A few words of congratulations re. working hard to get this latest version submitted. I know it was a bit of a push! All the improvements you've made really show up in terms of a punchier experience, and I'm hoping the big improvements can inspire you further to make the rest of the tweaks.
I have a couple of suggestions re. enriching further some of your scenes, primarily the 'father on horseback' - and hopefully, the suggestions are more an issue of compositing some additional layers, as opposed to anything too dramatic (but I maybe wrong!). At times, it's hard to get a sense of flight, flurry or speed in these scenes; they're much more dynamic for having more 'up and down', but I suspect the addition of some parallax will really lend further dynamism to these scenes. Imagine that we're watching the horse-riding scenes through some foreground elements - the leaves and branches of trees that are whipping past the camera in the immediate foreground - the speed of these blurred elements flying past will do two things: firstly it will add more dynamism to the 'up and down' by introducing left-to-right activity; the send it will give us a greater sense of being 'in' the forest; being 'inside' an environment. It could be as simple as seeing a series of vertical 'stripes/silhouettes' fly past the screen, to create a strobing quality. Take a look at this chase sequence from Apocalypto for reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmp-y0K0S0U
I think it would likewise help these moments if you were to intercut to some close-ups of the father here - a more intense angle - and use the 'wipe effect' of the foreground elements as they whizz past to cut backwards and forewards between the master shot and some close-ups. These scenes feel - visually - a bit less interesting and engaging than they might be, and I'm pretty sure that introducing foreground elements and a bit more variety of shots will really lift these scenes.
In terms of other animation priorities, I suggest you think about the 'dancing daughters' scene and seek to up the impact there too :)
motion blur? The father seems too crisp in terms of his 'up and down' - some motion blur to create a more truly filmic, physical effect?
Camera shake when the horse goes past @ 8 secs? I think you used to have it there, and I really liked it; perhaps it was suggested you tone it down a bit, but I'm really missing that crunchy, physical feeling in this shot.
The father shot @ 13 secs... This shot feels long to me; it leaves me wanting to cut back to a wide shot of the boy, the father and the horse before we cut to the father's POV; the introduction of another shot here would lift this sequence and lend energy.
"Or force I shall use'.... Hmm, just feels like we want to see more of the Erl-King here - that perhaps we cut to the black too soon? And then, there's something a bit glitchy happening when this blackness gives way to the fog/smoke; we're left looking at something that isn't moving (the black smoke) and then we see it move away - it feels like someone is just a couple of seconds late in moving the scenery - can you fix to ensure this all feels nice and interrupted and fluid?
Dear P-G & Sam,
ReplyDeleteA few words of congratulations re. working hard to get this latest version submitted. I know it was a bit of a push! All the improvements you've made really show up in terms of a punchier experience, and I'm hoping the big improvements can inspire you further to make the rest of the tweaks.
I have a couple of suggestions re. enriching further some of your scenes, primarily the 'father on horseback' - and hopefully, the suggestions are more an issue of compositing some additional layers, as opposed to anything too dramatic (but I maybe wrong!). At times, it's hard to get a sense of flight, flurry or speed in these scenes; they're much more dynamic for having more 'up and down', but I suspect the addition of some parallax will really lend further dynamism to these scenes. Imagine that we're watching the horse-riding scenes through some foreground elements - the leaves and branches of trees that are whipping past the camera in the immediate foreground - the speed of these blurred elements flying past will do two things: firstly it will add more dynamism to the 'up and down' by introducing left-to-right activity; the send it will give us a greater sense of being 'in' the forest; being 'inside' an environment. It could be as simple as seeing a series of vertical 'stripes/silhouettes' fly past the screen, to create a strobing quality. Take a look at this chase sequence from Apocalypto for reference:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmp-y0K0S0U
I think it would likewise help these moments if you were to intercut to some close-ups of the father here - a more intense angle - and use the 'wipe effect' of the foreground elements as they whizz past to cut backwards and forewards between the master shot and some close-ups. These scenes feel - visually - a bit less interesting and engaging than they might be, and I'm pretty sure that introducing foreground elements and a bit more variety of shots will really lift these scenes.
In terms of other animation priorities, I suggest you think about the 'dancing daughters' scene and seek to up the impact there too :)
some other observations:
ReplyDeletemotion blur? The father seems too crisp in terms of his 'up and down' - some motion blur to create a more truly filmic, physical effect?
Camera shake when the horse goes past @ 8 secs? I think you used to have it there, and I really liked it; perhaps it was suggested you tone it down a bit, but I'm really missing that crunchy, physical feeling in this shot.
The father shot @ 13 secs... This shot feels long to me; it leaves me wanting to cut back to a wide shot of the boy, the father and the horse before we cut to the father's POV; the introduction of another shot here would lift this sequence and lend energy.
"Or force I shall use'.... Hmm, just feels like we want to see more of the Erl-King here - that perhaps we cut to the black too soon? And then, there's something a bit glitchy happening when this blackness gives way to the fog/smoke; we're left looking at something that isn't moving (the black smoke) and then we see it move away - it feels like someone is just a couple of seconds late in moving the scenery - can you fix to ensure this all feels nice and interrupted and fluid?