 Welcome back to our acting analysis and tips for animators and today I'm going to take a look at the Netflix movie Alona Holmes I got six scenes I want to talk about the last one is a spoiler But I'll mark it because it talks about the end up before I do if you use this channel Hi, my name is JD and I do acting analysis clips like these. I do animation analysis clips I do lectures I do rib reviews animation news that post my feedback all kinds of things as always feel free to browser on my channel If it's something that you like feel free to subscribe so you don't miss any of my uploads and that is it Let's go straight to the clips. So lots of little snippets here I'm gonna show and this one is mainly about an entrance I like how she enters the scene like this pushing this up with her head only So you might expect potentially hands may be gripping this and push pushing this up But it's actually as we can see this she's pushing that with her head here And what I like after that is that adjustment here with the hat So why do I like this because this I know if you watch my channel I think you know I like entrances especially if this is your reel this could be your title card name Year, you know, whatever your email whatever contact information that you have and then whatever background you have You know black whatever color you have couldn't fade out into this set And then as this fades out bam The character has an entrance and it makes gives it some good energy in your reel Anyway, it's very subjective, but I like this in terms of what you could use for this I think this is an interesting way of opening something up that you would not expect Maybe she has to hold on to something for security. She doesn't fall Maybe she has to hold on to some props, but it's not what you would expect It's probably expect something to be pushed through a hand or there's something that she can hold to push this up Whatever it is and the extra thing that I like is that the hat is covering her eyes So that you have a funny entrance that concentrates on mouth shapes So you can push that in your animation and then you can have this where this would be more exaggerated really pushing back the hat and then really Showing off really big eyes and then it's like a second stage of your facial animation I think just in terms of practical usage an interesting entrance with something you would not expect or a way you would not expect Showing off one section that you really want to focus on and then through that you can show off a second Moment of again like a wondrous look here or whatever you want to do in your animation But I think these are all interesting elements for a shot. The second moment here is a gesture as Homes here tells her to get out of here and she's slightly surprised. Oh, okay She's got that little moment of okay. I guess it's time. Maybe I should leave I think it's an interesting little extra thing that she has because of her prop here That's part of her timeliness and the things that she teaches it's an interesting little moment there But what I like here is when she turns watch this she turns and goes, you know She has to get out of here. There are more many things that I like mainly because she just told her to stand here It's the thing she has to learn how to behave like a lady about what's not her fault that she stands there But it's just a moment of it's a continuation of audio, right? Well as he is done saying, okay It's okay for you to leave and as I always say yours your lip sync doesn't have to end at that point You can add this this is part of your idea here and that if you have multiple characters You can have that as a moment of get out of here, but she could be asking nicely She could be pushing her away or could just be this out or you know step to the side So I can't get out. It's just a simple thing as people like to put gestures into their animation I like that a moment. It's not overdone and it tells us that it's not you know push She is just yell at her but it's still very decisive and very clear of get out of my way And I think it's a nice little touch So if you have to have a gesture Maybe could be part of something of how we get to understand how this character is and how this character relates to Other characters in that scene so she put herself into this basket But then she wants to get out of there because she has a better idea or she needs to find an idea And what I like about this is the two things a you got the other character here and for clarity Potentially you could have him or her where we're gonna have I know that's a nose But you have you say character in here bigger in frames. It's a bit clear And it's kind of just the outline But what I like is this is that she does this and he gets out of frame So you could have something where just for context we're showing she's not alone There's another character one or two in this scene so they're multiple characters So that when she does this here she talks and she does this We understand that there's someone else there now if your shot starts like this and there's nothing here And she does this and in that I think it's clear that she'll be talking to someone else Someone might think that she's talking to her finger. You never know for me It's always keep it very clear to the audience so for your shot I think this could be cool. You could have an extra character. It's simple animation Just very brief to show someone over the shoulder Exiting screen and now you can do all kinds of things where the character can't address someone That's off-screen for some extra acting some funny bits and pieces the other thing that's cool Is that as in the movie? She does a lot of breaking the fourth wall She talks to the audience a lot and here's a moment of well Do you have an idea she waits and then she does this and it's kind of like the pose Supposed where it's you're there You did your thing you did your gesture you did your head move whatever it is and sometimes you have a moving hold But how can you keep that interesting? How can you just hold forever? Maybe there's a moment where you keep this. It's just an extra punctuation of huh, huh? So you have a slight change in the hand and you