbits about Laban (because I didn't know them before).

 

Laban's stint in the military likely influenced his 'drill' later on in life where he seemed to ramble on in his writings and lectures but when instructing his dance students he would suddenly be as concise as he was precise.

 

Before moving more fully into the world of dance Laban drew caricatures and painted posters to earn a living (I believe this was in Paris).

We might assume he set these interests aside in favor of inventing his graphic notation system for dance but I see little doubt that what he observed in drawing and painting echo that of the animator. Rather than turn to animating figures on paper and film (which may not have been invented yet?) Laban animated his characters (dancers) on a (theatrical) stage.

 

Laban was surely influenced by the work of Francois Delsarte who had many similar ideas and concepts. Delsarte had died in Paris some 30 years prior (1871) and Laban likely learned a lot from his disciples. Sources claim Laban studied 'ballet and Delsarte mime' in Paris circa 1900-1908.

[NancyGormezano]

Interesting. Thanks for bringing this up. I hadn't heard of this notation system before, so after looking at Rodney's links (also interesting), I did some googling, and came up with this youtube series by the dance notation bureau channel, and specifically their playlist for:

 

Intensive Course in Elementary Labanotation

 

If you have the time, it might be of interest. I have no idea how watchable this series is however.

[Rodney]

RE: Intensive Course in Elementary Labanotation

 

Nice find Nancy!

[Simon Edmondson]

Interesting. Thanks for bringing this up. I hadn't heard of this notation system before, so after looking at Rodney's links (also interesting), I did some googling, and came up with this youtube series by the dance notation bureau channel, and specifically their playlist for:

 

Intensive Course in Elementary Labanotation

 

If you have the time, it might be of interest. I have no idea how watchable this series is however.

Nancy

 

Thank you very much for the link. I watched the first one and will try the others tomorrow. I suspect it may be too involved at this point but its an interesting way to go. A more precise way than thumb nails. I wonder if any animation directors use it at the planning stage ? The notation part seems fairly straight forward ( famous last words ) but the parts about the kinesophere and shapes may start to get a bit more esoteric !

regards

simon

[Rodney]

A more precise way than thumb nails.

 

Interesting conjecture.

In many ways Laban notation is considerably more precise than thumbnailing.

But I sense that that is mostly because thumbnailing is used to quickly test/capture graphic ideas.

A thumbnail's purpose is not precision but to quickly and effortlessly record an idea.

 

Where Laban notation is not necessarily more precise would be where the thumbnail shows accurate placement and not just a representational idea (for use on a 2D screen for instance).

The thumbnail might be considered more precise than the notation because the viewer can actually see the pose and not risk a miscommunication of the idea.

The notation is very likely to more concise/brief than thumbnailing and will be more consistent because different artists will draw the thumbnails differently... resulting in a product that is open wider to interpretation and therefore less precise.

The notation removes the ambiguity (of varying styles) by providing a consistent graphic language which constrains an interpretation.

That stricter interpretation of a commonly recognized language is the element that is provides precision.

 

Of course there is a point where it makes considerably more sense to thumbnail an image versus use of abstracted symbology to communicate visual ideas.

The Laban notation requires the knowledge of a language whereas thumbnails seek to directly inform the viewer via a simplified drawing; a small thumbnail-sized image being easier to draw simply because it is smaller and therefore cannot contain the detail of a larger drawing. In this sense the Laban notation is precise but mostly in that it communicates position in time and space (with weight and flow/flux) and thumbnails aren't relatively (as regards to time and space) as precise.

 

But, here is an important point: Thumbnails are generally used by the same person throughout the process. It's an internal communication that will be built upon at a later time. Because the person thumbnailing drew the thumbnail they can more easily develop that idea. With Laban notation the goal is to communicate the idea to someone else externally. This is also why thumbnailing is primarily used to quickly record (and test!) ideas whereas Layouts are generated where a higher level of precision is required.

[NancyGormezano]

I suspect it may be too involved at this point but its an interesting way to go.....The notation part seems fairly straight forward

 

I could see a "dance synthesizer" being developed (similar to a midi synthesizer, using music scores as input) using already Labanized dance scores, from the libraries of classical ballet choreographies as input, but most likely would result in producing robotic-ish looking animations.

