Analysis of French Roast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=228&v=eboANSeXEiU



       French Roast


             This short, for me, didn't work as well as it could have. There were many flaws but at the same time some things worked well. I liked the appeal and the characterisation of the begger and the old woman but other than that, the other characters, such as the waiter and the main character most notably, didn't work and i felt no actual link to them as characters. There could have been better use of exaggeration and squash and stretch in the character's movements to give more dynamic looks and poses. Something that I liked was how it was easy to tell exactly what was going on in the film with very little audio other than the music track, therefore highlighting the power of non verbal communication. The ending of the animation seemed rushed and predictable and the overall quality of motion in the protagonist seems like it could have been worked better. The CG elements and timing is very good, however and attention has been given to movement in walking and this is what makes the woman and the begger stand out. 

           The idea of using reflectivity to tell part of the story works nicely too.

 

My favourite part of movement is this part where the main character moves his hand towards the woman's bag before pulling away. This is beautifully animated and the fingers each have believable weight. There is nice use of camera movements, even though it only moves from left to right and back again.  I also like the secondary action of the main character's moustache moving as he does and you can see that he is beginning to get flustered with each passing cup of coffee. Other than this though there are some issues that could be made much better but overall it is a nicely, technically animated short.