Score: 8

"Really enjoyed it"

submission: Asilos Magdalena

date: September 8, 2008

I admit that i didn't expect the movie to be very interesting after i read the entire 'small boy, hope, depression' description. But now that i have seen it i must say i really enjoyed it.

The thing that i immediately liked was the visual style of the movie. Simple and effective, drawn in a children's book style that works really well. Just enough detail to keep the shots interesting, but without any unnecessary information that might distract from the story. The design of the kid was a little weird.. somehow he looked more like a senile old man to me, but since the entire movie was a little weird it somehow worked well.

I like the dreamy part and the surreal atmosphere of the unconscious part. I'm not sure if there is any symbolism in the drawings used, nor do i understand why the kid loved that world so much, but i really like the concept.

Last but not least was the magnificent soundtrack. I imagine it would be a bit strange for a someone who speaks spanish to watch this movie, since the song about prostitution has nothing to do with the movie, but frankly who cares. It's commendable enough that you thought up your own story and didn't literally animate the lyrics of some song.

I hope to see more of your work in the future. I'll add this one to my favs so i can check out from time to time if you have anything new!

AITD

Score: 8

"'Already been done, already been done, already..'"

submission: Hard Boiled Egg

date: June 26, 2008

I love that part in the movie. It's the sort of criticism that a lot of artists get when they strive to complete an original concept and thus very recognizable.

What i find interesting and somewhat ironic is that the animations/movies where you show your critical take on the opinion/influence of art teachers and critics are among the best ones you've done. Like your other movie 'emulation' you made a very direct and effective movie that manages to take a subtle piss with the so called intellectual opinion on art.

What i like about this movie is that you made a great visualization of the different stages that give shape to the formation of an idea and then rewind the process after the motivation has been destroyed by people who give the usual criticism. What i do not like so much is the conclusion of the movie. You seem to take their criticism for granted and start completely over from scratch, making something entirely different. Oftentimes it is more interesting to adjust your initial idea and improve on some of the aspects of the given critique rather than making something new and custom tailored for that will satisfy the critics. Or: to make the train go into a new direction and change it's destination, but to not completely change the means of transportation (to put it in a metaphor like the one used in the movie, lol). This is my take on the situation though so i can't really hold that against the movie.

The filmed scenes were beautifully incorporated with the entire movie and the special effects were very nice. I wasn't too fond of the voice-acting, because it sounded a bit too played out and acted. A more neutral tone would have worked better.

Anyway I'm glad that you are still making these shorts (unlike me) and it's good to see that you are improving a lot from when i first saw your stuff. Keep it up!

AITD

Score: 10

"Best of 2007"

submission: Leftovers

date: October 23, 2007

We have a saying in hollland that goes like 'The one's dead is the other's bread'. I guess it sums up the concept of this film very nicely.

Big ambitions, different plans, fallen dreams, making compromises... This movie has it all. Everything packed in a flash animation that consists out of 1 background and very little sound effects. Yet there is still enough detail in the animation to keep the viewer entertained for the entire 6 minutes and the content goes deeper than a 2 hour hollywood movie.

The balance between humor and drama is perfect and each follows up in a really subtle way after the other. It's really interesting to see how each of the characters have their own views on how to handle the situation and how every time the dream gets brutally disrupted by other characters, forcing them to compromise. I like how there isn't a moral and how the viewer gets left with the question 'what was the use of it all?' The strength of this short lies in the fact that it manages to bring a comedic note to these seemingly serious questions with trivial actions from the wonderfully drawn characters.

Highly inspirational and as you said in your comments, this is really festival material. I'm sure it will win alot of prizes. With this you have set the bar for yourself really high though and I'm eagerly awaiting to see what you can come up with next.

AITD

Score: 7

"I can tell why people love it"

submission: :the Composer:

date: September 20, 2007

To start with the positive, i really liked the way you drew and animated the flash. It is a step up compared to paladin and your style starts to feel look pretty professional. The way the strokes were drawn and the good tweening even reminded me of Xombie and that is a big compliment. A few parts were still a bit awkward though, with the arguing silhouettes of the parents looking more like stick figures rather than real proportionate people, or the tiny cars next to the sidewalk.

