 It is Thursday and that means acting analysis for animators and today I'm going to talk about The Illusionist. There are actually two things I want to talk about. It's a short scene and then a longer sequence, but that longer sequence is going to be part two for maybe in a month or so when I do, you know, kind of stagger type of multiple parts like ER and take shelter. So this one is on the shorter side, but that's okay because it's still awesome. And I'm not going to link it in the description because it's super short in the dialogue. It's just not that important. I can kind of walk you through it, but the other one is totally different, longer, very important. But anyway, let's get to it. So to set the scene, let's explain he is not happy that he is here. Why? Because his future wife or so he wants to is kind of his childhood friend and he went away for a long time and then came back and then she was with him doing something. And then the other guy who was kind of in the royal family is very jealous and so on and so on. It's kind of a love triangle thing, kind of the backstory. But the thing is for this scene, he invited Edward Norton, that's the magician to his palace to kind of do a magic demonstration, magic trick demonstration. But he's kind of making fun of them. I mean, not fun of them. He's just not respecting him. And here's a scene where Edward Norton kind of takes control of the scene and there's something that's very in terms of body acting and kind of subconscious maybe and I might be reading way too much into this, but there's something that I want to show you which is so awesome. So hold up. So as he walks away, Edward Norton says your sword is very beautiful and that's why he stops here and has that little thing and then might I see it and then he gets closer and so on. I'll play the whole thing here. He shows him that looks around, blah, blah, blah. I want to spoil it. But anyway, so what do I love about this? A, the body acting of him being annoyed. It's so good. You don't even have to hear the audio. So he calls him in here and look at A, that arm swing. And he does that tiny little up and down, little hop. Watch this. And blah, blah, blah. It's so tiny. It's so great. So he's totally annoyed. And I love it that that moment of he's not turning around. He's not addressing him. He looks forward like, oh, no, this swinging of like, oh, really? Do you really have to talk to me again? Do I really need to do this? It's so good. There's no facial expression. It's all in the body. And in animation, it's actually super rare. And I don't think I've ever done it that you have your character turn around and then have the back towards camera. And you do all the acting through body emotion, body acting, posture. There's a timing of it. And you don't see anything in the face. And it's so good. It's just a start. I love it. It's so good. So then he might not see it. He stands straight but does that little puppy tilt. Cause it is still respectful. And here's the awesome part. So he goes back, looks at him for a bit, takes out his sword. But then as he does that, he looks at the audience. This is an audience full of royals and, I guess, princes. I don't know, like Zimbudapesh. So I'm not sure the royal details, I apologize. But he has his entourage and he's kind of, you know, kind of like I said, kind of making fun, kind of being condescending towards Edward Norton. So he has that look. Cause I can't believe he's asking me to do this. And you can see that stare, that look there and that little, that little look there is so good. And then he says, may I? So why do I love this? Besides all the details that I just mentioned. So he comes in, takes the sword and he doesn't really quite address him. There's that little look there. Like, ah, you turd. But then he looks at the audience really and he goes, might I see it? I might touch your may I? He's like I think he says may I. And then this is the best part. He looks at the sword, waits, and does this, right? He doesn't look at Edward Norton at all. There's no like, oh yeah, you may or, I don't know, something you could say. And then as he looks, as he puts it down, he looks again at the audience and then at the very end, that stare. So good with that slow walk. But what I love and why am I showing you this is this part here. So A, you could argue that this is an extension of manly hood. Maybe they are comparing things. But anyway, so as he does this, this is my favorite part. So he is of noble stature. You know, he's a royal. He is whatever he is at this point. Again, I apologize. I should know more, but you know, you can Google it. So he has this sword and he is above Edward Norton in status and level. The arrogance is just like, you're just a peasant. You're just something I don't really care. Now, as you watch this, he waits, decides what he should do, and then he lowers the sword. And it's not like he would hand it to him. Take hand off or here, here's the handle, blah, blah, blah. It's like he is physically lowering himself to his low status. So from high status to low status. And it's a subtle thing. And this is very subjective. I could be totally wrong, but this is how I read it. And if I ever have to do a scene that's similar, I'm totally going to use this because I love that moment. But again, subjective. I don't know if I could be wrong. If you think this is different, I would love to get a different opinion because I've talked about this shop for so long in class and that's always been my interpretation, which of course I tell them this is my subjective opinion anyway. If you have anything, let me know in the comments. It's so cool. Watch this again. May I? He waits and then I guess so, so good, so good. And all right, sure. Take it. And he's very, very, very respectful. He's got the handkerchief here. He doesn't want to, you know, sully the blades. He touches in here, not, you know, he doesn't, he's very respectful in his whole presentation and I love that look of, all right, show me you turd. What do you have to do here? So good. I love this moment. And it's this combination of the pause, not looking, physically lowering himself to his status and then still looking at the audience going, I can't believe I have to do this. So good. So good. So good. I love it. That's it. Short and sweet. Next time it's going to be much, much longer. It's going to be kind of a power play between two characters. But I thought this would be really cool to show in terms of just body language. Again, there's no real, there's no audio from the prince, whatever he is, right? So there's just the physical acting from behind as you see his little stop, the swing and then the relaxed little, impatient little hop there, the looks or the non looks, the stairs, the pause, the lowering, all that stuff tells us so much about his character. This is so cool. So if you have a shot without audio, think about that. Think about, well, what could I do with the posture, the look or turning away from a second character? Do I have eye contact? I'm huge about eye contact and not eye contact. How long do you stare for? Just a bit too long. Would you turn around and hold and hold and then you turn around? Kind of a mistrust type of look and so on. So much you can do. Again, I love it. I am so enthusiastic about this scene and the other one, which is also so awesome. But that's it. If you have any comments about this, let me know. I'm very curious what you think about this. Short and sweet. If you like this, I would still appreciate a like. And if you watched this whole thing till the very end, as always, I appreciate your time that you are putting into clicking and watching this. And if you want to get all the notifications about everything that I upload every day, subscribe and hit that bell button. I am above 2000. I want to get to, I don't know, some vanity metric about subscribers. But it helps. It helps me gauge the interest in all the critiques and then the movies, the things that you like. So if you like this or if you didn't like this, let me know. Let me know how you could make this better. Tomorrow and the FNA is going to be a segment about answering all your awesome questions. So tune in tomorrow or I think a pretty lengthy FNA called, I think Answers. I'm just going to call it Answers or Q&A Answers. Anyway, thanks for watching.