Low Tech. High Tech

This happened a couple of weeks ago and I've been meaning to share it but haven't had a chance until now...

I received a couple of shots with a character doing some physical cartoony stuff - jumping around and the like. I got my broad actions blocked in and approved and so all was good, direction-wise. Trouble was, the character was really small in frame so it was hard to make out without zooming in, even on my computer display. I always have a hard time in these situations since I never know how much detail to put in when things are tiny. I mentioned this to Rex, my HoCA on Madagascar 2. After giving me a secretive look he said, "Come with me", and I followed him to his office where he handed me a piece of black card. I laughed aloud, for it was a coutout portable audience! Into the card was chopped silhouettes of people, and had sticky tape with which to attach it to surfaces, namely, work monitors!

I took this wonderful device back to my desk and sure enough, it was nothing like being in the cinema. Heh. What it did do however was give me a great idea of how large the little jumping fellas would be when projected. I could then see how much more work I had to put in to the detailing, (ie. not much!).

Please see mouse-drawn diagram for further illumination:

Good times!