AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Avalanches]

I liked it

As a collection by your hand this is quite interesting. It gives a good insight in the way you experiment with style/concept and the themes you are interested in. However the individual shorts lacked direction and execution. They often had a nice idea behind them but they were too short and undetailed in order to be really convincing on their own. I know the entire idea of a collection like this is not the individual strength, but it still shouldnt be used as an excuse in my eyes.

But like i said before, as an entirety it gives a good idea who you are and what your vision is. I like that.... Alot

AITD

Foxcato responds:

Thanks alot for this review of yours:D
It's true that some of the movies are very short... but it's because some of them has something to do with eachother... like Small Snowflake and Blizzards. They both have the same theme of snow. From your last sentence I see (in your case anyway) that my goal has been achieved and that makes me happy.
PS. I hope to see some new stuff from you soon. I really enjoyed Renaissance.

[-MASS-]

Original

That was a bizarre flash. Nice idea to make a movie for the ignored artist.

A strange psychedelic color palette combined with a melange of pixel and vector. Certainly an unusual combination that only worked because of the awesome soundtrack and frustrated message. I really felt the anger you tried to convey by watching this.

Not that i particularly agree with the message though, since i dont give a rats ass about who deserves their e-fame and who doesnt, but if that is what catches your attention and the foundation for your flash then i can only applaud that. Maybe this will sound weird but im glad you arent a star in proportions/realism and animating. The weird characters and simple environments gave it a unique artsy style.

Although a tad bit incoherent at some points where there was a too large shift between styles and technique it wasnt really as annoying as in most other movies. Maybe this is what you intended. All i can say is that it was an overall good original flash that will give some of us material to think about.

AITD

ZekeySpaceyLizard responds:

w00t

[A Theft of Funny (TTA)]

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.

[Flathead Symphony]

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!

[URTUM TR33!!?? LOL!!1]

Hahaha

Very funny. Even the purple hair was the same

AITD

MonsterMunchClock responds:

I regret nothing!

[Shades of Grey Ep. 6]

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.

[Dark Seat Comfort]

nice

Now THAT is a really nice loader

Lelio-rising responds:

yeh i wonder where i got it...

[Xombie: Chapter 6]

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.

[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.

[Robenstein]

Well designed

You certainly know how to visually express yourself, that is obvious. But designing things is 1 thing, animating is something else. I could see you still need to learn alot about animating by the way the robot walked and by the general lack of animation in this animation.

The storyline was a bit simple, but still unclear to me. Too bad it was so short or it could have been alot more interesting. It may sound like bad advise, but maybe its better if you concentrate more on making something interesting and cool rather than spending days creating the backgrounds and special effects.

The music was perfect though and so were the sound effects. The thing felt really proffessional, but like i said before it lacked content a little.

Oh and why is that dutch movie Shouf Shouf Habibi your favorite movie? lol I didnt know people in Spain know it also.

AITD

Valaquenta responds:

Well, I guess what you say make sense and I'm taking all advises with me for my next movie.

And I have a Dutch uncle who sent Shouf Shouf Habibi by mail. :)