 

Could be done for A:M to drive the movement of a standardized skeleton for a particular character (first guess). Maybe output of the dance synthesizer would be similar to a bvh file? Could be done for any other 3D animation program, as well probably.

 

Might be an interesting research project. Could help ballet choreography directors easily visualize the lesser known, seldom produced classical ballets, in a first analysis, as the more popular routines (eg swan lake, Nutcracker, etc) are already fairly well known. I had always wondered how these classical ballets always seemed to have the same routines, sequences of dance steps, regardless of the dance group performing (Russian, NY, etc). More than likely they have been recorded in Labanotation (or something similar).

 

For anything other than standardized dance type animations, imo, thumbnails, storyboards, rotoscoping, and of course, seat-of-pants is more suitable for generating artistic, interpretative visual media that tells a story.

[NancyGormezano]

I could see a "dance synthesizer" being developed (similar to a midi synthesizer, using music scores as input) using already Labanized dance scores, from the libraries of classical ballet choreographies as input, but most likely would result in producing robotic-ish looking animations.

 

Could be done for A:M to drive the movement of a standardized skeleton for a particular character (first guess). Maybe output of the dance synthesizer would be similar to a bvh file? Could be done for any other 3D animation program, as well probably.

 

 

Ah yes...it's been done already, of course..at least for using the Benesh system of notation. This link shows the notation and an animated version of the notation for "blue bird" male solo in Sleeping Beauty. And yes. The animation is predictably robotic.

[Simon Edmondson]

Nancy.

In my younger, slimmer, fitter, more foolish days, I did a semester of Martha Graham technique modern dance while studying at EIU. May not remember this correctly ( it was 34 years ago ), but the tutor, Marge Ann Chernenko, told us that Classical Ballet had a limited repertoire of steps and moves which may have helped with the recording of the choreography ?

 

Re your suggestion of making movements to scores; might it be possible to do it using MIDI for the music. My knowledge is limited but, I think it has four values, Pitch, Duration, Volume and 'attack' (?) and those values are output through 8 channels. If you used that info to equate to X,Y,Z, in the 3D world and the fourth to vary the timing of arriving at those co ordinates you might get a more varied, less robotic routine ?

 

Having looked at some of the links you posted, I begin to think it may be a doctoral thesis rather than a 14 week research project. I'll do some more reading and see how it goes.

regards

simon

[NancyGormezano]

In my younger, slimmer, fitter, more foolish days, I did a semester of Martha Graham technique modern dance while studying at EIU. May not remember this correctly ( it was 34 years ago ), but the tutor, Marge Ann Chernenko, told us that Classical Ballet had a limited repertoire of steps and moves which may have helped with the recording of the choreography ?

 

Re your suggestion of making movements to scores; might it be possible to do it using MIDI for the music. My knowledge is limited but, I think it has four values, Pitch, Duration, Volume and 'attack' (?) and those values are output through 8 channels. If you used that info to equate to X,Y,Z, in the 3D world and the fourth to vary the timing of arriving at those co ordinates you might get a more varied, less robotic routine ?

 

Having looked at some of the links you posted, I begin to think it may be a doctoral thesis rather than a 14 week research project. I'll do some more reading and see how it goes.

regards

Yes classical Ballet has a limited (but large) number of dance steps, moves. I also took classical ballet, tap, toe, but in the days of the dinosaur.

 

Apparently there is/was a Mac program - MacBenesh - "software program for creating and editing single dancer BMN scores. (Development on the program ceased in 1992 and as a consequence MacBenesh only runs on Mac OS9.)"

 

And further browsing comes up with this link, to "Visualizing Dance Archives, a research and development project aimed at creating a 3D animation software for dance and choreography".

 

EDIT:Looking at that last link, which is REALLY good, has lots of info relating animation and dance notation systems, and looks like you can download their windows only software to try out (at your own risk) - good info at that site.

