SubBeats in animation

This is something that I think helps me with my scenes. In my particular work flow, I get a shot and begin planning away. I look at the story boards or kickoff notes and then start thinking about my acting choices. Once I understand what direction the shot should go (or think I understand :) I go shoot video reference. When I'm finished and happy with the reference I go to the computer and capture the best takes to a quicktime movie. When I analyze my reference, I'm looking for the little details that I unconsciously put in. You have your "golden story telling poses " locked down. You know what poses you need to sell your idea and you block those out. Then when you begin to refine, you can now add these sub beats into your shot. What I mean by sub beats are the small accents that don't overpower the main beats. This will add some texture to you scene and keep it from feeling too simple. (When I say say simple, I'm referring to animation where you just see main poses) In my opinion, the best animation is the one where you can't find the golden poses. They are so naturally weaved into the animation that make it difficult to pick out. You don't to overpower the shot with a ton of sub beats but enough to keep them alive and natural. This is where I steal them from my video reference. I look to see where I naturally accented the small beats and I add those in. It really helps the scene feel natural and unique. It's very hard to think about all of these things for me personally. This is where my video reference helps me add to the scene. Happy animating!!