AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Hidden Sorrow]

Not as good as your others

Iv been a fan of your work ever since you made that evanescence flash movie. Especially crayon bear i found very good. Unfortunately i was dissapointed by this one.

Another flash movie that tries to deal with the more serious themes. This isnt a bad thing on itself, but the way you executed it was too simple and unoriginal. Depression, suicide, angel metaphores..... Things we are literally drowned with and things that can be only interesting if it is approached in a more original way. Who was that character, why is she depressed and why are we supposed to feel sorry for her? The entire thing didnt really make sense at all, it was basically just a short semi dramatic situation of a girl comitting suicide.

It helps alot if you make it longer and give the viewer time to attach to the main character. Nobody feels sorry for a hopelessly depressed girl jumping of a cliff. At least not if we dont know what the other aspects of her life are like.

The visuals were good and you are definately improving on that area. Very nice sky and great purple tones. The music selection was good too. This may not be as easy as it seems, because it happens alot that a sad flash gets completely killed by the wrong song selection.

Anyway, this criticism is only for this particular movie. I really do like the rest of your work. And i admire the fact that you experiment and try to make flash in many genres. Adios!

AITD

Madelief responds:

Well.. I have to agree with you..
Thing is.. my heart wasn't in this one to be honest.
I'm not really the depressing kind of type..but the music kinda inspired me...
The next one will actually have more depth ;)

I hope o_o... I'm kinda brainless lately, heh.

[Tinman]

That was nice

Reminds me of one of my own flashmovies. Great work in limited colors and nice movement of the robot too. I saw your other work and even nominated you for the 250 bucks price on evolution. Not that i was that blown away by it, but i like how you use your creativity and think about the themes you animate.

As for this flash itself i can say the same thing. Great concept. Somehow i am fascinated by robots. I still havent figured out wether they are a positive or negative thing on our society. Or maybe this flash wasnt really about a robot, but about a love story. Of how a numb person cant feel anything when there is no love in his life. Only you know and if i were you, i wouldnt tell others what you exactley meant. Literal or metaphorical, sometimes its better to just keep the real content of something for yourself.

The music was definately awesome. I used to be a huge underworld fan and i especially loved their faster tracks, like push upstairs (or was it downstairs) and born slippy.

When you have read my review this far, you might wonder why i havent put a 10 in the overall box, since it has been all but praise. Well the obvious flaw is the length of the movie. Its very short. Sometimes a short flash movie is extra powerful, but i felt like the concept was too interesting, complicated to be told within a minute. Because I just got attached to the robot and then it ended.

Another thing that i really didnt like is how you used text in this movie. That is, in my eyes, really the cheapest way out. I personally find it much more interesting to draw or animate those emotions in an original way, instead of just putting 'empty' or 'nothing'. It kind of makes the thing too obvious and simple.

But even though i didnt give this flash a 9 or 10, im still thinking about nominating you again for the 250 bucks price. I like originality and based on your other work also, you definately deserve more recognizition. Looking forward to what you will make next,

AITD

BlackmarketKraig responds:

I wish you'd specified which of your flash movies you were referring to. I've only ever seen Renaissance of the Insignificant before (wonderful, btw).

Thanks for the support on Evolution. I still wonder where I ranked overall on that one for the month... It wasn't in the top 30, but it was certainly fun just to in there.

I think the most wonderful thing about any work of art is that everyone can draw their own concusions for what it truely means.

Yeah, Underworld is still cool in my opinion, even if a little bit dated by todays stardards for electronica. I'd have to dig out my CD's from the various piles around my room to properly define the upstairs/downstairs question, and that could take days...

Hmmm... well I had thought that it might be short. But people often tell me my flash movies are too slow so I figured I was wrong. Maybe I wasn't this time. ^_^

Interesting comment about text... I guess animating scenes to define emotion would have made it longer and more cohesive, eliminating two problems with it... maybe i'll remake it later, but probably not.

