The classical element- Interim tutorial (group crit)

I have presented my ideas to my group and I received some unexpected responds and useful suggestions from them. The presentation went quite well and I was not too nervous which allows me to explain my ideas clearly to the group and this improvement encourages me to speak up. My group mates have a lot of good ideas and developments for their own projects and I am very impressed about the efforts and time they put in. Providing them comments and opinions enable an alternative way of reflection on my own project for instance what do I need to focus on and what am I missing.  

• We have discussed about the content of the two storyboards. Most of them like the simplified storyboard (the second storyboard) better due to the rich in camera angles and the simplicity of it. Max said he found the unexpected plot in the first storyboard is quite interesting and maybe I could create another storyboard with a twist but simple simultaneously.
• The second storyboard would be more appropriate to do in terms of the time management, the workload and the amount of information. 
• Whether the balloon character should own a facial expression or not. I told the group I have watched The Red Balloon and the balloon does not have a face in the movie but it could still act and show its thought. Amy suggested that I should give my character a face because in the movie, the audience have time to discover the character. However, as we have a time limit, it should better be sharp and understandable which I think is the most useful comment of the day.
• The style of work:

They like the sketchiness of these illustrations especially the style which the outline does not fit the drawing. 

They are not really fond of the white outline and they thought this art style is a bit commercial. Looks like a birthday card. However, they like the faces without the mouths better. I am thinking another way to combine both style together as I really like the art style on the last one.

They suggested that I could tone down the other colours in order to let the yellow to stand out from the crowd as It would be odd to see kids holding black balloon after all.

I feel much more confident about my work after the crit and I am going to take their opinions into account. The next things I need to do are:

• To decide on the style of work
• tone down the colour of the rest of the balloons
• Sort out sound effects and background music
• Primary research on the natural movement of balloons and observe.