have a slight change in the head It's still the same lean with the body It's still the same idea of so and what do you skip it that extra punch of huh and you know to me again That's like a post sub post everything where he's kind of add a bit more interesting complexity to a pose With a bit of a contrast and change without changing the whole thing next one is again a good combination of multiple things This was just put into her office She thinks this is from someone she has a bit of a crush on or she likes somewhat implied in the movie or maybe not the crush But someone that she really respects and the walk towards this the delight of uh-huh this is for me Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I love this. So that couple things about this a Usually when someone does a weight assignment, we usually do a box lift. Maybe it's not like this. It will be just a square I did this as well. It's like basically like a cube and Usually you start just with the character there bending down and then picking up the weight This is exactly what I did as well, but it could also be more interesting Well, what is this and what is the characters relationship to this are they excited to lift this up or is this a chore? This is some menial tasks that they hate and this could be interesting way of starting a weight assignment. So you show characters It's not just body mechanics, but you can show like Like this I like what's in there and look at this. I love all that before she opens it I love that all that flourish. It's so good back. Oh, it's so good Love she does with the hands here one more time a little bit of inward move and then she gets ready and then in a way it turns into a Kind of the what's in the box gear change type of thing that a lot of students have to do in school So she does this has that and I love that too. Just that very excited She doesn't get too excited because in her world their thing is order and she can't get you know Too flustered or have too, you know big moves here. So everything is still somewhat tight within her box within her world It's all very in character, but she's still very excited E like that and also like this here how she holds that slightly spread our fingers thumbs out It's just also slightly delicate as she realizes that it's not what I was looking for and then it's just a complete contrast of no movement And then just let it look and then a lean in of them. I see what I'm seeing and she just sees this in here So lots of things how kind of like it's the patient walk showing character before you do something This could be a weight assignment or a what's in a box gear change and just looking at lots of movement Very excited and something shocking for contrast. You then don't move, but you can't just stop I mean you could but still you want to have a little bit of reaction That reaction just be huh and again this fits in her world where she doesn't move a lot It's just that it'll hmm. That's interesting because it's the proper way to do thing within this world Whatever that character, you know is this has been taught to do this one is a bit dark takes place at night Obviously, but I can just walk you through this. So basically she tells him that while I was taught to do this Is what I learned I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna fight. Are you with me that type of thing? Right and before she said all that she told him She is she does not to embroider and he has the answer to all the things about let's go Let's do this. He goes you haven't left embroider like embroider is right there and then it's this reaction. Oh All right, are we gonna do this or are we not gonna do this and the reason I was showing you this is that as People say in paraphrasing does not mean I came up with this But acting is reacting like the main thing you have to pay attention to is that if Someone is talking and you have another character in your scene at least one of the character and they talk to each other You have to make sure that they're really listening and focusing through whatever you want to do eye darts eyebrows There's a technical thing about facial mechanics However, you want to show that they're paying attention and listening for him because way too many doing this But the big thing to me is that is that oh is that moment and then she gets back to it But this is not really her in the audio. It's not a big sigh or gasp or grunting or anything It's it's mainly her voice his voice her voice But if you animate this he has his reaction It's really he's really not paying attention to what the important part is what she said and that's why it triggers this kind of reaction So again, the reason why I'm showing this is that if you have multiple characters Make sure they really listen and by listening. I mean they also really react Whatever he said is really going to annoy her and that's why she has that reaction And that's something again for you to add in this is not in the audio So now it's your creativity and it's your acting choice for your pantomime that you can put in there And then you get back to your lip sync because then after that you're tied to the delivery the timing and the rhythm of that lip sync So this is all you but again It's something that's it makes sense that she reacts like this So just don't do something where you have lip sync and then you stop moving your character Then you got this character that says something and then you just do lip sync whatever and then this character stops moving And then this character gets animated to the lip sync really make sure that the characters are Listening to each other and reacting to each other to whatever they're saying. Alright, last one is longer I'll walk you through why I like this in the steps again as always why I think this could be actionable in your scenes in your Shaw in your sequence, whatever you do, but it is the end of the movie or parts of the end of the movie and a Big moment of the end of the movie So spoiler don't watch this and not that you would skip to the very end because this is kind of the end So subscribe and continue and I got a workshop and sign up but I'll pitch us at the end Let's get to this last moment again spoiler