Galneda's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Gears of Dumb]

Okay, 1/3rd of it is "The End" screen, while Gears of War dialogue plays over it.
The other 1/3rd of it is footage from the game's cutscenes, made monochrome as if it were a flashback.
And the remaining 1/3rd of it is a motion tween of two characters, completely still, while a snow effect plays above. We get an abrupt blood-splatter .png draped across the main character and scenery alike, barely perceptible gibs in the bottom right corner, and I think that's why you called it an "animation" in quotes in your author blurb.

Don't do that to yourself, it's basic, but it is moving in a way. It relies on stock-footage, and the format of the humor seemed to be building up into a subversion, but it didn't quite do that either, did it? Legitimize yourself, own up to it and call it an animation, and start learning and practicing to push yourself into being better if you're serious about doing more of these.

Your character is one facial expression. Stiff as a board, and not emoting. What are we supposed to feel? The famously used Mad World cover is supposed to evoke sadness, but he's stern-faced and pointing a gun at this...abominable snowman? It's not really clear. What is clear is that he's about to shoot him. You understood that there's parts in movies where characters reminisce in the middle of a tense situations and remember events of great loss and emotional turmoil, but it doesn't make sense in the context here. He's just mean-mugging a creature he's about to shoot while remembering friends who have died and the tragedy of the battlefield.

Moving forward, be consistent about the tone you're trying to express.
- Who are we looking at and what are you trying to make us feel?
Do you want us to be sad for him? Show us why it's sad.
Do you want us to root for him to shoot the monster? Show us why we should feel that way?
Do you want us to laugh? Show us something funny.

The fact that he just blasts the yeti offscreen isn't funny, it just punctuates that we've spent time to get to this part of the animation with no payoff. There's no punchline, and that hurts this thing's score.

Step outside of your comfort zone and learn the program by getting your characters to move around and emote a little. You have access to lines of dialogue, surely you could cobble together a lip-sync exercise. Group sections of anatomy in a way that you can manipulate limbs to simulate movement and life.

That's what'll help you learn a bit more about the program. A tween and some stock footage do not make for a very compelling test or exercise or practice...but yes, you very well SHOULD practice.

A book that helped me out in college a lot was Richard William's "Animator's Survival Kit." If you google that for the .PDF you can find it free to read and it's a WEALTH of animation tips and tricks and wisdoms.

Another book that helped with my mental health when it came to creating, and could help you explore further than tweens, is Art & Fear. Again, google for the .pdf, and you should find the entire book for free to read.

Never ever stop. It is possible to make a great animation, and it's within your grasp. You have every tool at your fingertips. Good luck.

OZTNIZDASHT responds:

Wow. This is some really helpful criticism. Thank you! Still trying to learn tweens, symbols, etc.

[THE LAMP]

This had potential to be so much more if you just pushed a little further. It was a really strong cold open, the guy peeking around the corner was interesting at first, but then it just kinda..looped.

Its as if you didn't know where to go with it or how to end it, so you just kinda...***phoned it in?****

Hah! Because the dialup.

It was frustrating a little bit, because the atmosphere was good, and those first two sequences look good, and that creepy droning going on in the background is doing all the work for you- because as its intensifying, seeming like its building up to something, everything cops out by throwing a filter around wallboy or stacking the lamp clicking hands over each other.

It felt like a doodle. "Whats this setting do? Oh. It flips my hand graphic horizontally. Whats this do? Oh, it stacks images of the lamp internally atop of each other."

Which is fine. I just want to see what you can do if you exerted more creative energies into things. You're doing things differently, and it looks interesting and cool.

Mission Accomplished! What's next?

SushiMaker3000 responds:

Thank you for your criticism. I made this as a joke for my friends. No real thought went into this.
I will put effort into the next thing I make for here.

