Nicholas De Lotto, an animator at DreamWorks Animation currently working on Shrek 5, walks through how he chooses and prepares dialogue audio for a shot for an acting test. In this tutorial, Nick covers what makes a piece of dialogue worth animating, what to avoid, and how to shoot and refine reference before ever opening Maya.
Watch the full video above.
About Nicholas De Lotto
Nicholas De Lotto is an Animator at DreamWorks Animation. He started his animation journey in 2018 by attending Animation Mentor’s Character Animation Program and then started as an intern at Pixar where he worked on Lightyear, Elemental, Inside Out 2, Elio and Toy Story 5. He has also worked on a few game titles, including Fortnite.
Why the Idea Stage Comes First
Nicholas opens with a simple rule: failing to prepare is preparing to fail. The goal is to spend as little time as possible actually animating in Maya until the idea, the audio, and the reference are locked in. Once an animator starts changing their mind mid shot, the work can take three times as long.
At Animation Mentor, students typically get about two weeks just for the idea stage before touching a rig. That time is meant to be spent hunting for a strong piece of dialogue, since Nicholas considers finding good audio the hardest part of the whole assignment. Students working through our Introduction to Acting course will recognize this as the stage that sets up everything else.
What Makes Dialogue Stand Out
A few qualities repeatedly caught Nicholas’s attention when he was searching for audio as a student:
A change or range of emotion over the course of the clip, since a character who shifts from sad to happy, or calm to angry, gives an animator more to show than a single flat emotional state.
Sounds and objects to interact with, like a ringing phone, a sniff, or someone shuffling papers, which give a shot something physical to play against.
What he calls golden nugget moments, small human imperfections like a stutter, a hiccup in the voice, or a mid sentence interruption. These tiny details are rarely animated well, so leaning into them can make a character feel more alive and believable.
Lines and Voices to Avoid
Nicholas warns about a few traps. First, if a piece of dialogue has already been animated before, skip it. The goal is a clip nobody has seen turned into a shot yet.
He also warns against instantly recognizable voices, the kind that make a viewer think of a specific character the moment they hear it. Big, easily identified movie stars pull attention away from the animation itself and onto the celebrity behind the voice.
Sitcoms with laugh tracks are another thing to avoid, since audience laughter bleeding into a shot undercuts the performance. Shows without a laugh track, and with less overused lines, tend to work better as source material.
Finally, Nicholas suggests flipping the context of a line rather than animating it the way it was originally delivered. If a line comes from a dramatic or serious scene, look for a completely different, unexpected setting to place it in instead of matching the original scenario beat for beat.
Audio Quality Isn’t Everything
Clean, professional sound helps, but Nicholas is clear that it isn’t a dealbreaker. He has used test audio recorded straight off his phone, and as long as the line is audible and free of heavy static, it can still carry a shot.
Shooting and Refining Reference
Once a strong piece of dialogue is locked in, Nicholas recommends brainstorming several different scenarios for it before shooting any reference. Letting an idea sit overnight is part of the process too. What feels like the perfect concept late at night often looks different, and clearer, after sleeping on it.
When it’s time to record, he suggests shorter takes, just two or three attempts at a time, rather than long five minute recordings that become hard to sort through later. Reviewing footage between short takes makes it easier to spot what’s working and refine the performance take by take.
Getting a second opinion matters too. Nicholas points out that showing reference to other people, or even having someone else act out a take, can surface ideas an animator would never find alone, especially when animating a character whose age, gender, or body type is different from their own.
He also separates dialogue delivery from physical acting when reference is tricky to perform at the same time, recording a distinct pass focused just on facial performance so the timing of the line doesn’t get lost while trying to act naturally.
Lessons from Student Showcase Work
Nicholas reviews a handful of past Animation Mentor showcase shots to illustrate these ideas in action. Some take a familiar type of line and flip the context entirely, like turning a workplace style dialogue exchange into a parent scolding their kids. Others lean on strong prop interaction and reaction work, using chewing, sniffing, and physical business to sell the moment. A few play with a clear emotional build across the shot, showing a character’s thought process shift from bravado to frustration or embarrassment. In each case, the animation itself often stays relatively simple. What makes the shots memorable is the strength of the idea and the acting choices, not complicated or constant movement.
The Takeaway
Nicholas closes by reminding students that it only takes one strong shot to get noticed by recruiters or animators reviewing a demo reel. He credits a single well chosen piece of dialogue and a well executed idea with helping open doors in his own career. The advice throughout is consistent: slow down at the idea stage, look for dialogue with emotion, texture, and a fresh angle, and don’t be afraid to let a concept breathe before committing to it in Maya.
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