Whew! Thanks for reviewing!

[A Demon Tale]

Nice

Beautiful music, original style and awesome special effects. Still the most important part of a flash movie, the concept/idea, i found mediocre.

I bet were inspired by of lord of the rings, with the first scene being kind of the same as the fall of gandalf while he was fighting the demon. I am not really sure what the thought behind the demon transforming in a human was, but i think everyone understood this was a lovestory. Maybe the story showed how love can bring out the best in a person, since the man and woman both turned into angels after they found each other.

Anyway, that was also what i didnt like about it, the entire transforming into angels scene. What was supposed to be the magical, emotional climax, came out as a cliche, unbelievable ending without surprises. I think it would have been much cooler if he as a demon would find another demon he fell in love with, or something like that. When i look at love stories or other art pieces, it is amazing how many times angels are used as metaphores. C'mon use your creativity a little. Because the first part when the man fell into the cave and encountered the weird creatures playing the music was very original.

What also bothered me was how you rushed the thing near the ending. No more special effects and frame by frame work, but tweened limbs and still scenes... Maybe you lost interest in the project. Its a bit a pity, because with drawing talent like that, it could have been so much better.

AITD

Stryda responds:

Well the animation isnt supposed to follow an actual story. There is no sound effects, no speech. What I wanted to create was something dreamlike, sort of in the vein of 'Wizard of OZ' or 'Alice in Wonderland'. The whole thing isnt supposed to be looked upon with seriousness with the story. You talk of cliche, fine. But there is no story, I wanted to create a unique visual feast. That was my goal.

You are observant, the ending scenes are rushed. Thats due to this animation having to be completed for a deadline.
Thanks for your review, but take a chill pill. You dont need to take things so seriously in the future.

[Runawayhand]

wasnt really feeling it

I usually admire it when flash artists experiment and use different media to tell their story, but somehow it didnt really work out for the particular flash.

If you combine different media together, it doesnt mean the entire style and identity of the movie has to change every few seconds. I was really liking the minimalistic style of the first seconds with the few colors, but it quickly became a chaos of different styles that had little to do with the theme. I mean, if the theme asks for chaos and random styles, then it can work out very well, but this thing tried to tell a funny story and got kind of lost between all the exerimenting.

Try to work more in a certain mood and to connect the video/photo and flash more appropriate. Maybe this was all supposed to be funny, but i dont think many of us would think so. Anyway, good luck in the future animating.

AITD

ZekeySpaceyLizard responds:

Why do people keep assuming this was supposed to be a funny cartoon?


Guys.

Please.

[Waiting Room]

Profound

I can only think of 1 words after watching this animation. Profound. Very rarely do i see animations on ng of which the ambition goes beyond animating a short fight scene. There are some animations here who try to tackle the more complex, interesting subjects. And of the few animation who try, even less succeed.

But 'Waiting Room' by you is so thought provoking, so clever, so original and so -in a weird way- humorous that this is a very, very rare gem.

What happens to us when we die? Probably the most ancient philosphical question known to mankind. Wether you believe it will be connected to religion or not, doesnt matter. Nobody has ever had the opportunity to tell us what happens, cause we can not talk when we are dead. And the way you captured that mystery and shown us a bit of your fantasy combined with it is brilliant.

But it is not only the concept that is brilliant, it are the details that really did it. The interaction between the main character and the television on the background. And how the main character in his turn, interacted with the viewer. The pictures of different elements on life on the background. Everything made sense and didnt make sense at all. I love it.

The animation reminded me a bit of 'Waking Life'. I dont know if you have seen it, but if you havent, then i would really recommend watching it. I dont know where you as an artist can go from here. Maybe digging deeper in the questions we feel bound to ask or animate something totally different. Its all up to you. But do know, that i will be observing your work very closely from now and that you have 1 fan more ;)

AloneInTheDark

g-p-ogden responds:

AITD,
What can I say? I am very familiar with your work and was honored by your review. Thank you so much.
email me if you'd like to talk more.
g_p_ogden

[Noah - A Short Film]

Pretty good

That was pretty cool. I am a sucker for those surreal endings. The concept was nice too, but could have been brought a little bit more detailed and more thought out though.

The first part of the flash was very good. The cafe scene in combination with the weird setting inside the box and not to mention the awesome radiohead music on the background created a nice atmosphere. I was a little bit dissapointed that you approached the flash so seriously though. Things like these are alot more powerful when approached with a bit more humor, like in movies such as Magnolia and American Beauty. Add a bit more hidden comedy to the scene man!

This especially goes for the final scene, when the flash turns out to not be an original, cool surreal piece, but a flash with a nice idea, executed with overdramatical music and an awkward semi Steven Spielberg 'you should believe in yourself' atmosphere.

I still respect things like this for at least trying to use flash in an originl and more ambitious way though. Take care man

AITD

Siard responds:

Thanks man! A review from someone who makes cool movies is always nice:) Well you know, I thought it had enough humor in it:) And Magnolia and America Beauty are awesome movies.

Thanks again!

[Story Tag 2b: Blown Away]

Just a suggestion

It all pretty well thought out and the voice acting and music is of high quality too. One thing bothered me alot though.

And that was how you use the drawing tablet brush lines for the backgrounds and characters. This really gave the thing a sloppy look and took away alot from the smooth professional atmosphere. These type of lines work better for a more detailed background (i.e like in foamy or merry melony) than in a cartoony one.

I would suggest either to use the pen tool to make the thickness overall the same or by removing the outlines completely (like you did in a scene inside the castle) and only draw the character outlines with the pen tool. Really, it would look so much better this way.

AloneInTheDark

Dustball responds:

Hmm, well I disagree. I think the pen tool looks awful, unless being used for some sort of detailed architectural design, which this isn't. All of the most popular flash artists use the brush tool, not the pen. First, there is no weight to the pen so it looks like so stiff and unaesthetic. More importantly though, it takes the drawing out of drawing, in my opinion. With the brush, you just draw what you want, and let it flow out. With the pen you draw, but then have to sit and meticulously tweek and fix the lines using handles and all that jazz. I don't know, I think the beauty of Flash is the way the lines look. (The lines of the brush tool, that is) Interestingly, I didn't even draw any of those backgrounds with a tablet, that's just just the way the brush tool looks, which is more cartoony and fun, rather than detailed and precise.

[The Performance Artist]

Heh, great job

Very nice job. This animation really fascinated me and i went to watch your other stuff including your website. Now that i know a little bit more about you it is easier to give this thing a review.

You really have something to say and you do this with a rich background, being an artist yourself for so many years. It's nice and refreshing to see a flash told from a mature perspective for a chance instead of by a 15 year old who feel like they have a solid opinion about a difficult topic like art, without having any good arguements.

I partly agree with you and i also dont see the beauty in a movie in which a 'superior' artist smacks itself on the head with a fish, which others see as a brilliant and powerful act. But thats kind of the point here i think. Art is about opinion. Thats the only thing certain about it. All the rest can be doubted and discussed. And even though you did a great job expressing your opinion, i dont think its wise to judge other people's interpretation of art so bluntly, no matter how bizarre.

The animation itself was very well done. Especially the first 5 seconds of the 2 people walking into the gallery was impressive. The drawings were good, but it was the animation which was excellent. Its not easy to realistically animate a man fainting after holding his breath or the movement of a dead fish being slapped. People should appreciate these details and not only desperately search for exciting fight scenes and such in a flash.

The voiceacting was also top notch. I saw you learned to set the sound to 'stream' to put it in sync with the video, in contrary to 'you get what you pay for', where the video was out of sync with the music.

But the most important fact is that i found the thing funny. And since this is a comedy, thats what counts. Especially the examples of the work of the bald artist and the final scene with the baby making art for the first time, heh. Plus it got your point across really well.