Since so many people love this flash for it's serious message and content, i thought i'd write a review for it from a slightly other perspective. To be honest, i didn't think it was that special or profound, especially since there are a huge number of cliche scenes and shallow characters that ask a bit too explicit for the viewer's pity. Arguing parents, loner boy with talent, Rise/Fall and a simple moral is not something we haven't seen a lot before. The thing that annoyed me the most though is how there is never really any development and how each scene just passes to reveal the disney ending.

Like the 9/11 flash 'i miss you daddy' that everyone loves, it is a bit too melodramatic and in your face. In my experience, younger people are easily affected by this type of imagery, while adults like to form their own judgement about what's happening and who deserves pity and who doesn't. A good dramatic short contains characters that have weaknesses as well as strengths and that don't drown in self pity, but gradually conquer the viewers hearts while the movie passes. A good recent example is the brilliant movie Babel, with awesome deep characters that we can both love and hate at the same time.

Like i said, this is my take on the flash and the drama genre in general. It is by no means more true or false than the ones of the people who love it, but perhaps you can experiment/do something with it in one of your future films.

AITD

Score: 3

"Didn't like it"

submission: Star Wars: The Rebels

date: August 14, 2007

When i saw the visual style of this movie and the anime like characters, i was expecting this to be a comedy. But the joke never came and instead, a very strange cliche message appeared in the ending scene.
I have absolutely no idea why that was there, but you can not expect people to feel empathy for a few seconds of animation where cartoony characters get shot in space. Why should we? They don't have any depth to them and the reason they fight for freedom doesn't immediately mean we should feel sorry. It is your responsibility not only as an animator, but also as a director, to capture the hearts of the viewer. A task that goes beyond writing 3 pretentious textlines near the end, but instead it should involve deepening out the story, characters, concept and atmosphere.
I hope you will find some pointers in this review. It is in no way intended to simply bash this movie, but relying solely on your animating talent isn't gonna cut it when you want to make a profound movie with a message

Score: 7

"Pretty good"

submission: 5 Busy Shapes

date: January 18, 2007

I've always admired your work. It's alot different than mine, but the fun and passion you put in your pieces really projects back to the viewers.

The reason i think you are a great artist is because you don't have any remarkable animating talent in the traditional sense, but you compensate that completely with the creativite mind you posses. Your work is rotoscoped, claymated, drawn or photographed and all these different techniques make your portfolio very rich. It's awesome how you create your own music and the way you synchronise it with the animation. I always have the feeling that i watched something complete and cool in alot of aspects after seeing one of your animations, instead of the disappointed feeling i have when i see another one of the well drawn but empty content animations. Fuck drawing perfect walk cycles and godly explosions when most animators can't even come up with a solid basic idea or concept to use these in.

I think you can still improve alot on the technical aspects, such as the way you model your clay characters or draw the environments, but all these things will come naturally in time and practise. Keep on making these original pieces! They are really inspirational.

AITD

Score: 7

"very decent"

submission: Star Wars: Old Wounds

date: June 26, 2006

While i was watching this animation, i felt as if i saw something in this similar style before. And when i saw the other submissions you made, i recognised your name from the batman flash movies i have seen.

Which can be considered a good thing. You definitely improved on the graphics, everything was very clean and not a single annoying flaw in the backgrounds or character design. Still, I would have made the character outlines a bit thicker, to seperate them more from the background. The detailed way you drew them, makes them pleasant for the eye, but now they arent really animatable. It's not really noticable in the still conversation shots, but once the fighting started, it felt more like a tweened comic book rather than an animation.

I guess that is where you got most of your inspiration from. There are so many similarities with your movies as with the classic comics and superhero cartoons (specifically, the batman series) on tv. Not only in content, but also in the way you aproach the dialogue and the way the story evolves. I find this a bit of a pity, it makes it all very predictable. Almost a bit corny. It takes alot of time to develop an own vision though (in some cases it never even comes), I even think that having this own vision is ultimately what every artist aspires.

