503 - Animatic 3

We had a feedback session with Mike, where we went through the animatic. Here's the feedback:

• In the shot with the creep on the Girl's balcony, the angle should be brought down lower, as before it looks like the Creep was too high up
• The timing of the cupboard scene is way too long
• To fix this, there needs to be more movement in that shot, which can be done by:
• Having the clothes move and rustle a bit as the Creep moves
• Have him react to the sound more. Moving forward/turning as if he's trying to peer into the room more to get a better look at what's happening
• The end should cut sooner after the head turn
• Mike thought we were breaking the 180 rule at the film's first cut, but that was due to the drawing's being unclear. To remedy this, I need to add the balconies to the creep's side

That feedback session was very rushed, so I wanted to go through the animatic in more detail on the Friday. I made those small changes, and then talked through it in person with Mike. Here's the notes I got from that discussion:

• The lower angle is much better, but we both thought that the girl should be placed on the rightmost third of the screen, as this is more visually appealing, adds to the creepiness by making the peering elemtent clearer, and it also removes the difficult perspective from the rest of the street.
• When the Girl is on top of the victim stabbing away, that action should be very exaggerated and dramatic, where she really pulls the knife backwards. This gives it more force and makes it more visually interesting
• There could be more sounds of the Creep in the closet, such as clothes rustling when he moves or him knocking things over
• To show how the Girl knows the Creep is in the closet (in addition to the noises he makes), there could be a damp patch on the floor next to the balcony windows
• For the head turn at the end, the two possibilites are having it be slow or quick. I initially liked the slow one better as it would look creepier, however having the Creep react to it would be awkward. Instead, we ended up deciding on having a quick head turn, followed by a 2 second stare before cutting to black. This would make it more dramatic while still allowing the audience to see the Girl's crazed face.
• I was also very unsure of the section where the Creep watches the girl stab away at the end, as that whole scene is very long and the lack of movement from the Creep feels awkward. Mike suggested cutting to a close up for when the Girl licks her fingers, as this will make that action even more unsettling. This also breaks up the scene and makes it less boring. 

I edited the animatic according to the feedback, and tweaked a few extra bits:

I think this definitely works better, and makes that end scene much less awkward. I think the timings will probably change when it comes to actually animating, but this gives a good idea of roughly how it will look. The close up not only breaks up the awkwardness, but it also shows more about the creep's character, and it definitely makes the licking bit creepier.