Galneda's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

["Gift" by Oneby1.]

There's a lot of influence of Pencilmation's style here, and it's charming and cute.

There's a couple of harsh cuts that's a little disorienting when it cuts back and forth between the main character's box and the bunch of boxes off to the right. It could benefit from having a whip pan or a tween when it's going back and forth instead of a cut. Especially since there's no environmental background to clarify where in the world we are when it cuts.

[STARBARIANS - Episode 3]

You're an absolute master at your craft, and this looks better than syndicated productions by a galactic longshot. I loved every moment and detail, and the acting in their animation was stunning! Someone needs to just drop a fuckton of money on you so you can establish a studio and knock out a movie of these dudes, and I would love to be involved in the pre-production or a voice or something should that happen. You absolute rock star, shine brightly and eternal.

[Mystery Box Surprise!]

If I didn't already know you as a phenomenal animator and creative rock star, if this were my first impression, I would have subscribed harder than your dick in my mom. I love your style, dude!

When the fuck are you going to make a movie?

Like, a MOVIE movie? With catering and trailers and a length of credits longer than the sex you would have with my mom?

[YESSS]

It's a helluva start. The fact that it's 6-8 frames long may hurt it's score, but it's a healthy start. It goes by so quickly there's not much else to comment on this. Hair coloring outside of the lines can convey motion, but keep an eye out making sure that it CONVEYS motion. There should be some stillness before and after the motion of her going "YES" so it isn't so jarring when it loops. Lets see you knock out something more complex outta the park- keep up the great work!

[FLEX CALIBUR]

WHERE THE HELL DID THIS COME FROM!?

It's so fucking good! It's smooth and crisp and clean, professional studio quality work from everyone involved, this needs to be greenlit for a couple of seasons and a movie PRONTO. What an unexpected surprise to see on Newgrounds, I was absolutely blown away by the animation quality and getting the guy from Armored Saint to sing for him.

I loved every second of it. Fantastic job, and I hope that we're blessed with a continuation.

[c/o Flap Jackson]

Exceptional work was done to these sets, props, wardrobe and characters. The environment and lighting were superb! Really impressive work, and inspiring that claymation / stop-motion animation is still going strong here on NG. Knox, eat yer heart out.

What were some challenges you encountered when making this short? I would love to hear, read, or watch the process to make this piece. Easy five from me, this was so cool and well done.

JWLustig responds:

Thank you! The greatest challenges were probably the set and puppet making. And setting up that long scene between Flap and Charlie knowing I'd be animating for like 3 days, securing everything down and praying I wouldn't screw up. Part of the reason I do 2D animation instead these days!

[RETRO ARCADE ANIME: R-TYPE]

It's absolutely gorgeous. The homages to 80's anime like Macross, Zeta Gundam, and R-Type itself are phenomenally executed. Voice actors Haylizbeth and RicePirate do an outstanding job, although its hilarious how your UK bleeds through getting an American to say lines like "buggered."

The whole thing is brilliantly colorful, and it's astonishing how much labor went into this thing. I recognized your style IMMEDIATELY as the TIE Fighter anime from a few years ago, and MAN, you've really improved a lot since then. However, there are many moments of unnecessary over-animation. The character spouting off and roasting the arcade, it's wonky dialogue, but man, he just doesn't stop moving.

I suppose you COULD have saved yourself some nightmarish headaches by keeping his poses pretty basic, because when it comes to this tendency to overly elaborate movements constantly, every shot that they're in, sometimes you find yourself in poses that are very rigid and unnatural like when he's wincing in terror "H.R. Giger is that you!?" -before dropping the scaredy-cat act after that awkward line and returning to his neutral "I'm a fighter pilot" pose. (That line, incidentally, doesn't make sense because...he's not H.R. Giger, he looks like a Xenomorph, sort-of, which he designed...it's clumsy explaining it, it was clumsy to hear.) Or like that ending, stiff as hell "Hmmmmmm" pose he shares in the end with Haylizbeth's character. Her arms way up, he's cupping his chin with an arm popped out at a weird angle, it's just corn upon corniness (which I acknowledge may be the whole point.)

I'm sure the action would seem a lot punchier if it didn't sound like the guitar was softly bouncing off the walls from a distant hallway. No fault on your part, I'm not sure how much control you have over what music you can use, but even when there was plenty of room for the music to breathe and emote the tone of the action, it was barely audible.

What was no doubt unintentional, which I definitely saw an improvement from the TIE Fighter short, was there's a lot of fundamentals in motion animation that needs to be tweaked and practiced. For example, he finds that he's not only in the game, but sitting in the cockpit of the R-Type fighter. He gets ready, hands on the stick, throttle up, everythings building up HERE WE GO AND he just kinda....drifts away. Everything that moves is very drifty. Speed is lost upon things that are trying to look fast.

The camera is doing some crazy 3D assisted maneuvers, ambitiously rocketing in and swiveling out and doing all sorts of things, but there's no easing, the motions are just kinda going from place to place. Every once and a while the camera will lock onto an object and your eye, as an audience member, can't help but think this is an unintentional/unnatural byproduct of how the camera's rigged. It's not like that Go-Pro shot on Poe Dameron's X-Wing like it's affixed to the fuselage, it's very clearly, rigidly, just like "this thing isn't moving, everything else is moving." Like that alien at 2:05, dominating center frame, and everything in the world is doing something except for the body of this focal point creature. It's the uncanny valley of motion that can take people out of immersion.

A positive example to fix this is probably my favorite shot, the dead pilot overtaken by the alien organism at 1:31- that simple, simple camera zoom while all the tendrils pulse life in contrast to the pilot's lifeless husk was SO effective. Sometimes less is more, and it's beneficial to keep it simple so you can make other parts stand out and shine. