Yuri Perrini - Cat - Video Critique

Watch the video review here.

Yuri Perrini - Suitcase - Critique

Hey,

all is well, hope you're doing good too!

The idea of breaking up the shot into separate sections for polish is a great idea and I frequently do the same thing. Your shot is long so it can be daunting to refine everything. But it's looking good overall, don't be too frustrated. :)

The frame range you want to work on sounds good. I also go by the actions of the character. You mention the first 300 frames, but you could also go up to x342, since he stops pulling and goes into a new action. Totally up to you, it's just something to think about if it helps.

The camera movement works and helps us getting a good look at him, nicely done!

As you start splining and refining the timing, here some areas I'd tweak while you're at it:

- don't forget to keep a clean silhouette throughout the shot, so avoid any tangents:

 - there's the moment where he turns around the suitcase and leaves it tilted. Being so heavy, it feels like it should fall over during that section after the turn and until he gets ready to pull around x419. So maybe show that he's still holding it up, or better, have the suitcase start tipping over and he pulls it up a bit for balance. Would be very cool to keep showing the weight of it during that section:

- after the break-away pull, I feel that by x581 his root can be higher so that he's not so squatting in his steps. His legs are already long, so his bent legs feel a bit weird at that point, it's kind of a forced pose:

- lastly, I like the direction you're going for the ending, I'd just be careful with the pose at x815 and 817. It indicates that he's jumping to the right. So point him the other way so that the arc is correct.

Nice work!!
JD

Yuri Perrini - Suitcase - Critique

The shot is coming along really nicely! Don't worry about your workspeed, you're doing great and it's important to have the foundation and poses right!

I like how you incorporated your reference into your anim at the end, the timing and poses work very well!

I would concentrate on finishing it up, so that the whole thing is blocked out and then I'd spline it, so you can see what's really going on timing wise.

Here my thoughts on some of the poses of what you have so far:

- At the beginning, I would move the ticket holding arm a bit more screen left, so that the ticket is sticking out a bit more to the left and so that you have more negative space between the upper arm and his chest.

- same thing when he looks down, I'm move both arms out more, so that the silhouette is cleaner and the hands don't overlap so much with the body.

- when he's pulling the suitcase up, it moves straight up, but if you look at the angle of his arms, the suitcase would rotate towards him a bit and get pulled up and back more

- when the handle breaks off, I would have it rotate more to the left, so that the handle is not overlapping with the body; and by doing that you will see more of the bent arm for a cleaner silhouette; right the we can't really see the elbow, so if you do the squinty test the SL arm looks more like a stump :)

But that's it! Keep going so that we can see it all blocked out, then spline it and we will fine tune the timing! Looking great though!

JD

Yuri Perrini - Pantomime - Critique

Ok, now, your clip, which is cute! I really like how he moves closes after x100. :)

Is this an exercise, for a reel, for a teacher, etc.? Would be good to know a bit of history to your shot, just in case. It helps me focus on specific areas for the critique.

As of now, here my 2 cents:
- since he has such a huge head, it's important to not move it too quickly, or stop it quickly, otherwise the sense of mass and weight will be gone. At the same time you don't want the head to be floaty.
So at very beginning he tilts his head over to x8 and then stops. It would be good to soften that stop a tiny bit with a moving hold. But it's fine line, you don't want it to be a drift, like from x36 to 50, where it feels like the head is slowly dropping. Same during the head turns until x87, the head is a bit loose after each turn, which makes it look spliney.
Also, watch out for sudden moves and spacing changes. If you flip back and forth between x111 and 112 and track his nose, you see how far up he goes. But flip between 112 and 113 and you'll see no up rotation, it's all sideways. Then from x113 to 114 the head suddenly goes down. Moments like that really take away from the weight of the head, plus your arcs are very flat that way (red) instead of round (green):

The finger wiggling moment after x129 feels a tiny bit too adult (like some evil mastermind), and not what a little kid would do, but that might just be me. Action wise, he moves forward, then the whole body stops and he does his finger wiggle and then goes for the box. It feels very separate and more like you hit that moment, then set random keys for the fingers, and then you continue. It would be great to have that moment more focused. He moves forward, does one little wiggle, then goes into a fist and brings his hands a bit closer to the body for more of an anticipation.

Then, when he puts his hands on the box, it looks more like a move, just motion, maybe constraining hands to the lid? It would be great to get more emotion out of that move. Is he trying to be delicate? Is he shy? Is he determined?

When that thing comes out of the box, I would actually have the head tilted the other way, and the thing come up a bit a straight. Reason being, right now the lid and the purple thing are covering his face, and you don't want to break eye contact with your character. Plus with this surprise, we, as the audience, want to know what the kid's reaction is, but we can't always see it because his face is covered.

Once he gets scared and turns around, the same happens spacing wise with his head. Quick moves, quick stops, etc. that take away from the weight and mass of the head.

The run at the end could have a bigger translation, meaning, he's really leaning forward, yet the amount of distance he covers is small. He looks like he's running really fast, but he doesn't get that far. :)

These are the main elements I would tweak for now. I hope the notes make sense. :)

JD

Yuri Perrini - Suitcase - Critique

Hey,

that's a great first pass, you did a good job incorporating the reference into your poses.

Regarding your ending: I like the "breaking the handle" because it adds even more frustration to his already stressful situation! :)

There are some areas here and there that I would tweak for your next pass.

- timing wise: the "looking at the watch" transition to his reaction is too fast. It's very poppy and we need to be able to ready this moment:

- how the suitcase falls over to the left needs to be sold more. Right now it just happens, without any clear indication as to why; in your reference you take your foot off the lower part of the suitcase; so something similar would be good; or his knee bumps into it before he can grab it, etc.

- I think you can slow down the first pull from x166 on, so that it gives the suitcase more weight

 - when he kicks the suitcase, I'd stick to the reference a bit more in terms of balance; when you did it, it was more about trying to make the suitcase pivot over, but you weren't leaning all the way back in order to pull the suitcase; in your anim it doesn't look like he's trying to to make the suitcase pivot over enough, mainly because your kicks are very similar, so it feels more like a frustrated kick; in your reference you change position when you start kicking the second time, which brings nice contrast to the poses

- watch out for the last lift; your anim guy is too far back and the suitcase would have to move towards him due to the center of gravity (unless he has REALLY strong arms, which would be able to lift a super heavy suitcase straight up); in your ref your body is much closer to the suitcase:

whereas in your anim it looks like this:

If you look at your arms, the suitcase would have to move along the lines of the arms and not straight up.

I would work on those main areas first, but again, great first pass!!

Hope this helps!

And remind me, sorry, is it okay to post this online?

Cheers
JD