Feedback by discipline

How to give feedback on motion graphics
that an animator can act on the first time.

A fifteen-second animation is where “the bounce feels off” goes to die. The fix is not a longer email. Pin the note to the moment, draw on the frame, name the element and the beat, and borrow six words animators already use.

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By uncompressed.io · Updated September 2026

Why motion notes fail

A short animation has a hundred moments,
and the animator has to guess which one.

In a two-minute edit, “the shot after the interview” points somewhere. In a fifteen-second logo sting, “the bounce feels off” could mean the logo, the tagline, the particles, the arrival, the settle or the whole curve. The animator reads it, opens the project, and guesses.

Motion feedback fails for three reasons that have nothing to do with taste. The note has no position, so nobody knows which moment it is about. It has no target, so nobody knows which of the eight moving layers is meant. And it uses feel words (snappy, floaty, off, cheap) that describe a reaction without describing a change. Fix those three and most rounds get shorter, whatever tool you use.

The workflow

Pause, point, name the beat,
then say what should change.

Watch it through once, no notes

Motion is judged in context. Watch the whole piece at full speed first, then again, and pause only on the second pass.

Pause on the moment and write the note there

The note is saved at that time, so the animator lands on it when they open it. One note per issue, never a list in one note.

Draw on the frame

Circle the layer, sketch the path it should take, or mark where it should come to rest. The drawing is saved with the note.

Name the element, the beat and the change

"Logo, the landing: less overshoot, settle faster." Element, beat, change. That sentence survives the gap between seconds and frames.

Seconds, not frames

Notes here are placed by time in seconds, from the player’s position when you paused. They are not pinned to a frame number, and a browser’s reported playback position is itself an approximation (MDN notes that the number of decimal places does not indicate how accurately it matches the video being presented). At 24 frames per second a single frame lasts about 42 milliseconds, so for anything that happens inside a second, the words “which element, which beat” do the precise work and the timecode does the navigation.

The vocabulary

Six words animators use,
and what to write instead of “feels off”.

You do not need to animate to use these. They are the words the animator will translate your note into anyway, so using them first removes a round. This is craft guidance, not a standard.

What it means

What a client usually says

A note that works

Timing

How long a move takes

"It's too slow""It drags"

"Title, the entrance: half as long."

Easing

How speed changes across the move: starting slow (ease in), ending slow (ease out), or both

"It feels robotic""It's jerky"

"Card slide: ease out more, it stops too abruptly."

Hold

How long something stays still before the next move

"I can't read it"

"End card: hold the phone number about a second longer."

Overshoot

The element passes its end point and springs back

"The bounce is too much""It's cartoony"

"Logo landing: smaller overshoot, one bounce not three."

Spacingor offset

The delay between elements that move one after another

"Everything happens at once"

"Three icons: stagger them, left to right."

Anticipation

A small move the opposite way before the main move

"It comes out of nowhere"

"Arrow: a small pull back before it shoots right."

Easing has a precise definition in web animation: MDN describes ease-in as starting slowly and speeding up, and ease-out as slowing down towards the end.

Two habits make these words work. Say the direction of the change (more, less, longer, shorter), because “fix the easing” is still a guess. And when you only know what you dislike, say that plainly and point at a reference: “the landing should feel like the logo at 0:04 in the brand film” is a usable note.

Closing the round

Keep the round in one place,
so the animator knows when it is finished.

Reply under the note

Questions and answers thread under the note they are about, one level deep, instead of starting a second email chain.

Check notes off

The owner marks each note done, and done notes leave the open list. The round is over when the list is empty.

Approve per version

A green approval is recorded against a specific version under the reviewer's name. A new note on that version withdraws it, so an approval always means the current state.

New cut, new version

Upload each revision as a new version. Its notes and approval stay separate from the last one, so the record shows what was asked on which cut.

If your animator cuts the piece into an edit, the marker tools bring the notes into DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro or Final Cut Pro as markers at each note’s timecode. For the mechanics of timecoded notes, read timecoded video comments; for drawing, drawing on the frame.

When to use something else

If your animator lives inside a review tool that is wired to their animation software, or you need notes that name an exact frame number, stay with that tool. A review link is at its best when the client is outside your studio and should not need an account to say where the bounce is.

Questions

Frequently asked

Are the notes pinned to an exact frame?

No. A note is stored at a time in seconds, taken from the player's position when the reviewer paused. That is close enough to land the animator on the right moment, but it is not a frame number. For anything that lives inside a fraction of a second, a hit, a settle, a two-frame overshoot, write which element and which beat the note is about, so the animator can find the exact frame on their side.

Does my client need an account or a seat?

No. The share link is the client's access, there is nothing to install, and reviewers are never counted as seats on any plan. If you let people comment from the film's own page instead, you turn feedback on for that film first, and each reviewer types a name once.

Can the client draw where the problem is?

Yes. A reviewer can draw on the paused frame and the drawing is saved with the note. For motion work that is the fastest way to say which layer, which corner of the frame, or the path an element should travel.

What happens to old notes when I upload the next version?

Versions sit in the same room, and each note belongs to the version it was written on, so notes on V2 do not resurface as notes on V3. Approval is recorded per version, and a new note on a version withdraws its approval until someone approves it again.

Can the notes get into my edit timeline?

Marker tools for DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro and Final Cut Pro place each note as a marker at its timecode, which helps when the animation is cut into an edit. Animators working elsewhere read the notes in the room, where opening a note takes the player to its moment.

Send the next animation as a review link

Timecoded notes, drawings on the frame, replies, done flags and per-version approvals. Your client opens the link with no account and never takes a seat.