AloneInTheDark's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[:the Composer:]

I can tell why people love it

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

Jazza responds:

thanx. BUUUT it is very difficult to do so within the average time frame of a flash animation made for the internet (4-6 mins) and i didnt make this animation to please people, i made it to vent things that were going on in my life, and express how i feel on certain issues.

[The Stranger Forest]

.... varicolored

Hmm well it's hard for to judge this animation. There were alot of things i like about it and some things i didn't.

I read in some reviews that some users are put off by the anime style you used for the characters. I read it wasnt your intention to make them in anime style, but i did find them rather strange looking compared to the fantastical backgrounds you used throughout the movie. In fact i had that on more occasions, for example when the style suddenly switched from minimal linestrokes to detailed environments in the beginning. I always try to be really careful with changes in style during an animation and only use them when its really needed, but i couldnt find a good reason for the change here.
I think that in this aspect, 'where do clams come from' was better. Maybe thats just me and others did like the changes in style.

What i did think was very good was the way you visualized your vivid imagination. Captivating, surreal and pretty funny at points. The animation was gorgeous, i was especially impressed by the way you animated the cat. The forest was drawn very nicely also, but it was a bit of a contrast with the rather bland cityscapes. Maybe that could be a good thing looking at it from an emotional perspective, but i think a consistent eye for detail would have fit more.

Still, all my kudos r belong to you. In the end you made a pretty original fantastical and captivating animation that is a great addition to the rest of your work. I can't imagine how much time was put into this, but it really was all worth it.

Keep up the good work!

AITD

[-Seven-]

Well that's it...

I simply have to put you on my favorite author list. You just keep doing your own thing and leave me very impressed after every single animation.

I think you have really achieved your own style and even though alot of your animations differ greatly from each other, they are all 100% 'dustball'. Original, light hearted and technically impressive also. There isn't a lot i can still add after my last review and i don't think there is a lot of critique besides minor technical improvements that can really help you as an artist. Just keep experimenting/making stuff and you'll perhaps get very far.

Somewhere in the future i am going to organize a collab and i am looking for some diverse creative people i admire to do a small part for it. So far it's only me and luis yet, but I would be honored if you would do a part for it. I can send you some details if you want, since i think it's quite a cool concept, but it isnt going to happen anytime in the very near future, so no rush.

Keep rocking!

AITD

[5 Busy Shapes]

Pretty good

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

Dustball responds:

Thanks for the thoughtful review! I agree with you completely, and I've never really considered myself a great animator. I certainly wouldn't win an "animate some kick-ass frame by frame stuff!" contest like Synj or Gel would, so I try to just be creative and come up with interesting things to see and hear. As far as this particular animation goes, keep in mind we literally made this in February, 1997, and gel and I both cringe at the bad quality of the models and animation. I would love to see what kind of claymation we could come up with now!!

[Warriors of Aidoios - P2]

Nice attempt

Nice attempt at making an action short. The photographs you made and edited were beautiful and the setting was very atmospheric.

However, while watching this episode and the previous one, i felt like you don't really know the opportunities and limitations of Flash and stopmotion yet. Making a Kill Bill like action flick isn't the best idea to translate into a stopmotion. Personally I think the beauty in fight scenes is the fluent motion in the movements of the characters which is often more like a choreographed dance rather than a real fight. These photographs result in choppy combat that takes alot of the speed, timing and adrenaline away from the action.

Another disadvantage is that the movie is too ambitious and takes itself too seriously. I'm not saying you should make comedy movies, but it is impossible to create an epic movie with a compelling storyline if there isn't even dialogue in it or some form of character development. I'm sure the storyline looks grand in your head and you are dying to show others how great this is, but the chosen medium and technique and perhaps your current skill and the lack of a budget won't allow you to fully convince the viewer yet.

I'm a sucker for stopmotion though and as an experiment this is quite nice, but it is nowhere near the big action movie it is pretending to be.

AITD

[And the Birds Flew]

Gorgeous

That was very beautiful. More original in style, technique and themes than any other immature shit on here. Probably my favorite one of this year.

AITD

PS: I noticed a family member composed the music for you, which made it even more touching.

[Future]

Experiment succesful

Great style and lighting effects. The entire thing felt like a las vegas neon sign, only in motion. I was very impressed with how you zoomed and panned through the environments with only the use of tweening. I don't think any subtle 3d would have harmed the animation, but then you couldnt have put the cool 'all done in flash' text in the description.

It started really awesome, but it was a bit disappointing to see the animation turn into a megamanlike clone in the end. Somehow only very few people on this website understand that an animation can be exciting and full of adrenaline without the obligated kamehamea's and gigantic robot end bosses.
In fact, i think the way you drew and animated the environment was alot more interesting than the simple anime characters and motorcycles that flied through them. Experimenting with an original style like this one is half of the work, but adjusting it to a good and interesting concept is the other half. And that half isn't really here yet.

However you are already halfway further than most of the people here, since they don't posses the ability to succesfully do any of the mentioned two. I think the more movies you'll make, the more personal they'll become and as a result, the more interesting they turn out. I hope to see more from you soon!

AITD

[MoreLikeBlue]

Close to brilliant

Well, that was one of the more refreshing, entertaining animations i've seen the last couple of months.

It was awesome right from the beginning. I always like it when an artist pais careful attention to the music, voiceacting, style and concept to make something a whole. The voice acting was really well done and i had the feeling it was from someone familiar. Then i saw the credits and I saw Andy Dennis did it, which explains it. (I'm using his voice for a project too, he's awesome).

But not only the voice acting was well done, also the script and bizarre situations. And they too, felt familiar. Again i saw in the credits you used Alanthebox's music and gave him a special thanks. Thing is that the entire animation feels like something he could have done. I'm not saying this is a ripoff of his work, but i do think that the strong points of this animation, the voice acting, script and subtle randomness are pretty much the same quality as what he's been doing in the past. It makes it all a tad less original, brilliant and humorous if it's been done just as good/better before.

I still love this. In my opinion it stands with head and shoulders above most of the things submitted here. The visual style is great, with the same attention to characters, objects and backgrounds, without overexaggerating it. The sound effects were masterfully used together with the music at the right moments. It's all very clean and almost professional. This IS another aproach than what Alan does. In his stuff there is usually not too much attention to the visual aspect puts all the focus on the script and situations. It sorta gives the thing a charming aspect, so I'm not sure if the clean visual style is nescesairily something that brings something extra.

Well still great job with the animation. I read this was a webcomic first so im definitely going to check out what the comic's like. Keep up the good work in the future but also try to really give your own twist to what inspires you.

AITD

[Star Wars: Old Wounds]

very decent

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

Gus-Saldanha responds:

Thanx. Your profile is very rich, u got several awards. Thanx for taking time to build such a big and clear constructive critic of my work. Ill consider your words for next time.