Esn's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Vertical Seafood Taco]

You know, at first this seemed a bit sparse to me, but I grew to like it on the second viewing. The song really is quite soothing and memorable, though very different from your earlier Fernando melodies. The animated scenes fit it well. Actually, it's the first music video from you that I enjoyed since ParodyX3.

A few further notes:
The piano keys and internal mechanism actually corresponded to the notes being played! Neat!

Does Gooseman's shirt change colour when he's underwater?

Has Fernando been working out? He's looking unusually buff in that first scene with him.

Is that Pleasure Island nearby? You know... it probably is.

Sexual-Lobster responds:

it was pointed out to me i added two extra keys in the very first piano shot, woops. its intended to be pleasure island, yeh.

[Quest of the Manwhore]

Great stuff

Well, this is well-done in just about every respect.

The only reason I'm taking a point off is because I don't think Gooseman's short taking-the-stage-away-from-Fernando scene was explained really well. It just seems weird that everything is about Fernando, and suddenly it becomes about Gooseman trying to usurp Fernando's symbols, with no explanation. Would've been nice to get a bit of set-up for that, or Fernando's reaction to it.

Sexual-Lobster responds:

woooaaaaahhwwwoooaahhhhwwoooaaahah woah woah wwowowowoaaahaahaahhh!

[Ask Raptor Jesus]

To be honest...

...I felt that this one was a bit too random and lacking in focus, with a somewhat uneven rhythm. So I'm not too surprised that "Parliament Deathmatch" got more laughs, since it was much more logically-structured around a single point.

Even your worse films are still very nice, though.

Sexual-Lobster responds:

the audience of Q&A are politically interested australians for the most part, plus the night it played was 25 and under night in the audience (i think), so that explains the better reaction.

[Katan]

Excellent work

You are a fine director who knows where to move the camera and how long to keep it there, and a fine animator whose characters I can believe in. You've improved a lot since your first flashes, specifically in the area of discipline. This is a great film, and its weakest point (the screenplay) is still good.

Out of curiosity, did you originally have a different plan for the ending? It seems like the more natural "punishment" for the red animal would have been for the god to leave him on the spikes. I wonder if you changed it to make it not so dark.

[Parliament Deathmatch]

Perfect satirical film

Well, I'm Canadian not Australian, so I don't know all the nuances of Australian politics. Nevertheless, this was just perfectly made, and is one of your best films. Also one of the few things you've made (or is it the only one?) that's family-friendly. ;) I think you should consider doing more "family-friendly" things, as it obviously doesn't hinder you at all. The TV show would be crazy not to play this!

One of my favourite things about this is the music that plays during the transformations. That is absolutely wacked, and very appropriate! How did you make it?

You could've applied this to Canadian politics last year... with Dion as the hamster and Ignatieff as the snake. Unfortunately, at the end of last year our snake ate our hamster, so it's too late now.

Sexual-Lobster responds:

thanks esn!
becoming a snake is a metaphor for the ambition to topple the leader and take over, so i imagine every country has a lot of snakes.

the music is a rapid scale with a simple synth instrument, but with six delay effects on it

[The Ballad of CrippleKane]

Great cinematography

You've really nailed the style of cinematography and camera moves from those epic Western movies. Also, the art direction is generally fantastic. Simple shapes, suitable for animation, and yet the texture you added gives it a bit of complexity also. Great coloring, also. You also had convincing characterizations. The old man with the white moustache, and the intense stare, was particularly memorable. Oh, and the progression of action was good. It complemented the music nicely without being entirely dependent on it (example, the line "and that's a dead man" often coincided with someone being killed).

There was one basic thing that I'm not sure came out well, and that is the way that the whole ball gets rolling. Maybe I got this wrong, but to me it looked like the main character comes into a bar, sits down, and then for no reason pulls his gun on three people sitting nearby and kills them. Why should I be on his side, after that? A little later on, a scene shows all three on wanted posters, but then why does the sheriff and his men chase after him, if the men he killed were criminals in any case? So that was pretty confusing for me. If he killed them because he had some sort of specific grudge against them (was that it?), I think that should've been made clear in a scene before he came into the bar.

AlmightyHans responds:

yeah, i was afraid of this happening. Basically, Kane hunts down wanted people. But in this town he ran into a corrupt sheriff. I guess i should have come up with a way of making it more clear that he's corrupt. I thought if i dressed him in black and made him and his henchmen look mean enough the point would get through. but yeah I agree with you, I should have fleshed that out more.

[All Work 2008 & Before.]

Hey, pretty neat!

