Animation Critique: Audio Clip

Direct Link: "Food Chain"












I like the idea. The voice sound like the guy is an ass, or at least slimey, and a TV show producer fits nicely. The set looks great too, awesome work. It might be the compression, but the movie clip is very dark. The console is almost black and so is the guy's sweater. The image you sent me was better, you can make out the slider slits (whatever you call that) and overall it's just not as dark. Having the light flicker on his body from the TV is neat, make sure it's not distracting. The Norman modification is sweet, nice work!

Looking at the blocking that you sent me, what stuck out is his last hand movement. Is he supposed to push the sliders up? The way the hand goes forward with his fingers spreading out and how the hand goes up, it doesn't look like a button push or slider push. What's the intention on that? You mentioned in our mail that he will push play for the tape. Let's talk about it in class tomorrow.
The pose in the picture is more aggressive than what you have in the movie. I would go for something more like the picture. In the movie he's almost too relaxed.

Now, I showed the clip to other people and here are the most common concerns:

- make it clear who and where the guy is. It could be TV, it could be music, it could be a security guard. Suggestion: add a "On Air" sign in the back, not lit, and when he pushes the buttons at the end, light it up. But at a "On the Air" or whatever sign will make it clear where he is.

- he sounds sleazy, but his costume is too neat. Add some sleaziness to it. A cigar maybe? Something different with his sweater? Rings? Big gold watch?

- the image you sent me seamed clearer in terms of focusing on the guy. In the movie he is smaller and you see more of the equipment (especially adding all the TVs), which distracts a bit from the guy. You can zoom in on him to fix that or change the colors so that contrast and value wise (do the squint test), you will focus on him only.

- it took people a while to get used to the set in combination with the audio, at first it was hard to understand the context, they didn't get it. "Top of the food chain, dinner's served? TV? Huh?"

Let's ask the class for feedback on Monday. Do the same on your side, show the clip to a lot of people for feedback, if the staging and set/character choice is clear.
I like it, I get it, but that's just me, don't confuse your audience.

Nice work though!