Lukas Niklaus - Bottles - Critique

Almost there!

- the tip toe area is working better! I'd watch out for the right leg stop at x265, that's a bit abrupt and linear. And from x264 to 271, just looking at the knee area, it feels like there are a few pops in there.
Overall though, I think you could speed up that whole section from x259 to 278 by around %20, just to give it a bit more of a hurried feel to it.

- It would be good to change up the poses of the fingers a little bit before and around x232, especially from x241 to 250 (the fingers could tighten as he brings up his arms into that new pose).
- the foot detail is very nice right now, there's a lot of good keep alive and detail work. A picky note on top of that would be, watch out how his right foot gets to x369, it feels like a linear key. Plus once he's on his toes, that toe section is totally frozen. If you scrub through the scene, you'll see the dead pixel area. Another linear key moment happens from x407 to 408, how he gets the foot off (I'd have a flat tangent for the translation there) and how the foot stops at 411 (again with locked toes).
- the leg movement (his right leg) from around x489 feels too robotic in terms of direction and arc. Visually it looks like it's just going down vertically.

- this is picky, but I would take a frame out of the eye dart section from x115 to 119. It's just a tad slow.

- Watch out for even eyebrow shapes, like around x215:



You could open up the screen right brow a bit, so it's opening towards the direction he's going:


- on the dart from x394 to 396, he could also raise his eye brows a bit, they feel locked during that section.

- the kneeling and getting up area doesn't bug me, but as you mentioned, you could speed up the area where he kneels a tiny bit, so it feels more panicked?

- watch out from x460 to 470, how big your shoulder movement is. During that section I would have less shoulder anim, the action is more in the arm. And if you have that much shoulder movement, it would have to involve the chest area more.
- for the "Indy" hand movement, that area from x475 to 492 feels off like you said, and to me it's mostly an IK issue, which brings me to an overall note for the whole shot. His arms still have a big IK feel to it, during most of the movements. Make sure that the arms are tied in with the body motions.

JD

Lukas Niklaus - Bottles - Critique

Very nice, getting to the end stages!

- x39 to 52, watch both of his elbows, they both go down at the same time and give that section a bit of an IK arm feel to it, plus that arm movement does not affect his shoulders; if you scrub quickly back and forth you'll notice even more
- around x111, during his reaction, you could push his mouth shapes a bit more, maybe showing an exhale or even a mouthed word, in order to give face a bit more contrast during that emotional change
- the tip toe part works better, but I would reduce the root up/down a lot, so it's almost horizontal, for a more smooth and stealthy look

Those are the big moments to me that stood out the most that I would address first, especially the tip toe section. But that's about it for major changes.

Now you can get to the nitty gritty and polish, as you mentioned, arcs, spacing, etc. For instance, watch his right knee how it moves back quickly to x504, then kinda stays locked there for a frame and then moves forward again.
Arc wise it's moments like his left foot going screen left to x512 and then suddenly only down to x513, without finishing the SL arc it started.
Be aware of offscreen spacing too, like his right leg on x515 to 516, where it seems to move away from the root and extending the leg, yet on x517 it pops forward into frame, looking like a linear key.
The foot steps around that area also have a lot of flat foot plants and it would be cool to get more tilted foot poses in there, like you have on x48 for the SR foot.
Watch out for finger pose changes. Let's take his right hand holding the bottle, it never changes until after x315.
Lastly, I would do another pass on the arms, to really eliminate IK moments like the SR arm/hand after x78, especially after x81. The big sign is when the elbow is moving a lot yet the hand is almost unaffected by it translation wise, but especially rotation wise.

Lukas Niklaus - Bottles - Critique

Let's start with a picky thing. :)

- track the spacing of the hand holding the bottle after x7. On x7 there's nothing, then it pops into frame x8, moves SR to x9, then a tiny back SL (or stuck in space) on x10. Then the bottle goes up until x13 and stays put in that pose and orientation until x20. It would be cool to have a little up rotation, so that he can actually pour all the liquid in his mouth. At this current level there would still be water (or whatever) left in the bottle. Plus with the first sip and then a little up move for really emptying the bottle you will give it a bit more variety and contrast. The pic below illustrates the water level. Hahahaha!