That was quite interesting to watch. I really liked how it was so unpredictable, so I could never tell when it was going to end or what was about to happen. A previous reviewer mentioned that this is like doing "a collab with yourself". That's it exactly.

My favourite parts were that multicoloured "on drugs" part near the beginning and the box dance near the end.

Jae responds:

Those are by far the best in my opinion too. Thanks !

[Christmas Romance]

A review of the first version

Well, I reviewed the "new" version already, but I'll also review this older version. I think that some things here are more effective. In particular, the film starts at a more accessible and interesting place; I think that the added-on scenes at the beginning in the new version are unnecessary; they aren't as interesting and don't add anything that isn't revealed in this older edit of the film, plus they begin without any music. Also, I liked the snowflakes in this film a lot more, as they look more interesting and it is clear that they are snowflakes. I wasn't sure what those white circles were in the new version; I thought they might've been specks of dust or something. The film doesn't have the nice animated backgrounds and some other things that the new version does, but on the whole, I think that some of the fundamental elements are stronger, and maybe this is why its rating is currently a little higher.

Also, I find it hard to believe that those extra scenes and animated backgrounds added 15mb to the file size! I have a suspicion that the new file size could've been reduced by a lot without making the film look any worse. Maybe not, but it just seems inefficient. Are all of the animated backgrounds in the newer film just vector images on another layer, or something else?

Cridia responds:

Everything is vector, as is in the new version. I reduced the layers as much as possible; the newer version actually contains less layers. It is a bit strange why the size would skyrocket with the animation present, but that is something I still dont quite get either. Then again, it is not like I am a veteran animator so maybe I will learn in the future.

As for the starting scene; it was a bit of a shame without the music, but this was something I got told by an senior animation student at my school; he found that there was no purpose and that in order to establish a goal, I should have at least introduced the present beforehand. I actually kind of agreed with that which is why the extra scene was added. I couldnt find anything to substitute for the lack of music though, so thats why it was silent.

it seems we disagree about the snow though :P. I was of the opinion that the snow was actually weaker; as it was in a different style than the rest of the animation. The reason why I went with a more simple form was because I found it to fit better than something detailed with a glow. Then again, I highly dislike that typical gradient glow, which was also removed entirely this time around.

Anyways, thanks for your time for responding to this animation as well!

[Christmas Romance +]

A nice anime-style film

Well, maybe not by some definitions of anime, but this is definitely in the spirit of a lot of East-Asian animation. The "conversations" and the expressions of love at the end, in any case, are very typically East-Asian. I really found a lot of things to like in the art here, especially atmospheric details such as the lamplight on the ground, and the big creature watching them from behind the log. The animation of the characters was sometimes good, but other times messy, particularly when they were walking. The speech bubbles at some parts, particularly at the beginning, went by too quickly for me to figure out what was going on, although the story isn't particularly complex.

One question, though: how come this is 20mb? The art seems to be vector-based, so I don't see how this can take up so much space when far more complex vector-drawn films (such as Waterlollies) take up less.

Cridia responds:

Well, I dont really understand either, why the filesize is so big, but maybe it is because of the Flash itself. Waterlollies was made using ToonBoom (a program that is way too complex for me at the moment). Seeing as how ToonBoom is most probably the cream of the crop among 2D animation tools (it is also used for commercial cartoon series), I figure it has better ways of handling the filesize too.

[Sketched - Super Bored]

Missed the mark

It was not as funny as "pregnancy test" for me because that one seemed like it could've been based on a real situation and real people. This one is based on old-TV-show superhero stereotypes. Making fun of something that doesn't actually exist is a bit lame and not nearly as funny.

So my suggestion would be to pick something that more people can recognize from their daily lives next time. "Pregnancy test" was brilliant because it was just plausible, while being exaggerated enough to make me laugh.

The animation's really secondary here, but it seemed fine to me.

sirjeffofshort responds:

Cool, thanks for the review, you have a nack for always making really good points and (thankfully) backing them up with good logic so we know what to work on in the future.

Because we have a number of different writers with different tastes we think it's important to switch things up from scene to scene, and as with most sketch comedy, I expected some of our work to be a bit hit and miss with different groups of people. Coming from a background in comics and illustration, i really responded to the idea of "two super heroes having a conversation about meeting women just as you might expect two people in an office to," when it was pitched, however I do recognize that this idea is a bit more risky since it appeals to a more niche audience than 'pregnancy test' did.

You will definitely see more things akin to "pregnancy test" in the future, but I think it's important to experiment and see what works, elsewise working on these projects would become old hat and feel 'hacky' real quick. It's also important to know what peope respond to and what they don't, so again, thank you for your reviews.