The Hanna-Barbera chart – classic
Classic use
The Hanna-Barbera mouth chart is an animation industry standard.
It was developed in the 60s for efficient animation of tv-style cartoons, such as The Flintstones, Scooby Doo, Johnny Quest, and others.
It consists of 8 basic shapes, to help animate characters talking, singing, or in any other way sounding off:
ASILENCE is mouth A.
Mouth A is also used for the closed-mouth consonants: M,B and P.
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BMouth B is used mainly for the clenched-teeth consonants: N, D, G, K
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CMouth C opens wider for I and E
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DMouth D opens the widest of them all for the A sounds: hut, ate, hide
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EThis mouth is for the "AW" sound, as in cow. It differs from the pout by lowering the mouth edges and jutting the chin.
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FMouth F pouts for the "OH" sound, as in ought, part, and oh! |
GMouth G - Upper teeth bite the lower lip for "F" and "V" sounds. |
HMouth H - The "FL" sound in "flag" lifts the tongue up under the upper teeth. This viseme is found in all cartoons: Even the crude animation in South Park shows the tongue for "FL" and "L".
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Today, the Hanna-Barbera chart it is found all over. Look for the 8 basic shapes, and you will see them in most animated series:
- Dexter's Lab
- The Simpsons
- South Park
- Walther & Gromit
Contemporary use
Here are two examples of contemporary use of the chart: Adventure Time, by Pendleton Ward and the Frederator Studios.
Finn the Human – (c) Nickelodeon/Viacom International Inc.
Above image is linked from this blog post
Jake the Dog – (c) Nickelodeon/Viacom International Inc.
Above image is linked from this blog post
Basic speech in Adventure Time is actually very un-dramatic: small mouth movements, that don't contort the shape of the face – they save the fireworks for dramatic phrases.
One quirk is that for the TH sound, the tongue pops out under the front teeth, like Daffy Duck:
Adventure Time is very well-written, so every bit of dialogue is important in advancing the plot, and calls attention to itself without needing theatrical animation of the speech.
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