- the hand gesture to close/screw the bottle cap on feels a bit loose from x35 to 55. Would be cool to get a little gesture that shows off a cool "screwing" motion, fitting his relaxed character

- the SR arm feels a bit IK-ish from x74 to x92 (careful when elbow is moving a lot but wrist doesn't rotate as much), and then it feels like a linear key from x92 to 93 (mostly rotation)

What's a bit tricky with his head orientation around x85 is that we lose his pupils.

- watch out for x101, you're overextending his right arm

- love the facial expression (especially his mouth) on x207 on :)

The body drag on x211 looks good, just the right amount to break up the upper body but still keeping in stealthy and not too overanimated.

The tip toe part, starting from x238 feels a bit linear and pose to pose in places. Watch out how both feet go up from x238 on, then both arms go up at the same time. The SR hand stops after x247 on linear keys and stays stuck in space until x260.
The legs are getting close to being overextended around x252, but the SR one definitely pops on x260.
The SR leg moves forward on linear keys and after x263 I would add compression to the foot as the SL foot takes a step, since all the weight is then on the SR foot (needs to go down a bit).
SL knee pops into a bent pose from x263 to 264,
Etc. etc. you mentioned yourself that this part is rough, I'm just commenting on what I'm seeing, but I know you're aware of this.

The timing of when the bottles start moving works now.

The bounce on x343 could be even higher, but it's definitely better than before, less floaty.

- his head feels loose and bouncy from x423 to 460, there's a lot of side to side bobble. I would actually stiffen the head up a bit, since at that point he's a bit panicky and stressed, which would get reflected in his body.

- what do you think about milking the moment from x456 to 460 by adding a few frames. After all the action, you could slow that moment down like he's really trying to put it down slowly, so that it won't fall again. Kind of a Raiders moment:


His right arm falling down from x480 to 496 has a bit too much hand overlap for me (at x492). It gives it a relaxed feeling and again, he's not relaxed, he's stressed, so that feels a bit animated for animation's sake, but not staying within character. But I like all the other changes!

The exit works, the only picky thing would be to add one more tiny sliver of his head at x575. Right now you can see more than his half at x574, but then at 575 the head pops out. Even if that's the correct spacing, it still feels like a pop, so you'd have to adjust a few frames before that for a smoother exit. I know, picky. :)

Lukas Niklaus - Bottles - Critique

(Answers to his German questions)

Betr. Des zu animiert wirkenden schrittes bei x61, da hatte ich eigentlich vor gehabt, dass er die flaschen erst im letzten moment sieht und deshalb eine art “erschrockenen” schritt nach SL macht. Habe deshalb diese Woche den Kopf neu getimed, und auch am gesicht gearbeitet. Ich hoffe man verstehts jetzt ein bisschen besser.

This part works better and makes more sense now, given your explanation. My observation is this: the whole move has its focus on the arm, which distracts from his emotional reaction. It also doesn't help that the arm is almost moving first, before his reaction to the bottles being piled up. From a technical point of view it also looks a bit IK, mostly due to the horizontal movements and the visual cue of arm moving independently from his body (one of those tricky IK things).
I think to make it super clear, you could stake out separate beats, so that his reaction and the sidestep don't flow together. You could have a little bigger facial take (nothing crazy, just amp it up a little bit more) and then the sidestep (again, nothing seconds apart, but just a little bit more separated).

In der ganzen region um x142 muss noch viel tightening arbeit getan werden. Das timing der augen etc. passt mir noch nicht ganz.

You're right, the eyes could need some work, but to me it's also the amount of time he takes to just stare at the bottles combined with how little the pupils are (more difficult for audience to stay connected with the character).

Von x185 bis x245 habe ich deinen Mr. Bean tip versucht rein zu nehmen. Mir passts... Ich hatte etwas angst dass es ev. Zu cartoony wird, aber ich finde es passt :-)
Technisch hinkts noch etwas hinterher. (besonders wenn er von den zehenspitzen nach SR geht. Muss da nochmal in die video ref rein schauen.) Aber lustigerweise war der prozess viel natürlicher obwohl ich nicht zurück in stepped gegangen bin... Wie du sagst, man sieht das timing sofort... Kommt gut. Und was mir ein besonders gutes gefühl gibt... Als ichs den playblast zum ersten mal angeschaut habe, hat mir mein eigener shot zum lächeln gebracht. Und nicht weils so aussah wie ich wollte, sondern weil ichs witzig fand.

