Esn's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Love, Wink]

Heh...

Conclusively proving that it's really the thought that counts. :D

Well done! A wonderful animation.

[Wink: Insatiable Appetite]

I love the style.

The actual movie concept is passeable, but it's the style and animation that really makes this one take off.

I'm going to see your other movies now... good job; make more, and put some more creativity into the concept/story, then it may REALLY be a masterpiece!

[Across The Universe]

Some people just don't get it.

...and I'm one of those people. It's probably because I'm not christian, so I'm likely missing something because I don't understand many of the symbols that you used. You should really try to make movies in the future that speak to EVERYONE, not just christians; after all, if you're trying to show the merits of your way of doing things, why make a film that only Christians can understand?
I think you should consider in the future using non-christian symbols to show christian ideas whenever it's possible.

I think that I understood some of it, and the ending in particular cleared up a lot of things. Still, although some of the animation in this was very, very good, not all of it was that way; some things were rough, and some weren't animated at all although animation would have helped them stand out.

[Prowlies at the River]

Simply amazing.

Some of the camera angles that you used are especially challenging, and it's marvellous that it looks so good.

My only 2 complains:
-the dream sequence was too repetitive (same animation lasted too long)
-the animation was choppy at times.

No matter, this is definite score 10 material! I really hope that I'll someday see a full feature animated film by you in this style! :D (Europe is opening up for traditional animators at the same time that the US is moving in the direction of computer animation; take the successes of The Triplets of Belleville and the numerous animated films now being produced in France, Spain, Russia, and other countries)

[Alive]

Yes, it's good...

I gave you an 8 mainly because I know how hard it must have been to put everything together to the music so coherently. Animation gets a 7 and style gets an 8, because I think that you have a good sense of style but that your drawing skills aren't always up to it (of, course they're still much better than most of the stuff on newgrounds, and I absolutely LOVED the opening image). I'm sure that if you practice you'll get better, so keep at it!

Another thing; the line of darkness was fine when moving accross the Earth in space, but on the ground, it moved FAR too slowly to convey any sense of realism, and you forget that the atmosphere would distort it, so it's not at all a straight line like it usually was; it would have been better if you'd just made the images FADE into darkness, like they would have in real life.

I think that I understood what you where trying to say (I was unsure for awhile, but I finally realized what it was when the planet became completely dark). It's a good concept, though I think that you could have told it a bit more cohesively. But anyway, it was very good!

P.S. One question... did you draw your drawings on paper 1st, and if so, how did you transfer them to flash? Please answer if you can; I'm hoping to make something in flash myself, but I can only draw well if I have a pencil... thanks.

AloneInTheDark responds:

Well, actually my usual style of drawing is more detailed as the style i used for this flash. Only the more detailed u draw in flash, the harder it becomes to animate.
Im aware that the eclipse isnt 100% natural. It goes slow because i tried to show it in slowmotion, but when it covers the landscapes then the higher areas should have remained longer in light than the lower ones (example: the skyscrapers in the city), if u understand what i mean. Doing this is beyond my animation skills though.
Finally, no, i didnt drew the drawings on paper first. I drew the animation in flash and the backgrounds in photoshop. I did it using a graphic tablet (www.wacom.com) which made it seem like it is handdrawn.

[Salad Fingers Episode 3]

The ending is the weakest part!

While this was better than episode 2 in terms of voice acting and animation (his body and legs actually look and move more realisticly in this one), the end just didn't have the shock power of the last episode.

I'd even go so far as to say that the weak WEAK ending just made it fall flat on its face. Make it creepier! It started out well...

[Crow Clock Shorts #04]

Heh, this was good!

Clocks or no clocks, this was a well-made short flash in almost every respect! The ending made me laugh.

Good work, and keep it up!

[DE_aztec]

One problem:

I liked the different characters, but you should have kept their unique faces on them while you where animating the fights, not just in the "character shots"; otherwise it's hard to tell who's who!

Other than that, I'd like to see the LAGGER confuse a whole bunch of people by his "amazing lagging powers" next time; you know, suddenly appear behind one of them just when they were about to kill him! THAT would be cool!

[Magical Trevor]

Ahah!

This is great! Perfect song, perfect animation to accompany it! Oh, except for the "beans" part- that could have been animated better, I think, to make it more interesting.

Still, I'll be voting 5 on this one as often as I can. :D

[Mutation 001]

Well...

The graphics are amazing, as are some of the concepts in this movie, but I wasn't too impressed with the foul language and the fact that it didn't make much sense.

Now, I'm ok with weird things, and this was actually pretty cool (the soldiers are amazing!), but WHY was he so sad that his experiment was in the ocean? What was it all about anyway?

If you had created a cohesive story in a film with graphics as great as these, I would have given you a higher rating. As it is, it feels more like a graphical experiment.