Stop Motion Heavy Ball and Floating Balloon

My second task for stop motion: Animate a heavy ball falling and a balloon floating to the ground.

The heavy ball was easy to animate as there were only a few fairings, therefore it also didn't take that much time to do.

After doing my first attempt I felt like the ball stopped too suddenly, so I did another version where I made the ball roll a little to the side after landing. To improve I could make the ball roll a little further, or off screen.

On the other hand, the balloon animation took a lot more time and work. The floating pattern is very similar to the free pendulum structure, so the shape of the balloon's path is a lot of arcs going from one to the other. In my first attempt I stuck to the arc shape way too much, so it looked like the balloon was sliding along an invisible line.

In my final attempt (above) I didn't go up the full length of my arcs so the movement would seem less mechanical. Additionally, I added some small movements at the end when the balloon settles to make it more natural. I still kept the slow timing as I needed all the fairings for the movement, and it mimicked the weight and characteristics of the balloon. To improve I would try a new path that uses less dramatic arcs for a more graceful look.