Ok, so I'm quite new to popping, but I seem to get a lot of compliments about ability to turn myself into a robot (yes I know I'm just tootin' my own horn here, but I have to provide SOME credibility for myself. You understand
)
Seems that there are a lot of people who need help with robot-ing, so I decided to make a thread with some tips on how to do just that...
LET'S GET STARTED.
The golden rule when roboting is to be really stiff!
It's the stiffness that gives this type of popping its effect.
1) BODY MOVEMENT
The core of roboting. If you can't do this, You can't robot.
Two main things in this category:
- Lock as many joints as possible.
By "lock", I mean keep them still.
Unlock only the ones you need to.
For example, when rotating your waist, lock every single joint in BOTH your arms (including your shoulders). This should cause your arms to move with your torso, without moving at all independantly (sorry for the very vague explanation, I can't find a better way to describe it.. I'll have videos up later)
VIDEO EXAMPLE:
http://www.users.on.net/hien/Torso%20Pivot.MPG
- Hit after EACH MOVEMENT
You will need to hit a lot more often in roboting than in regular popping. It will help break up the flow of your movements, which in turn makes you look more like a machine.
Every time you finish a movement, try hitting with whatever body part you just moved.
eg. When moving your arm (for sake of explanation, we'll say your right arm), as soon as you finish moving, hit your right arm. Hit softly, but hard enough JUST so it's noticeable.
On a personal note, I think it helps if you keep all your limbs at least slightly bent most of the time.
2) GENERAL MOVEMENT
When I say "GENERAL movement", I mean actually mocing around in the performing area, not just moving body parts.
When moving around, try to make your stpes (or glides) really slow and sluggish.
Take everything one step at a time.
For example, a simple walking movement can be broken into the following steps:
- Raise your right knee
- Plant your right foot on the ground in front of you
- Raise your left knee
- Plant your left foot on the ground in front of you.
- Rinse, repeat.
If you are taking everything one step at a time, this will make for a sharp, jagged effect as opposed to the smooth flowing of regular popping/moving
VIDEO EXAMPLE:
http://www.users.on.net/hien/Robowalk.MPG
3) TECHNIQUES
Now that we have the basic knowledge, let me tell you about some techniques that look good, but aren't at all hard (Because let's face it, robot-ing doesn't require that much skill
)
First off, the biggest crowd pleaser: Making a robot-ish/mechanical movement sound. A perfect compliment to robot dancing, and it adds to the "realism" of it all.
Put your toungue in the position that you usually use when pronouncing "Th", as in the start of the words "The" or "That".
Now, move your tounge slightly back towards the "S" position (the position your tounge would be in when making an 'S' sound), so that it's about half way in between the two.
Now, using the semi-high voice, just make a sound out of your mouth. It'll pass through your tounge/teeth and make a really cool robot sound.
Wow. That explanation when for longer than I thought it would =\
ANYWAYS. MOVING ON:
Play Puppet with yourself
While keeping the basic rules discussed earlier in mind, use your hands to "manipulate" your body movements. I know this is a common popping technique, but I think it looks MUCH cooler whilst roboting.
Malfunctioning/Powering down
During the middle of your routine/dance try "malfunctioning", act like something's wrong with your "CPU". When I do this I usually hit (mainly with my arms and head) really rapidly, and really hard.
"Powering Down" is self explanatory... just hang your head down, hunch your back, and let your arms swing by your shoulders (keeping your elbow joints locked). Then you can automatically "power-on" by yourself or if you have a friend, you can get him to "turn your power on".
These are also quite the crowd pleasers.
Well that's all I can think of... I'll add some more stuff later when I can remember. lol.
Once again, sorry for the vague/confusing explanations. I'll get some videos up real soon to aid the explaining.
ENJOY!
PS. Yes. I'm a SpaceCapital copy-cat. Deal with it