When i look at the thing as a whole i have to give you alot of kudos for the effort you've put into it and the serious way you handled it all. Small details like the credits in the same font as the star wars movies and the original soundtracks were fantastic. The comic sans font, took a bit away from the seriousness though, at first i even thought it was going to be a comedy. But fortunately the right atmosphere found its place a bit later on.

Like i said, my biggest gripe is that you lack a bit of obstinacy. The way you aproached it, is as the way cartoon network would aproach it in order to make it an enjoyable, safe, but shallow series. Try to not let the work from the professionals be an example of work that can be imitated, but let it serve as inspiration that will help you give your own unique twist to things.

AITD

Score: 4

"Lol"

submission: "Dare"

date: May 16, 2006

Well i had quite a good laugh while watching this movie. At first i thought this was a comedy, until i read in your comments that its supposed to be a serious toon.
The most hilarious part was when the guy suddenly started throwing big macs to homeless afro american children. Almost as amusing as the part where he got friends with the dangerous gang by giving them coca cola. When i saw the scene with the bible in it, i was hoping he was going to put on a soldier uniform and kick muslim iraqi ass with an m4 in his left hand and the bible in his right, but unfortunately i wasnt that lucky. It would have made this animation alot greater though.

AITD

Score: 9

"A 9 score, but not only for you alone"

submission: Johnny Rocketfingers 2

date: May 8, 2006

The 10 is also for everyone who participated in the project. That includes the game programmer NegativeOne.

You've been causing quite some bad mood within the forums by not co-authoring him. And i agree with them, the role of NegativeOne in this game is of such a large part that not mentioning him as one of the co-authors is an insult to all the time and energy he put in the project. I understand that you want to take most credit, since the series is yours and you wrote the dialogue etc, but pretending you made this awesome game all by yourself is untrue and uncool. A band is more than its lead singer, a movie is more than its director.

Anyway, It would be unfair to give you only 0's in this review because the review should be about the game and not about the drama.

And there is no question about it, this became a real gem. Every aspect is so well worked out. The awesome animation, the cool dialogue, the scripting, the badass music. It all contains so much personality and fits in the concept perfectly. Your drawing style looks fast & cartoony and really adds to the cool atmosphere.

However i think the first part is still better. Besides the fact that it was all new then, i liked how the first one was in essence a movie with interactive elements in it. This one is an adventure game with awesome cutscenes. Though it was very well coded, the adventure part was at points slow and frustrating since the puzzles were pretty hard and I was for the most part walking around in the same background finding minimal spots to click with the mouse. It took away from the fast tempo and coolness of the series. Seeing a line like 'Are you new to adventure games or something?' when you try to figure a puzzle out, is funny the first time, but plain annoying the 20th time.

Fortunately there are enough walkthroughs here in the reviews to read when you get stuck and the awesome ending animation made me forget about all the frustation the game caused. If you plan on doing a third one, then take these things into consideration as well as to handle things with the actionscripter in a more mature way. It really causes a bad taste to the series.

AITD

Score: 8

"Haha"

submission: Warrior Boarder 3

date: April 4, 2006

That was fuckin hilarious man.

The entire time while i was watching this movie i felt like i was watching a movie such as XXX (the Vin Diesel one, not the Jenna Jameson one). The action was just as fast, the main character just as muscular and the plot just as good... *ahem*

Anyway I think that when someone is making a short action animation, it is better to make something like this and really focus on the action instead of trying to cram some semi clever pretentious plot in it. I even found some sequences pretty clever. Like you were making fun with the cliches in the hollywood movies by very much exaggerating them. Meh that may just be me.

I would only suggest to improve a little bit on the character drawings and such, since it was a lil rough around the edges, but the animating itself was really well done. Maybe you drew it all with the mouse and thats why it looked a bit rough, but on the other hand it did fit the xtremeness of the flash.

Keep it up

AITD