Thank you again

[Noddy Hit And Run]

I am absolutely in love with the stylization of this. What softwares did you use in order to make it look so Playstation 1 era 3D rendering? I'd love to know your process, I see that you tagged it with Blender, but I want to learn as much as possible if you would be so kind. The atmosphere is foreboding and effective, and I think it's great. You did a wonderful job with this, as short as it was.

EtherealSnake responds:

Well I indeed used blender to make this animation, I tried to emulate the ps1 aesthetic by going with a low polygon count, a low render resolution (320x240) and low res texture with some dithering. I hope it answers some of your questions.

[Poyo - The undead bird]

DUUUUUDE!!!! This is extremely cool! I want to see more complex movements, I want to see more of the monster blending seemlessly in the environment! More creepy shit!

The actual final attack was a little underwhelming because we saw so little of it in-between the cameraman standing, and the cameraman knocked prone- but goddammit you had me on the edge of my seat. I loved this.

Dor-Bar responds:

What an awesome comment!
You should check the stop motion game we're working on, Tiny Money
The trailer is also uploaded here, I bet you'll love it.

[Walk cycle]

Odd, but very interesting and different. I like it a lot, and I can't wait to see how you grow as an animator. There's a lot of skill demonstrated here already, with potential to flourish into advanced visions.

Take us somewhere, you have my attention.

[Milk Dust]

AHHHHH I remember a coworker showing me this! So good to see you on NG! This was amazing, and your sister did a great job voicing the dinosaur!

[sonic battle with shadow]

Everythings too far away, not a lot happens and it's too short. We can't appreciate what little action is happening from this flat wide shot.

RBXImator responds:

well it was my first time making this what did you expect

[When you wish upon a star - ( Pinocchio Parody)]

Extremely clean lines and character design. I love the voice acting, and the backgrounds looked great! Sound effects were just right, good audio mixing all-around (though Pinnochio himself was just a smidge too quiet, that could've been the intention)

I recommend not spoiling the twist in the thumbnail in the future. Some light instrumentals could've helped irk the horror up a little bit, like the cliche'd but tried and true rising violin slide. Also would've been good to have a bit of a twist that subverted expectations, or cranked it up to eleven in the horrific visuals at the end- feels like it cut-off to save time and that the short didn't finish fully inflated.

I can't wait to see what you do next! Following you for updates!

[shape shiftier]

The frame-rate is painfully slow. I recommend sticking to 24 fps in your document settings, because the speed of this thing is trying your audience's patience. They'll get frustrated and they'll vote poorly if they feel like their time is being wasted.

montothesqueaks responds:

i know when i was edit thething it was acting slow cause of how old my pc is

[me blinking]

Onion Skins are your friend! Use onion skins in your animation software so you can change what needs to be changed the way it needs to be changed, at the rate they need to be changed, and to double check what needs to stay the same.

I commend you for hitting the ground running by tackling frame-by-frame animation. That's the way to go, and it's a style of animation that, if you can master it, that skill will translate across any software of the era. The software may change, but the fundamentals of animation that come from mastering frame-by-frame movement will not- you can only improve by learning new techniques. Smears, exaggerations, etc...

I bring this up because the OC's hair here, in the animation, is hella wobbly. To the degree that the shape of the OC's head completely changes once they go into full blink. Ask yourself critically, is it necessary for a character's hair to move this much just to blink? If you were going for dynamic hair movement, like it was caught in the wind or something, what could be different to better sell that effect to the audience watching this?

You're off to a great start! I highly recommend researching more about the process of animation if you want to get better at this. Be curious, be proactive, and hungry- seek & destroy, search for the knowledge you're missing that'll help you become stronger at this.

An excellent place to start was a book that helped me out through college, Richard William's "Animator's Survival Kit."

You can find a free .pdf of it if you google it, and that's a pill of knowledge that'll surely help you grow as an animator if you're serious about this.

I wish you luck! Keep practicing, and challenge yourself so you grow!

montothesqueaks responds:

Thank y for the criticism ill be sure to look up the book