Edited October 15, 2014 by NancyGormezano

[Simon Edmondson]

Nancy

Thank you very much for that. I'm not the most academically oriented person and was reminded of that on reading the phrase

"which provides the possibility to access historic static sources and to translate their referentiality into visuality, thus revealing its motoric and kinetic aspects."

Which I take to mean, it turns notation into dynamic moving visuals ?

 

I know someone who is a dance promoter on Merseyside UK, her partner is a keen Mac user,I'll ask her if she knows of the program or has used it?

regards

simon

 

Just asked. She knows Benesh but not the program...

 

 

Ps

Just found this.

http://charactermotion.com/products/danceforms/

[NancyGormezano]

OMG - here is a fascinating site , not just about dance, but mostly about motion analysis of any video (translation - could use your own animations probably) with free, amazing software to create and visualize the most amazing effects (eg positive, negative space, motion trails, etc). That site was also referenced from the dance archives weblinks page where the credo software was also referenced.

[Simon Edmondson]

Have only scanned this quickly but perhaps of interest ?

 

http://www.catgames.ca/files/KyotoSlides3.pdf

[Simon Edmondson]

OMG - here is a fascinating site , not just about dance, but mostly about motion analysis of any video (translation - could use your own animations probably) with free, amazing software to create and visualize the most amazing effects (eg positive, negative space, motion trails, etc). That site was also referenced from the dance archives weblinks page where the credo software was also referenced.

Nancy.

Thank you once again. One of the other possibilities of a 14 week question was to analyse the walks of several people in detail, then animate a silhouetted figure according to the data and see if the individuality was recognisable in the animation. Most walks tend to be generic ( pardon the generalisation ) rather than specific. Merce Cunnigham reckoned that everybody was different. It might be interesting to do to see what differentiates the moves. Might be more achievable in the time ... Maybe !

regards

simon

[NancyGormezano]

Good pdf! - A intriguing new concept introduced - LabanXML.

 

Ok, have reached saturation point - thanks for the leads, seeds of inspiration - my eyeballs are full.

[NancyGormezano]

One of the other possibilities of a 14 week question was to analyse the walks of several people in detail, then animate a silhouetted figure according to the data and see if the individuality was recognisable in the animation. Most walks tend to be generic ( pardon the generalisation ) rather than specific. Merce Cunnigham reckoned that everybody was different. It might be interesting to do to see what differentiates the moves. Might be more achievable in the time ... Maybe !

 

That's why the automatically generated generic dance moves, walking actions look robotic. It's the nuances from different timings, differing body postures that differentiate individual style. Musicians, dancers, visual artists all have their signature strokes, timing, interpretations.

 

Will be a good exercise to hone observational skills. Just watching any youtube video, where all the dancers should be doing the same step, becomes obvious they aren't when you freeze the video at any one point in time.

 

Sounds like an interesting course.

[Rodney]

Some excellent sites, links and resources for sure.

The LabanXML... very intriguing.

 

At this point I think it might be easier to set up a rig/pose system in A:M from scratch than to wait for someone to incorporate a LabanXML plugin into A:M.

Famous last words being 'How hard could it be'?

 

I guess what I'm saying is that we already have something of an equivalent tool via A:M's Dopesheet and Poses.

I will note that currently Dopesheets cannot be saved by themselves (I'm not sure in which version saving them separately was dropped) but they can and do get saved via Actions.

 

The most important aspect of LabanXML appears to be the scripting capabilities that allow for such things as "repeat times".

This also is available in A:M via Actions Choreography driven Actions but... as far as I know... is not easily scriptable.

I am surely wrong in this because A:M has to be able to store the repetitions of an Action somehow... easy enough to test I suppose.

 

So, to reiterate, if a Pose is created for each of the representative Laban notations they can then be driven (and stored and retrieved) via an Action/Dopesheet.

Of course this set of Actions would require the object/character to have the same underlying rig or risk misinterpreted movement.

 

Added: One of the (minor?) issues with Labanotation is that it is read bottom to top which is the reverse of just about every other language/approach to communication. I assume the idea was to 'stack' motion on top of each other but I perceive that might be the first thing that would have to be changed.