I went to a siggraph meeting in Sydney a few weeks ago called "Acting skills for character animators", and the guy who ran it (who was an actor/acting coach) brought up the very interesting notion of actors, and therefore animators, building up their own little stockpiles of live-action reference footage that they find particularly inspiring. Youtube clips, interviews with famous and 'everyday' people, clips from films or tv shows, sporting feats, miscellaneous facial expressions and actions and pieces of dialogue and any random little things that make you take a second glance are worth collecting - and we see so many faces and bodies in movement every day, all the time, it's worth taking the time to analyse something that grabs our attention.

So here is something from my collection that I never get sick of watching (or listening to!) - the King's Singers performing the 'Barber of Seville overture' (in 1982).

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There's a lot to be said about this clip; it's a great reference in caricature for starters - the lineup of different shapes and faces and how they suit the part they're singing. But I particularly like the use of facial expressions and nuances between the different singers, and the way they manage to inject so much humour, subtle interaction, character and gesture/emotion into the song (especially when there's no actual dialogue) - it's an engaging performance with a lot of texture, for something that's essentially a bunch of guys all dressed in the same thing standing on the spot and singing a piece of classical music. Also the progression from serious performance to comedy act is a good study for comic timing, and building up momentum in a performace. It's also good for lip-sync, watching the shape their faces and postures have to take to produce particular sounds. And hey, the singing' aint half bad, either!

Here's another one (from the same concert) for you Randy Newman fans:

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Bill Ives (the short one) is pretty adorable