Absolutely! I smiled as well! I think the acting choices are selling the moment a lot better. There's always the risk of going too broad and being cartoony, but like you said, I think you didn't go overboard.
And again, I agree with your tip toe comment. What if he takes tiny little steps on his tippy toes? Rhythm wise it might give you some contrast. Right now you have mostly big moves: big look SL, big step to SR, big stop, big getting-on-toes, big last step. So rhythm wise it feels a bit even with constant ups and downs. If you add quick little steps towards the end, it would break up the rhythm.
From x199 to 206, during that side step, I think you could delay the upper body a bit, so that it's not one vertical line throughout the body. It's a bit stiff.

Wenn die flaschen das erste mal fallen muss ich glaube ich bald mal noch das timing anpassen. Hatte da eine Rigid Body Sim gemacht, aber momentan rutschen sie zu langsam. Er reagiert bevor sie anfangen zu rutschen.
Werde die Keys so anpassen, dass wenigstens die flasche die er fängt etwas länger braucht.

I see what you mean and good idea. Style wise it will work with the guy, since he's a bit more animated now and you pushed the acting, you can give the bottles a more distinct style in their fall, so it's not so real time physics. I'm all for that but that's a pet peeve of mine. It always bugs me when the characters' timing is stylized, yet how the cloth and hair moves is photo real, same with fire, smoke, etc. :)
I do really like how he reacts to the bottle falling and how his right arm goes for the bottle. There's also a neat feeling of him not fully grabbing the bottle and how the bottle bounces off his hand, makes it feel light, plastic-y and empty. Since you're potentially pushing the timing, the bottle could bounce off his hand a TINY bit more? Around x301 it could be a bit higher?

Ein weiterer sorgenpunkt den ich bisher etwas vergessen habe ist um x410 wenn er die flasch in seiner hand dreht. Ich hatte das ausprobiert, und es ist möglich, aber irgendwie unnötig und ev. Etwas ablenkend? Was meinst du? Ich habe mir gedacht, da ich eh in die Flaschen Animation eingreife, könnte ich die Flasche schon ganz zu anfang um 180° drehen, damit er sie schon 180° gedreht fängt...

To be honest, in this version it doesn't look like he's turning the bottle, it feels more like a constraint pop. But to answer your question, I don't think it's needed, he can put the bottle back in the orientation that he's holding it when he picks it up.

Mit dem Ende bin ich auch noch nicht ganz zufrieden.
Den blick bei x442 sollte ich glaube ich noch etwas länger halten. Und auch danach könnte es glaube ich noch ein paar keyframes mehr vertragen.
Was hältst du vom ganzen? War etwas schwierig referenzmaterial zu filmen, da man wenn mans plant nicht so gestresst nach links schauen kann...
Ausserdem glaube ich der Fuss würde nicht vom Boden weg kommen... Jetzt da ichs mir anschaue, glaube ich es wäre gescheiter, mehr auf die beiden blicke zu vertrauen, diese richtig zu zeigen und damit die gestresste attitude zu vermitteln.