Anyway, like i said before, very refreshing to see something made from a person who understands the topic and theme he animates. I wonder what kind of original project you will come up next.

AloneInTheDark

Topdrawer responds:

Thanks for you thoughtful and well-written comments.

[TMBG: Particle Man]

Not my favorite

Welcome back Rodrigo! Once you can make great animations like yourself you cant just ignore that passion. You just have to animate the cool ideas in your head otherwise you will go insane, i know what thats like!

Unfortunately i didnt find this particular piece that impressive. The graphical style and animation techniques are inferior in compairison with your megaman vs quickman and the humor is less clever than in the metal gear solid parody.

Another point that i found kind of dissapointing is that the animation follows the lyrics of the flash to literally. Maybe some more personal interpretation would have been better & more original, instead of having the song dictate your work. But this was your own choice, so i cant really hold that against you.

A few minor flaws in the graphical style gave the flash a little bit an atmosphere as if it was rushed. For example, the wrong perspective of the building, the lack of shadow work and the missing of backgrounds in some scenes.

What i did like was the combination of different medias in this flash. The way you used photographs in the start and for the hand scene was pretty kool. I personally think alot of people are still not seeing the great potential of this style and there are so much more possibilities when film/photography/traditional art and vector art are combined.

Well this was my 2 cents, maybe i wrote my review a little bit too serious and i should have just seen this flash as a light hearted time waster without going to indepth on the details. Fact is however that i know, and i know you know it too, that you can do alot better (confusing?). Don't worry, I am still a fan of your work though :)

- AloneInTheDark

El-Cid responds:

Thanks for the criticism. I agree with a lot of your points. This time around, the story was told for me, and I thought it would be fun to interpret for a change. (Though I won't do this very often).

I also agree that I could have polished the visuals a bit. I concentrated more on intermixing "frame by frame" and tweens in this piece, and didn't care to shade the entire thing like I did in Mega Man. Looks like once I raise my own bar, I need to stay on level. :)

Glad you liked it though.
--Peace

[The Mad Scientist]

Good, but could have been better...

I know you worked a long time on this flash. I saw the 'mad scientist' sig of yours in the bbs months ago. Awesome that you got it done and congrats with the frontpage and award.

I liked many thing about this movie. The mad scientist concept was awesome. I am getting tired of all these simple flashes about flawless heroes. Nothing is cooler than to make a flash about a mad guy.

Another thing i liked was the noir style. Not just because it was noir, but because it certainly added a certain tone of darkness and insanity to the piece. I think you drew the entire flash with the mouse cause of the kinda scribbly lines. If so, then i know it costed you alot of pain in the ass work to complete the piece. (trust me i know)

What i didnt like so much was the overall presentation. It is almost like you wanted to use every possible special effect in this flash. Think more about the effect of certain scenes and about the composition of the different elements in them. Brilliant scenes like the scientist standing in front of his lab were followed by very poorly ones like a face closeup consisting of 6 different lines. This was also the case for other aspects like the shadow work. In some scenes it was simply brilliant, while in most others it was shining by absence. Try to make the thing more coherent by thinking about these things.

The music wasnt really what i would use. Even though the video was brilliantly in sync with the song, i found the song too distracting. Sometimes it can be much better by choosing soundtracks that you wont even notice, but that contribute greatly to the atmosphere. The song you used worked very well for the beginning and the end, but didnt fit in for the scenes in between.

But the points i mentioned arent just things i can say for this particular flash, but it goes for ninety percent of all the flashes on newgrounds. I said them to you, because in the other areas the flash was very good and solid and if u can improve for part 2 then without a doubt i will see that flash in the top 10 in the future.

AloneInTheDark

Afro-Ninja responds:

I agree wholeheartedly. But I have plenty of time for refinement in future movies. Thanks for the thought-out review : )