warning just in case so what is happening here is that she enters her room She was just told that she has a visitor and after all this time she sees her mother So what I'm looking at is the continuation of we don't see it here And it's not like there's a shot where we see Alona and the mother where we can see the distance I think in your shot to make it clear because we don't have the whole beginning in the whole movie as context But if you would do something like this imagine you got your room and the mother is here and the daughter is here to show The physical distance the spatial distance of those two characters that not together The thing that's really neat in all of this is that she stays put they haven't seen each other for so long She has been looking for her She probably knows that she is upset because she just left without telling her What happened and what's going on why she left so as she enters and they're talking you can see this just they stay put they don't move There's just that continuous Mounting of tension now I say this and she did just move but it's a bit of a move She closes this but they're not together and you can see this a bit of tension here in her arms And the same thing here you got a bit of a mirroring of posing and it just continues on you can see it's just this slight Progression of getting closer, but she knows that she can't go to her daughter right now was it there's too much tension just yet She knows she's just a bit mad. She's just not mad, but a bit angry Oh, but that's just upset and disappointed, but it's just it's light Moving towards her then you can see she stays and through that reaction Right there you can see she's not ready yet and this continues on where they're staying put They're staying put they're staying put they talk about things and then finally she tells her Oh, I'm sorry one reaction here. Then she says it again. I'm sorry. And okay This is getting better now. She explains why and why I left and what happened and now she realizes, okay She it's it's better and she takes that step when she tells her are you safe now and The reason why I'm saying all this because it continues on they say things they say things and you got this mounting pressure of emotion everything at the very end Finally finally they can embrace and release that tension the emotion and there we go And the reason why I'm showing you this is because again if you haven't seen the multiple characters think about well Why is there a distance? Is that needed? Is it better if they are close together? Is it better if they are gonna take this away here? If they are further away and throughout the shot get closer is it important that only one character gets closer and not the Other is it important that both get together at the same time meet in the middle is that a symbolic thing of we meet in The middle and we're together now we understand each other and so on and so on That's what I always tell actually all my classes that just started this semester That's what I tell my students as they are now starting with planning their shots and adding sets or no sets or one or two characters This will work with multiple characters think about the spatial position of the characters Is it important that the far away like I said we're close together Would it be interesting to get a progression that they get closer or further away? Maybe someone makes an argument and every time they get closer the character just always steps away There's always this happening the scene to show we're not in this together I want to keep my distance and so on so think in terms of placement How that tells us something about the character and the relationship between multiple characters so that your characters are not Just staying put in frame and of course there's an exception There's always except for everything you can have a shot with a character doesn't move ever Which could be the whole point is the whole entrance in silence of the lambs where we come in and Hannibal Just stays put that adds extra creepiness of him being quickly still in a set in a jail jail cell or whatever prison that he's in So there are many reasons for a character not to move but also to move and the reason usually why I harp on Moving characters for students is that you want to show off animation and it to me It's always it's not just animation for animation sake, but you want to show off your mechanics You can show off that you can do this for potential employers I can see you can animate you can animate we can hire them But still you don't want to keep it too simple because that you can do for your show for your feces Where it's a bit more about sequential storytelling with shots and scenes But if you have a shot in your demo really you really want to show off facial acting bar mechanics weight all kinds of things And that's why I said well why not combine things why not do your acting piece facial stuff lip sync But also move the character but not just because you want to move it My reason is always is there something that will tell us something more about the character by Movement and by distance or closing the distance and so on and so on speaking of distance. I got no second way I was thinking about it move distance. Maybe you want to move your hand towards the mouse and Click on an email that's gonna come in right now for my workshops. I really have no segue I tried as I was finishing this with moving in distance. I have no segue But maybe I have no idea. I'm grasping at things I have workshops So if you feel like this is interesting and you would like to apply this to your shots You need help and you want me to help you with your shots to make your shots even more awesome Feel free to subscribe to my workshop in the description You got all the information you can sign up at any time and speaking of time if you're still watching this till the very end as always Thank you so much for your patience to take time to watch all my clips and speaking of all my clips I upload almost every day, so you don't want to miss anything feel free to subscribe and hit that bell button So you don't miss anything and that is it I will say thank you again, and I will see you in my next upload