About the ending, I'm not too sure this is working right now. There's a feeling of things being disconnected, both timing wise and body mechanics wise.
When takes the step with his left leg after x435, it looks like his body goes up and a bit screen left to around x439, but then that's it. Even after the foot starts planting around x442, I don't feel like his body continues the screen left momentum that you initiated, so there's no weight shift and correct weight distribution. Additionally on that x442, the head is twisted pretty far to the right, so while all the movement is going screen left with the body, you have the head stuck in that pose and moving independently (despite the head turn it doesn't feel like the neck nor the upper chest is affected by that head turn).
Also, looks at his right shoulder and upper chest rotation from x435 to 442, it's always in the same position, so that whole section feels a bit disconnected from the rest.
Watch out for his right arm, how it moves forward in space from x455 to 460, which also feels a bit disconnected from the rest of the body.
Give the body enough frames for the proper weight shifts, so when you have the root moving screen right from x447 to 450, it already starts moving screen left right after, even though the foot is fully planted at x452. Despite the cartoony aspect, you still have to consider the correct body mechanics, so when you move the body to the right, it will take the right leg a few frames to push against that screen right momentum so that it can change direction. Of course that timing can be pushed depending on the style, but your animation is not super stylized and a bit more within the cartoony/realism world, so I would have the body start moving screen left at x452/453 once the foot is planted and able to push.
I agree that the right foot being in the air around x463 feels awkward. You could keep it, but then I would push the pose more. Right now, at x463, the body is facing toward the wall in front of him, the left foot is pointed to the left, the upper chest feels like it's pointed a bit more to the left than straight forward, given the shoulder poses, yet the right leg is going to right?
If you bring the body a bit more to his right, so that it looks like he's about to take the step to his right, that would help (see super awesome green scribble), leading into a pose that's pushed even more (not holding that pose, that would go into Warner Brother's land), which would be there as breakdowns for a tiny bit of a faster exit?



What do you think? Right now it feels a bit timid timing timing wise and the poses could be pushed a tiny bit more.

I hope any of this makes sense... :)

JD

Lukas Niklaus - Bottles - Critique

The side step around x59 feels a bit too "animated". It looks like a very distinct side step, like there is a big purpose behind, it draws attention, but I don't know acting wise why he does it. If that's his nature, then I would establish it from the start, so that his walk and the way he comes around the corner is immediately telling the audience, "I'm this guy who makes broad movements because I'm having an awesome morning". Which could work with the ending, because all the stress forces him to take smaller steps, because he doesn't want to get noticed, so there would be a good contrast between the beginning and the end.

BUT, from a technical point of view it's much better. There are no harsh direction changes or pops, so that's working very well.

Watch out for x143, we are loosing the pupils a lot. Even if it's correct in 3D space now, you can cheat and bring the eyes closer to us, so that we see the pupil better.

Around x198, when he lunges forward, it still feels a bit off, it feels too "animated" bu not character driven, plus he's looking up and moving forward at the same time. Sorry, I should have mentioned that last time. So you have two beats going on and I think it could be clearer. As I mentioned in our previous email, think Mr. Bean, how would he move forward? What's your guy thinking right now? That move only tells me that he's moving forward. I don't know if he's cautious, or trying to be quiet, or still not too worried about it, etc. Imagine him getting up on his toes to look first, to see if the coast is clear, no forward movement, then he shuffles quickly forward, trying to be quiet and slowly lowers himself, while the head is countering and still looking above the cubicle wall to make sure that no one is watching him.

The shuffle when the bottles are falling looks great, I like that a lot.

Around x405, I would put in a bit more emotion when the bottles crumble again. Right now he just walks away, but you could give us one more glimpse into his character. Is he just panicked, is he also embarrassed, does the noise freak him out, etc.?

The last walk/run behind the wall, I would add contrast by varying the height of the head. So he's the way you have him, maybe a bit higher as he walks, then he stops, hears the sound, and the last walk/run, you could have him much lower, like he's visually really trying to hide, so that there's more of a visual contrast between those sections.

Hope that helps!
Cheers
JD

Lukas Niklaus - Bottles - Critique

Overall it's coming together nicely, especially now that you've gone from stepped to spline mode. We get to see more of the timing for his movements. My general impression so far:

- his walk from x1 to around x39 feels a bit flat, it would be great to have a bit more weight and attitude to it; it's as if he's being rolled in on a cart :)

- the screen left movement stops a bit abruptly after x40 where he goes to the right and then to the left again (at x51) and then he stops and moves quickly screen right again to x68; I feel like the weight shifts and direction changes could be smoothed out so that the momentum for each movement doesn't get suddenly lost (especially at the beginning where he walks out behind the walk to around x40)

- another quick move happens around x41 wit the head, moving screen right to x46, then to 47 there's no screen right movement, then to 48 it's moving again

- when he puts the bottle up to take a sip at x15, I would hold x15 a bit longer, so you give it a beat for the water to go into his mouth and for him to start swallowing; right now the timing feels like he's just putting it on his lips and then immediately lowering the bottle; the timing of him lowering the bottle is also a bit even

- x61 he feels slightly off balance to the left; I would slow down the move from right to left (as mentioned above with the momentum changes), which will help with reducing how far he has to go screen left so that the momentum doesn't have to suddenly stop

- x174 to 190 feels a bit too snakey, how he leads with the head and moves forward, it felt a bit awkward and more creature like (and watch out for overstretching his left leg after x185)

- watch out for pops (due to constraints?) on his arms at x218 to 219

- on x303, his expression reminds me more of distrust and some aggressive sneakiness! :) What do you think about a more panicked look?

