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232 Movie Reviews

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Pretty good

Cool to see this thing finally finished.

This collab mainly suffers the problems any open public collab suffers. A chain is as strong as its weakest link and when there are alot of weak links the result is very fragile and breakable. What im trying to say is that if i would judge this collab based on Hellbereth, BMK, Ciambotti, Ren or Joems part then i would have given it a flat out 9. Good animation, clever ideas and creatively handled. But i dont think a collab should be about the good parts making up for the poorly executed ones.

One thing that really annoys me when i watch a song collab is when people literally animate the lyrics of the text. I never understood what the purpose of doing that is, but it takes away all the creativity and identity of the artist. Its like writing down the results for a list of premade formulas, instead of making the formulas yourself. Allright enough with the metaphors now. This thing gives me mixed feelings.

AITD

Completely didnt like it

I really appreciate all the effort that went into this. But i complete miss to see the purpose of this flash. Its a blatant copy of the famous Warner Brothers animations.

I know this was your intention but to me that doesnt justify this conceptless work at all. Animating/art is about exploiting your creativity. Finding ways to express yourself. How simple is it to completely copy someone else's visual style, characters, theming, pace, etc. Heck, even the sound effects and voice acting pretended to be the same.

So what exactley did you as the animator had to do in this case? Nothing but brainless drawing. Like a machine of which all the parameters are set that only has to process it into the predetermined result. The only thing this flash proves is that you can draw almost as good as the Warner Brothers animators. It might get some oohh's from the younger audience, but if your willing to take yourself seriously as an animator you better learn to figure out the other aspects of creating/telling a good story too.

AITD

buster126 responds:

Well I know as an idividual animator you are supposed to be distinct and bring your own style to the table but I just really wanted to do this.

Mediocre

Am i having a deja-vu here? Or is this meant to be -play- 2 with graphics by Synj... Kind of not a good idea to redo a good conceptflash again, exactley the same, with better graphics. Play wasnt good because of its graphics, but because of its clever soundtrack and synchronisation with the visuals. This cartoony drawing style didnt add anything new to the idea. Even the visual presentation was the same.. Frontal view of all the characters on one stage. At least add some interesting perspectives or something to make it refreshing and add the value of Synj animation skill to the flash.
All in all i can only credit this thing for the new soundtrack, since everything else was a been-there-seen-that. Hence the 5

Dustball responds:

You're right, it IS "Play 2 with graphics by Synj". When I made Play I alsways planned to make many different musical/synchornization movies like this with various artists. Play was the "test" version, and since I suck at frame by frame animation, I simply did the black and white outlines. This time, since gave me a handful of animations and I did the rest. I don't know if "everything else was a been-there-seen-that" is fair... I mean how original can anything get? I think if you accept the fact that this is supposed to be just like play, but with different animation/sounds/music you'll enjoy it much more!

One of the best on Newgrounds

Its not often that i take time to write a review anymore. After checking out flash on this website for over 2 years I think i have seen most of it. Unless the occasional masterpiece stops by, like its the case here.

A movie about chosing who you are, about brushing teeth, waking to work, picking a tie, handling the routine. Pretty good in its concept, even better in its execution. There arent alot of flaws here so ill just make a sum list of all the pros i found and enjoyed.

One thing that immediately jumps in the eye is the careful eye for detail in the backgrounds. Its amazing how you can make a visually wonderful flash with simple characters but atmospheric backgrounds. Its one of the secrets of making creme de la creme flash actually. Imagine brackenwood, there she is or fallen angel without the backgrounds.

What i also loved was how you allmost literally managed to have the viewer experience the routine. Untalented people with the same ambitious idea in mind simply animate 1 day in the life of the main character and expect the viewer to understand he has a boring life by giving him a sad face. You on the other hand managed to make the routinious life almost annoying, unbearable by animating the same scenes over and over again. By paying enormous detail on the boring detail. An approach that can be extremely effective (as i also used in Autumn Tree)

The fun you had in animating this simply shines off the product. From the cleverly designed logo on the application form to the unique and hilarious ties in his wardrobe. Not to mention the detailed street and work environment. There is a minor flaw here which I feel like i should point out. The perspectives when the man walks outside are a bit off. The man is a bit too big in proportion to the houses. But really this is peanuts.

