My Animation showreel

[jacko777]

My first Animation showreel critz n commetns welcome.:D
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ryYQmN_NWZo&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ryYQmN_NWZo&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object>

[Amrit Derhgawen]

My first Animation showreel critz n commetns welcome.:D

Hey there, Really nice work. Actually, I don't have much to say. Your work has a lot of energy. Its really good that you tend to push things to make it look fun. Now, this is not the end. You've got a lot of room for improvement. So keep on learning. Animation is fun, enjoy it! The only thing which I felt is..... Some of your animations suffer from weight problems. The root cause could be, poor timing, bad eases, weak breakdowns, etc. What I think is, your animation needs some "cushioning". You tend to make things snappy and cartoony, but forget to ease in properly and add that slight moving hold which really is so important and adds so much to the life and believability of the character.

The first animation looks really cool, but there are some things which are not as clear as it should be. First off, the way your "ball with tail" guy emerges from the ground is not at all clear. I had to watch it a couple of times to understand what was happening. Thats not a very good news for you. Your idea should be LOUD and CLEAR! No one should say, "hey! I didn't get it...can I see that again?" This means you've not worked enough on your staging, or maybe there isn't much antic, or maybe the timing is not working out, or there are some problems with the silhouette of your character. Having said that, you need to work on your silhouette, and timing to make it a stronger piece. The ball with a tail: Work on its tail. Its tail is doing secondary and it should be in the direction where it is coming from. So, pay attention to that. (See the attached JPEG file)

The second one has a character running in towards the door. The run looks stiff and weight-less. The upper half looks too stiff and you haven't worked enough to create an illusion of weight for the upper body (Chest, head/neck, shoulders and the arms). You need to loosen it up, create overlaps, etc. The guy falls down and then, gets up on his feet. This part isn't working out for me. You've simply missed an opportunity to exaggerate things and caricature real life. This getting up part could have added a lot of life to your animation. Thats the reason why I always recommend everyone to STUDY real life and notice things, which usually people don't notice and simply take everything for granted. Video tape yourself...observe, study, learn, exaggerate, and try to apply that to your work.

Dialog/acting: I'm not much convinced with this acting shot. The guy is talking to his elder brother and it looks like as if, he is talking to a kid or somebody much younger. I would've added some attitude, expression on the elder brother's face. He wouldn't stand there like a small kid. He will be quiet, but his body, especially the face, will speak more, "yes, I am the big bro!" And the younger brother will speak out more but will not use a lot of body/hand gestures, as if he is talking to a small kid and giving him a good lesson. Right now, it looks like as if he is saying, don't do that, or else I'll kick your *ss! I don't think this kinda attitude of the younger bro looks appropriate with the dialog. The younger brother loves him and respects him but he is just pissed off of something. His body gestures shouldn't be that offensive and bold. Do you understand what I'm trying to say? Just after "and I love you", you've missed a great opportunity to show the love and respect for his elder brother. This part will be subtle but will speak out the most, through his face and especially the eyes. And you can say, that this is the heart of this dialog. Because this is the part where he is showing the 'love and respect' part of his feeling. He is saying that, I don't hate you... I care about you... I respect you....you're my blood! (without this part, there is no heart in this dialog!) But at the same time he is not quite happy with the circumstances and thus, makes a complain. Just keep him more on the subtle side! The place, where he will show the most of his anger and frustration is somewhere around the part where he says, "but don't ever take sides with anyone, against the family again..." This is the part where most of his frustration will emerge out and he will use more body gestures to convey his point. And then maybe, he'll just walk away slowly, saying "ever!" (in a somewhat sad manner) or something like that. Am I clear enough? This is just how I think of it. Get into the character and understand the context and the subtext of the dialog and everything will start making sense to you. This will also help you to avoid all the cliche.

Well, thats it for now! Sorry, I can't comment on the rest of your reel... the time isn't allowing me to do that, but I hope this all makes some sense to you.

Best................ -A

(P.S) I'm attaching some JPEGs. You'll have to log-in and check 'em out!

[jacko777]

thanks very much amrit for pointing out mistakes.I really appreciate what you had said and will rectify it.About dialogue it was my first try and I never thought of the points you just said thanx again for that Iwill take those things under consideration and will improve it further.And you are right this is just a start we have to keep learning till the end.:D

Thanks again for your suggestions.
jacko.