- his right arm moves a bit too fast from x288 to 293

- his rising after x304 feels a bit fast, I would ease out of that more, slow him down at the beginning

- he also feels a bit off balance, leaning back, from x310 to his standing pose into x332; either move the root forward or bring his right leg back screen left

- watch out for spacial stickiness on x393, with his left arm, until x399; it kinda sticks in space

- it will be fun too to add a bit more personality in his exit walk/run at the end

Hope this helps!!
JD

Lukas Niklaus - Wife - Critique

First off, it looks better and better. The main work at this point would be on the arms.

What you have in the hands until x76 is very cool. Nice and subtle.

After that it's mainly the screen right hand that feels too linear in its transitions. The screen left arm/hand is working very well until x254. From 254 to 273 the guy leans screen right, and the arm is moving a bit, but the fingers are totally locked. It would be good to get a little finger anim in there, reacting to the body shift. It continues to be great after that, but from x414, when the fingers go in for the fist, I would close the gap between the base section of the fingers. Right now they kind rotate in, using one axis, and it would be good to get a bit more contrast and complexity in that pose change and make it feel more like a fist, by having the fingers closer together and not so spread. And after that it's working well again, with great detail work when he brings his hand back in.
The screen right arm/hand starts to go up around x109 and it feels like the wrist is dragging as the arm goes up. It's subtle but I'm just not a big fan of wrist overlap during a move like that. It's not like he's tired. He is initiating that move, so the wrist would be more tense. The wrist then plops down at x124 and then freezes. It would be good to get a little two (maybe three) frame compression, where the wrist might tilt sideways and the fingers adjust to the weight.
Same thing when the wrist gets into the pose at x181. Even though there's some tiny movement in the index and thumb, the wrist feels very locked. So a little keep alive would help there.
It happens again after x205. You could leave it like that, but have a tiny bit of finger adjustment (middle finger could relax the most) when he looks up around x221.
The finger clenching at x362 to 380 feels to isolated in the fingers. There's not much wrist movement, but no forearm movement at all. I would just have something subtle, like you have it in the screen left hand/arm during the x274 to 287 area.
On the head drop after x399 and the big move after x428 and especially during the head up move around x458 could have some adjustment in the wrist and fingers, since such a big body part is moving around.

Lip sync wise, I still think that the area around x153, when he makes those sounds, should have it reflected at least in jaw movement, but also some mouth corners going out. First it's sort of a "yeh" and then it goes into a "ah". Right now the mouth area kinda glosses over that sound and to me there's a little disconnect there.

You mention the upper lids around x95. I agree that they are a bit floaty. To me the up movement is a bit slow. It's subtle though, and taking one (MAYBE two) frames out of there will help. Not a deal braker though.

That's about it though. Besides the hands, you're in full on polish mode and there's nothing that stand out as needing immediate fixing. At this point it's more about acting choices as opposed to technical issues, and I like the choices that you have. It's going to be a really cool shot!

JD

Lukas Niklaus - Wife - Critique

The eye darts changes are great, I like where you're going with this, it feels a lot more focused with separate emotional beats.
One thing I would try, is at the end, to take out all the eye darts after x469; or you take them out after that frame and only keep the last one, at the same moment, from x507 to x509. Right now I feel there are still too many darts there, which makes him look too "think-y". :)
The eye dart from x278 to 280 could also get cut. I'm curious what it would look like without. Right now the eyes move screen left while the head moves screen left as well, so that dart is a bit muddled because of that and gets a bit lost. So either cut it or try having it at 284, where the head is a bit more stable?
Your next eye pass is a subtle one. Whenever the eyes go up or down, doesn't matter how subtle the movement is, move the both lids up and down with it, but just a tiny bit. That way you will add some fleshiness to the eye balls. Some moments are a bit too fast so you will barely register, others you have it already, but you could push it a bit more, like from x219 to 220 it's a big eye dart, but the lids are pretty static. So just a little up on both lids will help.

