final line test and ed hooks feedback

Here is the completed line test save for a few inbetweens here and there. I have changed the ending somewhat radically after receiving feedback from Ed Hooks the other week, who was here to critique our work. The major character change is that instead of uttering the last lines of dialogue, Mr Bronson puts the box down next to him and then has a moment where he eyes up the pie and goes to have a taste. Whilst I intend to extend the sequence slightly to have him react well to the actually rather tasty pie, I was slightly over the time limit as it was. However this is all with the intended effect to show a slightly warmer side to the character, as this was Ed's major gripe with the piece.

His opinion was that I was making it very hard for the audience to like this character, as he was being somewhat of a characature for anger and bitterness. He certainly had a point, even though the story I had may have made more sense in a larger context. In relation to Up, for example, there are 20 second examples of Carl being a grumpy old git without evidence of a lighter side to his character. The problem I have put myself in, however, is that because there is no screen time available at each end of those 20 seconds for my piece, there is no reason why the audience won't decide that this guy is a nasty swine 100% of the time.

I have left the dialogue intact for now (I may rerecord some of it later on), but I have attempted with this changed ending to show just a little bit of leeway for a good guy, or at least the capacity for a good guy.

As far as the mechanics of the animation, I decided early on that he would be a very stiff character as far as his movement is concerned. However, to avoid the risk of him looking like a robot, I have attempted to add some subtle overlap and secondary animation where necessary. I also tried to get the arcs right so that nothing was too jerky, and I added subtle anticipation squash and stretch when he delivers the line "Here, I made you something".

There still needs to be more inbetweens in the middle section on the way back to the chair, and a more varying use in places, but overall I am pleased with the poses and general movement of the character.

final line test from Philip Askins on Vimeo.