Starogre's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Neon Clock Evangelion (1995) VHS Rip]

you forgot OgreClock in the credits

Jellugh responds:

who

[Chop Chop]

looks great on my 4K TV nice work Luis

Luis responds:

What tv u got?

[The Animancer (introduction)]

action packed! that was a lot of fun to watch! it was constant action. i think a bit of story or background would have been good. at least to tell us a bit more about this character to become more attached to whats happening.

hlongtitan responds:

I would consider this much more of an action demo than anything, and I am preparing a background story to come along with it. But thanks for the advice!

[The Wiggly Tower]

I liked it. It was enjoyable, but short. And I don't mean short in the duration of the film, but in the story. I felt like the story started out as a mystery and then there was some filler, and then the ending - the answer to what the character is doing. I don't feel like there was a solid beginning or middle to the storyline. Maybe if you had some hints as to who the character is, or proposed a problem/solution the character tried and failed at it would be more interesting. It was sort of straightforward.

I liked the art style and you put a ton of work into this and it shows. I would have liked a couple better backgrounds, or maybe a couple crossfades to show movement in them. Like the overview of the carnival near the end seemed a little sloppy and simple and it looked a bit rushed.

The animation was decent for what it was, it looked hard to do because of the medium you chose. I think some poses and movements were a bit awkward and the timings could have been better but it got the idea across well.

Music helped the atmosphere.

Overall, I did like it, but I think the low score you spoke of is a result of a seemingly incomplete story and a couple of the rushed illustrations. It definitely looks like the beginning had a lot more work put into it than the end.

Good work, hope to see your next film!

DJJ-asshole responds:

Thanks for the critique, I appreciate your thoughts.

To be honest, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I made a movie without a concrete plan, but straightened the story at the end. There is no concrete message, nor any linear story to it. That's why it felt like I left the viewer hanging in there. Nevertheless, I agree with the sloppy story telling.

The ending wasn't rushed at all, I planned that from the beginning already, though it might feel like it, because it's a still image. I couldn't think of any other way to convey it better though.

As for the animation, I can honestly say that I think it's one of my best animation, though a lot of people call it "just decent". If you pay attention to the details, you can see my physics are way better than it used to be, but I kind of get why people think it's okay / bad. I animated on threes, meaning that I used an average of 8 keyframes per second. Even though not a lot of people dig that kind of style, I do not think it matters quality-wise. And I certainly don't think this is one of the average animations on the portal. By the way, about the awkward poses of the panda, I had a good version of it, as in, a realistic pose of how one should hold a hammer. But I didn't like it, because that's what everyone would do. I wanted to make something messy and unorthodox, hence the weird hammer holding.

But in the end, I do understand that it's an abstract story and it could be conveyed in a better way. So again, thanks for the review.

[Calumn & Castello]

I must say your art style is very good. I like the colors, the character designs, and the lighting. Background art was pretty cool too!

As for the animation, I thought it was good for the most part, but the timing of the movements are off. The key poses of the characters worked, but you have to space the poses out so the timing is more real. For example, when he got out from under the bed and did the little sway (side view, looking left), it was too quick. Space the key poses out more on the timeline so that you have more in-betweens to lengthen the motions.

The In-betweens in this were just okay, i thought as they depended on good key frames. A few of them are a bit sloppy, but with cleaner line work and more thought put into the spacing and timing of the key pose frames, it should be a lot better.

As for the music, please dear lord, take it out and put something else in. Don't use synth pop music with lyrics for your animation. I want the story to be told through the video, not Owl City yelling in my ear. The track is too upbeat throughout the whole thing and it just made me want to groove to the music, not be told a story. It doesn't fit when you know you have to fade the music out part-way through the song suddenly when the credits come. Unless it's a music video, like for the whole song, and the pacing of the animation matches the pacing of the music, it just doesn't work, sorry.

Like I said, love the style, just work on the timing of the key poses and really think about how long each movement would take, and adjust those key poses accordingly before adding in-betweens.

fantasticmissfox responds:

Really Helpful feedback here, thanks a lot for this! Timing is definitely something I have to work on and something I admittedly struggled with creating this, I'll keep practicing and studying, my summer goal is to study and animate sequences of movement to improve on this :)
As for the music, I completely understand and agree with what you're saying by the animation telling the story instead, with my next animation I'll keep a better eye on tracks and search around a bit more for more suitable material. Thanks once again for the very helpful feedback! :)

[Nap]

yeah this is really good dude

i loved the music, i loved the transitions from scene to scene, the camera work was cool, you got creative with the animation techniques for animating masses of sheep at once - really go the message across there. and most of all looooove the shepherd's character design. can't wait for your next projects, youve got a lotta potential

Spillkaidah responds:

Thanks a bunch, man! haha that zoom out and the sheep were the two biggest hurdles for me, i'm really glad you felt they worked.

[Scarecrows]

good work

the story was nice and simple and one i haven't really seen before. the polish on the whole film was astounding. good work! the backgrounds, and the characters all looked great. i can't really find anything wrong visually.

the pacing of the film and the sounds are something that need work i think. it was kind of confusing in the beginning and i'm not sure why a scarecrow monster killed his own kind. are there any other 'good scarecrows'? or is there only one 'monster' scarecrow? i was just kind of confused by that. the sound effects, like the wings flapping in the beginning, could use a bit of work to make it more engaging.

but overall it was great and the visuals were perfect for what it was. can't wait to see what you do next.

Kaloian responds:

It was hard to find accurate sound effects to fit the scenes and I found myself force feeding a lot of things. The original concept was an origin of scarecrows if they were more of a "being" rather than a creation but that was WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY to much exposition and not enough ACTUAL story. He's not so much a "good" scarecrow as a neutral scarecrow that found a different path. The other scarecrow killed him because thats just who he is, he kills and hurts anything that gets in his was. The other scarecrow was simply unfortunate.... that was kinda involved, I'm sorry, but thanks again for the nice words.

[Everything MustGo Madness]

awesome!

good one dude. i can easily tell you put a lot of work into it, animation is great, you took someone's characters and put them into your own story and the music fit with it. you should submit more movies :)

neeko responds:

Thanks man! I do have a number of animations up my sleeve that are on their way.

[Surviving Cucumber Clock]

very clever!

i had a very nice 'hah!' moment at the end. bravo sir. graphics are lovely and sound and music and everything fit. very very good choice with the apple market theme from megaman legends as well!

Pegosho responds:

Thanks Starogre! Glad you liked it. :)