One thing that could have made this an even bigger masterpiece is if you animated the citylife also. Cars riding, business men walking... I know its very hard, but trust me, its very rewarding. Would be cool if you would have a peak at the new newgrounds TimeTrial, in which i try to tackle this problem (will be out somewhere end of october).

Overall an extremely good movie. Everything matches, the style, the music, the concept. I wonder what your next project will be, because i personally think something like this should only be made one time by the same artist. Meh maybe im wrong. Doesnt matter, just keep up the awesome work and make some more flashes that i can add to my small favorite list

AITD

Nicely animated, could be executed better

I am a bit familiar with your work and beforehand i kind of knew what i could expect animationwise.

The simple style you have, lends itself very well for impressive animation. Characters can be rotated and drawn from all perspectives easily since they lack shading or details. It's a style similar to the one Vinnie Veritas got famous with. You can draw characters pretty well proportioned and also the timing of the movements was good. (even though you need to improve on running sequences)

However, as impressive as the actual animation was, as disappointing was the rest. The backgrounds were extremely dull and lacked the passion in which the characters were animated. The houses looked like houses the way a young boy draws them in kindergarten. Without perspective and without any further eye for detail or proportion.

The same can be said for the storyline. It is extremely simple and flat and not 1 moment was i convinced that i was looking at a cool post apocalyptic setting ran by dangerous gangs (something that for example Fallen Angel managed to pull of extremely well). The entire story and setting just functioned as an excuse to animate the action/fighting sequence.

Other details such as the ugly gun and the unconvincing acting of the characters during serious moments show that as an animator you still have alot to learn. I think you would have been better off animating a spectacular musicvideo completely Veritas style rather than to take on an ambitious project such as this. If you concentrate more on the mentioned flaws rather than just put you heart and soul in animating action sequences, then i think something really interesting can come out.

AITD

Hahaha

Very funny. Even the purple hair was the same

AITD

MonsterMunchClock responds:

I regret nothing!

Good as usual

Iv always loved your animations. They are stylish, surreal, macabre and animated in a very unique way. Though it isnt anything we havent seen before in your previous work it is always refreshing to see one of the better serious flash artists release a new work. The flash was really symbolic but you have to be careful to not overuse symbolism and put the other aspects as storytelling, concept and atmosphere on second place.

AITD

Since you asked so nicely for a review

Interesting flash. I remember seeing 2 earlier episodes of the series and i recognised this one immediately as soon as i saw the artstyle.

Which probably is the strongest point of the flash. You chose a really unique way of animating the series. At some points it almost looks like vector rendered 3D. It kind of makes me wonder why not just make the animation in 3D if you know how to use modelling programs. Anyway, not really that relevant.

The dialogue was good and not childish, but a tad boring. I know there is some amazing story in your head that you are trying to convey to the viewers, but this will only be accomplished if you have the viewers attention during the whole flash. How exactley you can add more life to the story isnt so easy to tell. I would use more interesting camera, more animation on the emotions so the characters wouldnt look so stale and some more details in the art and backgrounds. The music on the background during the dialogue definately helped alot though.

Im also not quite sure why you chose to only use shades of gray. The kind of fantasy story you tell doesnt really lend itself that much for the only gray tones approach. An advantage is that you can put more emphasis on certain objects/personas if you give them a different color, but the consequence of using only gray is that the entire thing looks old fashioned. Is this really the atmosphere you want to give the series? If so, i think you need to exploit this idea more and put more emphasis on it. I personally find the combination old fashioned/fantasy a bit odd.

