Christoph Angehrn - Fight - Video Critique

Watch the video review here.

Christoph Angehrn - Fight - Video Critique

Watch the video review here.

Christoph Angehrn - Fight - Critique

I think shot 4 works well in the cut, the only thing that cuts weird is the camera movement. Meaning, in shot 4 the camera is still and in shot 5 it's tracking and tilting. I would start moving in the camera towards the green guy ever so slightly in shot 4 and slow down the camera at the beginning of shot 5, so that the motion carries over in a subtle way.

The expression of shot 3 I'm not too sure about. He feels more like a movie creature, that roars before an attack. It makes him look really animalistic and not human. :)
Is that the intention?

Overall though it's coming together, my only change would be for the last shot (don't forget to include frame counters, the last one has it missing).

After his jump he punches the guy, but that move feels really odd because there's a direction change in mid air, which doesn't really work:

If you look at the arc of the jump, he would end up where the point of my green arrow is, yet he suddenly moves SR for no reason. In order to make it work with the position of the punch (before he lands on the guy and slides SR (that direction change makes sense because of the body contact)), you will have to move him over to the right and flatten the visual Left to Right arc:

I hope my crappy drawings make sense. :)

If you have an overall controller that moves the whole guy, you could counter that move to the right, so that you don't have to go back into his animation. What do you think?

JD

Christoph Angehrn - Fight - Critique

 Hey,

glad to hear it was helpful!

Here some picky notes for you:

shot 1:
- staging wise, I'd move the green guy a bit over, so that the hand of the red guy is not covering him or forming a tangent:

For the fist, it's looking better, I would just give it a beat at the end with the fist closed. It feels like you're closing it and then there's immediately the cut. I think you want to rest on that fist a bit longer and give the audience enough time to read it.
And don't forget to do the same thing with the other fist (a bit off set of course, but it's a bit weird to have only one fist do all the acting). :)

shot 2:
- that one works a lot better, nicely done! His thought process is a lot clearer and I like the looks and pauses!
- my only comment would be at the end. It's as if you kept the motion but just changed the finger pose, meaning, they feel a bit disconnected. Having that finger pose indicates something smaller (since there's only one finger up), but yet you have a big hand waving motion. So to me they're fighting a bit. I'd tone the wave done and maybe just have the arm come up, finger up, and then do two little finger moves back? Something like that? Your call, but I think there's still room for a more distinct acting choice.

Cheers
JD

Christoph Angehrn - Fight - Critique

Ok, for the two new shots, here are my thoughts:

shot1:
- red guy steps in and makes a fist; I think the fist moment can be pushed a bit with a pause between those two moments, so on x341, I would wait 10 more frames, then make the fist and as you continue to add breakdowns, I wouldn't make the fist transition too fast; I think if you have that moment be more deliberate and slow, it will show us that this guy is really pissed and it's his goal to kick some ass, instead of just showing a succession of movements by having this guy step in and go directly into a fist post

shot2:
- when we see the green guys' face, before the wipe, are you planning on having him react to the red guy stepping in? Meaning, is his downward gaze going to go up, will he blink, will there be any facial reaction or is he totally concentrated and cold, like he knew already that the red guys is going to show up so that he just turns and goes "come here, let's do this"?
- the "come here" wave is a bit played out; I'm glad you didn't do the "Matrix" cupped finger/hand pose and it's more of a wave, but we could push this a bit more and give it a bit more character. What's the green guy's attitude towards the red guy? Is he confident he can kill him? Would the wave be a bit more relaxed and bored? Is the ready to fight but he secretly knows that he might not win? Would it be good then to have just one wave? A quick one? Or is he so strong that wants to play with him? Would he then not wave but just use his index finger, like a playful "come here little guy"?

I think overall all the ideas are in place, but it would be really cool to think about character moments even when the faces are not visible. You can still tell us about their character, just by seeing their body move, or just through a hand gesture.

What do you think?

JD