AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Velocity]

original and interesting

I really like the style of this movie. It feels really traditional and not just because of the black and white colors, but because of the way you drew the characters also. They have the same sort of look as the characters you see in the instruction manuals of DIY material or safety guides in airplanes.

The entire idea of the thing was captivating also. I like how the main character is in all the stress at start in the hostile skies and then how the animation took a really slow and peaceful turn towards the ending. Looks like you wanted to show how beloved ones can help us carry on in the most difficult of times. You also paid enough attention to the key scenes, like when the man grabbed his cellphone in the air and the transition between the hostile land and his home. A nice detail was the scene of the bird feeding her child. Id like to think that as a metaphor for the situation of the father and his daughter.

Some things werent drawn as good as others though. As said, the characters were all drawn and animated very well. Same goes for the tree and home environment. But things like the clouds and explosions really need dramtical improvement. I think the explosions would have looked better without the black outlines and the clouds if they were more transparant.

All in all, very well done animation. A really cool short story that manages to surpass the general serious flash here on NG in both concept and execution. Keep up the good work and I am going to watch your other animations right now!

AITD

[The Maxwell Edison Story]

Nice but not impressive

I remember you from the Adam Android series, which was really cool. Your style can definately be recognised here and you have improved alot on the visual area.

The song was very nice also, cant go wrong with the beatles. But as always, sound and visual is nothing if they arent linked in a creative way to the idea of the artist. The main problem here is that there isnt much creativity involved.

The video literally follows every word of the lyrics and not only in drawings but also in pace. The music dictated the entire flash and all you did was literally draw the words that were sung. You can ask yourself how challenging it is to draw a hand dialing numbers on the telephone in the same tempo and words as used in the song.

I am not saying it is bad to do musicvideos, but i think a video should add something new to a song. If this really is your alltime favorite song, then give us a good reason why it is.

AITD

[soap opera island]

ahhh i get it

Now i understand why you were so interested in buying that skeleton on E-Bay. Really, the anatomical accuracy of the last drawing alone made up for the money he must have costed.

Excellent stuff, as always.

[Star Wars:Expendable Sith]

right

Bad would be an understatement for this one. I can not believe how this 30 second piece of one day work gets over 4.00.

First of all the entire cartoon consisted of one background that even my 10 year old couzin could have drawn better. And im really not kidding. If you are going to use one background, at least make it look pretty. You didnt even draw any stars or texture on the surfaces. On top of that the linework was extremely sloppy and there were like 4 colors used.

The character animation was shining by its absence. Besides some headtweens and simple lipsync there wasnt any. The characters didnt have any shading or cool details but were basically all drawn in the same way and size.

Well so much for the visual aspect. This perhaps could be all forgiven if the humor was brilliant and clever or if there was some original view you had on this parody. Unfortunately the entire flash was just 1 small joke.

I do have to admit that the voice acting was done well though. But i think the entire thing would have been just as effective if it was a 30 second mp3 joke rather than a flash animation. The animation simply didnt add anything new.

Well ehm.. good luck with your future projects. Practise alot and think more about the stuff you make. It will really help

AITD

[Stop Cryin Your Heart Out]

Ok

First of all, Congratulations to everyone involved in this project on doing an awesome job. When Amin asked me to join i never could have known he would get so many talented animators for this project.

I loved all of them. I particularly liked El Cids humor, I liked Granfaloons hero, i like Drobiles frame by frame, I liked Luis's recognisable style, i liked Lelio's awesome character design and Andie's original entry. And ofcourse Amin for setting this all up.

Yeah, i am a bit biased, but what the hell. Im glad i could be involved in this and i think it is a very good example of the different styles and directions different people have.

Congrats again!

AITD

[Spider-Man Animated Short]

really good

I must say, this is quite an awesome piece of work mr Bluth. I loved this flash alot and not just because i am a spiderman fanatic.

What i find really impressing is that you are one of the few on this site who really know how to work with the appropriate colors. Very atmospheric. It worked so well and it really felt like the comic.

Very great style for the backgrounds also. The combination of the flat surfaces for the buildings and the more organic drawings for the leaves of the trees was outstanding. You simply know how to draw and create the right shape and texture for the right material. Same goes for the characters.

The lack of frame by frame wasnt annoying at all. Instead i find this really cleverly tweened and the pace was nice and fast. Especially when you take in account that the animation was made over 5 years ago when flash wasnt really meant to be a bigtime animation program yet. Oh and very nice details like the reflection on the windows and the lightbeams in the park.

All in all, very good flash. Could have used some improvements on the sound effects and length, but its all forgivable. Glad to see a really creative flash in this portal every now and then.

AITD

[Do Us Part]

Beautiful in all its simplicity

This was a really beautiful piece. Things like this often turn out corny and forced, but somehow you managed to keep it really pure and straight to the point.

The art was really good. simple and it was a relief to see a darker piece with the light tones. There wasnt much animation in it and the animation that was there wasnt extremely impressive, but it was effective as hell. Nice camera also!

The music simply fitted and added the entire dreamlike atmosphere to it. Was she committing suicide because she lost her love? Or was it for another reason...I love the fact that you kept it symbolic though and did not try to make it overdramatic.

All in all, very good and refreshing piece. If this is your first flash, then i would suggest making alot more and if you have alot more then i would suggest to upload them immediately!

Oh and make a loader next time please. I have DSL and the thing stopped at a point. I closed it down and opened it again and it went perfectly. But i bet it will be annoying for people with a slower connection.

AITD

[VEIN]

Bravo

Man, what an unique, cool flash you have created here. And what a pity that your computer screwed up this magnificent work....

The visual style was definately the strongest point of this flash. The backgrounds especially were brilliant. So were the characters, even though they werent animated perfectly. Some movements were kind of choppy because there were missing some additional keyframes here and there. But thats all ok, i assume this is one of your first or first flash, so its normal that you arent an animation expert yet.

The story was really awesome also, even without the last part! Very dark and macabre. The main character was insane and it is always awesome to explore these type of characters. Kind of like you did, only i found that some scenes went a bit too fast. I would have focused on some details and key scenes a bit longer. But i guess thats just a personal thing.

What was really not so good was the sound and music. Sometimes it was plain annoying, like when the same heartbeat kept pounding really loud at the beginning. Or the way different sound effects played and then stopped all the sudden. It almost felt like those really bad low budget kung fu movies. It think more environmental sound effects and maybe a cool atmospheric soundtrack would have helped alot also.

I hope you arent discouraged by the fact that your computer screwed the fla. Just remember to always make a backup, it happened to me also before when my computer got attacked by a virus and i lost all my flas. Fortunately i backup them every once in a while. Im really looking forward to the next episode or next flash you will create!

AITD

Richeff responds:

Hey thanks for the great review. I'm glad you liked it. I was planning on tweeking some of the sound and animation after the scenes were finished. But after the experience of the crash I will make a back up after each session. The next episode will have voices in it. Thanks again for your words of inspiration.

[Safety At work.]

Very cool

Ah finally you are submitting stuff to NG! Iv seen alot of your flashes on Devart already, but this is definately one of your better ones.

Smooth animation, pretty funny and the message you got across really effective. I wonder how you thought this up, since a safety commercial isnt the something alot of people would animate without getting paid for it lol.

And ehm yeah, i dont really know any animators from signapore on here. My mother is from Surabaya, so that makes me half indonesian i guess. Have a nice stay here and upload more of your work man!

AITD

[Foamy: Channels]

Heh

Actually you are right in this one. You hit the nail on the head.

So ehm yeah, it's foamy... Kinda glad he is back.

Kinda

AITD