I admire your motivation to keep making these episodes. Especially since they arent halfassed pieces of work since there really went effort in them. You havent really conquered me as a fan yet, but i think with a tad more amelioration here and there this can be changed.

AITD

SirGaryColeman responds:

Thanks for the long review and I hear what you're saying about the plot not winning you over, yet. I am hoping that as soon as I get out of the initial "intro to the characters" stage of the series that it can really start to take shape and improve.

As far as the black and white... sometimes I regret doing that, but in some sense I actually enjoy the fact that it seems so odd for a Fantasy series. Although, it does go back a bit to making it more like a comicbook, which is another reason I did it. Lastly, it's a part of the plot as well that the world is slowly losing all color.

Anyway, I hope you keep watching despite not being totally enthralled. Thanks again.

nice

Now THAT is a really nice loader

Lelio-rising responds:

yeh i wonder where i got it...

Macromedia Flash exploited to the maximum

People often think of me as a 'serious' or 'artistic' animator. Whatever that may mean, it seems that their prejudgement is i can not enjoy the mainstream popular stuff on newgrounds.

This is true to some extent. Most flash movies on newgrounds are, in my opinion, overrated and can not seem to escape the average clichematic concept of a videogame parody or madness clone. Which doesnt mean that there arent some popular series here that actually deserve the recognisition and manage to show the true creativity of the artist behind it.

Xombie is without a doubt an example of this category. I have been following the series ever since episode 2 arrived on newgrounds and it kept me in suspense every single episode. Making a series is 1 thing. Developping an original story, creating the characters, finding the appropriate sounds and voice actors, setting out the direction, compose the individual scenes to a whole and animating the entire thing is another. Xombie simply seems to handle all the aspects with the care and experience only a professional posseses.

Every episode adds something new to the series as a whole and every episode shows us time after time how much time went into the creating process of this series. It seems like you already figured out the entire plotline before even making episode 1 and that you clearly know the direction the ship should sail. Unlike many other series, on which the sequels usually are nothing more but cheap creations with the sole goal to surpass the success of the original.

The visual style of the Xombie series is excellent. I know that much of it is motion tween based, but any good artist knows that it doesnt matter what material or technique you use to convince the viewer, as long as it fits with the ideas you as an artist have. If its tween, then so be it, if it are carbon figures cut out and pasted over jpegs, then thats fine also. As long as the technique connects with the ideas of the artist, then its all good. Narrow minded animators who expect every good flash to contain a hundred of scenes frame by framed, well lets just say i pity their opinions.

The choise of music is excellent. At first i thought you had people who composed it for you, but after seeing the credits i understood that it were soundtracks from video games. Its amazing how well it worked with the episode and once again it shows your understanding of reaching the hearts of the viewers with the right material.

I am aware that there are some 'animators' who like to give you a hard time. People, who hate your work because the story might be cheap, because the tweened animation is incompetent and because your dog Cerebus looks a bit like another cartoon dog Balto. These people, who in general havent accomplished anything impressive themselves, are simply jealous. And even though they are entitled to their opinions, they should ask themselves which other artist managed to win daily feature, weekly users choice AND review crew pick with EVERY single flash released. They should ask themselves what other animator has the talent to soley animate for a living and they should ask themselves what other animator has a DVD in the making. Thats right, no one on newgrounds except James Farr.

To conclude, i would simply say to keep up the good work. There isnt much advise i can give you except some fan praising. Its an honor to see this kind of quality work for free, every time again.

AITD

jamesfarr responds:

Sir, I'd like to buy you a beer. Thank you for the kind words. I truly appreciate it. Submitting a new Xombie cartoon to Newgrounds has always been an acutely nerve-racking experience for me. But comments like yours make it all worthwhile. Thanks. And thank you to everyone else who's been so supportive. For a complete FAQ regarding this Chapter, please visit Xombified.com or XombieForum.com.

The future is female

Age 39, Male

Architecture Student

TU Delft

Amsterdam

Joined on 2/15/04

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