Lipsync is heading in the right direction! There are some moments that felt a bit chatty and that could get simplified and some other areas that I would smooth out or push. Here my thoughts:

- the mouth corners expand and come to an abrupt stop at x10, ease more into that
- try to avoid one frame jaw movements, they end up being too harsh because there are no frames of softening, which give you sudden stops like from x42 to 43
- the "yeah" around x74 could get pushed in terms of size and asymmetry. You could open up the screen right corner a bit more and offset the height of both corners so that the shape doesn't feel so mirrored
- same symmetrical look is at x95 with both white areas of the teeth looking the same on the left and right side of the face.
- the mouth shape pops into a new pose over one frame from x95 to 96
- there could be a little jaw opening around x157 during his "jah" sound
- x202 to 203 the lip shape pops open (watch out for those 1 frame pops)
- the jaw looks like it's having a linear key and curve from x469 to 471

That's it!

Hope it helps!
JD

Lukas Niklaus - Wife - Critique

I agree with you that there are a few too many eye darts in there. I think whenever there's some introspective stuff, like at the very beginning, I feel like you could just have him stare. So from the the beginning until around x80 when he looks up, I would just have a vacant stare onto the table, where he's just visualizing loosing his family.

Eye darts to me are part of a through process where someone is deconstructing ideas or situations, problems, etc. Processing anything.

For the rest of the clip I like it until around x284. After that frame I would go quiet again with his eyes, but in the "pose"/eye direction of x318. Then, after the blink around x364 keep what you have until x476. To me, at that point, ​it's a stare into the officer's face, looking for sympathy and understanding, but with the current eyebrows, the sadness goes away for me, it's too probing. I think it might work a bit better with just a hopeful stare. Save that version, let's see how a stare would work and then we can compare, I could be wrong.

The eyebrow work is great. My only tweak would be at x476, during that last stare, I would have the eyebrows a bit more sympathetic and sad and less serious to reinforce that pleading and looking for understanding feeling.
Body wise, I would ease into the pose around x126 a bit more, when he leans back. How the body and head come to a stop is just a tiny bit abrupt and I would soften that a bit more.

For your next pass you can flesh out the lip sync and start thinking about the cop.

All in all though the shot looks really great and is a really strong piece! Nicely done!!

Lukas Niklaus - New York - Critique

The shots are getting better and better. Let's go through them one by one in more detail. Here my suggestions:

shot1:
- Soften the lips after "up". From x47 to x48 there is a big shape change, but from x48 to 49 there is no change except in the jaw. This gives the "p" in "up" too much emphasis, which is not reflected in the audio.
- watch the SL guy towards the end where the hand holding the cup starts to drift down. It feels more like a drift than an intentional move. Since we're shifting the attention to the girl, I would not have him move at all besides some tiny keep alive so that the audience doesn't get distracted
- this might just be me but it feels like the eye dart ending on x18 going screen right has then another slow move screen left right afterward, which I would take out. If you have a big eye dart going one way and then immediately going back it feels like a bounce, which is weird for eyes
- the girl's eye dart from x47 to x48 is a bit big, it feels more like a pop. I would also delay it by a few frames. We're looking at the guy, then he looks over to her, so the audience follows his look and by the time we get to her she's already done that eye dart. So just delay it a bit and don't have the eyes travel as far

shot2:
- I would delay her eye actions to x132 so that there is a little beat after New York; right now the eye darts feel a bit rushed and the pauses between each dart is very similar in timing
- I would soften the head stop at x159 so that only the beginning is harsh given her "swallow"
- as you mentioned the fingers need some refining but it's pretty close. I would adjust how the hand stops around x180 so it's not so clean and abrupt - and when the knee goes screen left around x257 it feels like the knee goes first without influencing the fingers

shot3:
- you could move the guy a little bit more screen left but it's not a deal breaker
- his left hand move up around x326 to 330 is a bit fast, especially at the end how it stops; a fast move like that is a bit too contrasty given the quiet delivery of the line
- you mentioned that you liked the head turn as it is; I still feel that it is a bit too arc-y and fast on the up, but if you feel strongly about it then that's perfectly valid

Almost there! Nice work!

