First pass. Just camera, timing and major poses.
The Grasshopper is kind of a challenge to animate...
Comments welcome
http://www.holmesbryant.com/files/video/work_in_progress/

That works rather well Holmes.

Sorry, no specific commentary digging futher but I think you've got it set up very well at this point.

The "wrist action" of his "legs" looks a little strange. But it could work. Why not. The camera movement at the end seems to loose focus on grasshopper too. Other than that, another great Holmes production.

Edit: I think delaying grasshoppers reaction to TM first line by five frames would work a little better. It felt too quick the first time I heard it because I wasn't expecting it and I didn't know what he was reacting to. Also, I wonder if we could get a little side of the lips movement out of Tinny? It's just too perfect that he's a statue and no work at all.
Finally, I guess Tinny can move his eyeballs.

Nice camera, the flying part works very well.
One thing I missed the first time I watched it, is where is the grasshopper
in the scene when the camera switches to Tinman. Maybe if he could fly
as he turns toward Tinman, and land after camera move, we would find him
more easily.

Michel

Thank you for the comments. Here is the next pass. I delayed Grasshoppers initial reaction to Tin man by 5 frames, gave Tin Man some jaw and eyeball action and made grasshopper fly for a bit when he sees Tin Man.
More comments welcome, otherwise I'm going to move on to the next one.
http://www.holmesbryant.com/files/video/work_in_progress/

One thing that disturbs me is grasshoppers initial flight gives no indication of the 'sad' mood revealed as soon as he has landed.

Cheers

At frame 445, there's a few dead frames where we're looking at no one as Grasshopper has flown out of shot. Maybe move the camera switch forward? And what's grasshoppers motivation for thinking so hard at the end?

OK, I'll try to make him look sadder when he is flying.


Well, first he is all sarcastic. "yeah sure, I'll just dip my 3 inch wooden leg into that GIANT funnel on your head and, if I can even reach the oil, I'll go about oiling your joints one tiny drop at a time. Sure thing buddy."
But in the next shot he does manage to get TinMan oiled enough so he can move, so Grasshopper is thinking about how he can actually accomplish that.

I was thinking that in the closeup shot toward the end of the flight you could put a little emotion there, plus some sad head moves. At the moment the head doesn't move at all giving me the impression of anything but sadness.

Cheers

Ah yes. After watching it a couple of times I get it. When he's being sarcastic, it's difficult to see his facial expressions as his head is so low. Maybe he could do something else with his head.....I can see it now.....wide eyes and smiling while looking disbelievingly at Tinman and then a look down away from him to show his true feelings of ridicule . Hard to explain. Also, the thinking bit at the end feels like an age. Maybe he might look from his wooden leg to Tinman a couple of times to "spell out" his thoughts to the viewer.

OK I'm going to have to call this one Done.
I made him more sad in the initial flying bit and he lowers his head in the closeup. And I redid some of his monologue near the end. Hopefully it reads better.
http://www.holmesbryant.com/files/video/work_in_progress/


I wanted some extra time at the end for a cross fade to the next scene in order to show that a little bit of time has elapsed. I'll cut out whatever I don't need when I edit the scenes together.

If anyone else animates Grasshopper in another scene, be aware that when you enter numerical values directly into a pose slider - any percentage based pose slider (as opposed to sliding the actual slider) - channels are created for the thigh bones. I've searched through the whole rig and cannot figure out why that happens. When you slide the slider, everything is fine. It is only when you input numbers directly. So if you notice that the legs are all of a sudden acting screwy, look through your actions and chor actions for thigh bone channels that aren't supposed to be there and delete them.