Lukas Niklaus -New York - Critique

Shot3: Looks good, but I would position the guy a bit more screen left. Right now everything is concentrated within the screen right half, which is crowding that area a bit. He could stand where the pole is, maybe a tiny bit to the right of it. Then just cheat the pole around.

Shot2: It's much better with the toned down emotion and I can see your point about the gear change at that point. All I would do is break up that change a bit then. Her pause is not just a pause, it's kind of a hidden swallow because of her emotions. So instead of having her just look down after New York, I would have multiple little eye darts. She is basically remembering the good times there (like you said), but as she remembers L.A. it would be interesting to see how her mind works. By having little eye darts you would show how hear brain is processing and remembering that information and after that it triggers that swallow/reaction and change of mood. So hold her look after New York, but then lower her eyes a bit earlier than what you have now, and don't go lower then her eye pose on x137 (just move it more screen right/left, so she doesn't look into the camera). Hold that pose for a beat and then go to x138, hold that for only a few frames and then go to x139 at that lowest position, but have more of a left or right translation from x138 to 139.

His last look and that smile: if you're going for sympathy, then I would bring up his top eye lids a bit more and if you have control over their rotation, then have them less pointed down towards the nose. His expression on x359 feels "Yeah baby" and almost creepy, given the sad and somber tone of the voices. You can have a smile that says "I understand what you mean." but just dial down that 'Hey baby, want a drink?" look. :)
What doesn't help either is the speed of the head turn. Again, given the mood, it's a bit too fast.

The rest looks pretty good. There's one moment with her on x227, how she has that one eyebrow up, which is a bit too far away from her disappointed/somber mood. Just dial down those eyebrows and keep the sadness. Even the pose on x283 feels more sad. That one is a good combination of feeling puzzled and sad. Plus I wouldn't have first the screen right eyebrow up and the moments later the screen left one, it's a bit too "first this side... aaaand now this side".

I agree that the hand stopping around x223 is a bit too fast, you could soften that part. Also watch out that fingers are not going through her leg, like on x198.
What I would add in terms of hand mechanics is during the moment when she takes her left hand off the other hand. Right now that hand doesn't react to it, the leg doesn't react to it either. Once the hand slides off, bring in some wrist changes and finger changes (for her right one). And since only her right hand is on the leg, it would pull that knee a bit screen left, now that the stabilizing left hand is gone. So add a little leg move during that moment.
You could almost go as far as fully rotating her right wrist towards her a bit more. Looking at the silhouette and shape around x280 for instance, we don't see her right elbow and her lower part of the wrist kinda sticks out to the left. So that wrist and arm feel a bit disconnected. I would rotate the wrist out towards us, so that we see more of the finger tips once the other hands gets off of it. If by that we bring her arm a bit back, so that you can see her elbow than even better.

Lukas Niklaus - New York - Feedback

Animation aside (which looks good btw.), there's a confusing feel in terms of screen direction. It's technically working, but there's a weird feel of having her look screen left at the end, but then shot 3 has her screen left and him screen right. It could work if you just flop the last shot so that she's on the right.

Acting wise, I feel like the delivery for both characters is pretty sad and subdued. So when she's saying "I grew in New York..." and then swallows before "and I moved to L.A. ..." it feels like she's having a hard time saying those lines (both physically and mentally), yet the way you play it out with her look up after "New York" (a frame counter is needed) she smiles, which feels odd, given the tone and feeling of the audio. I would keep it more serious and take that smile out.
The same thing for the guy at the end. His "Yeah I know..." is not exactly happy but you have him smile, which feels weird as well.
I would have her eye direction stay within the left field (so on New York have her look screen left and not screen right - same thing on "... married but... ". You still have a lot of room on the left for different eye darts, but I think overall visually it will be clearer. Unless you have her look screen right but down, so it's about her thoughts and not eye contact with the guy.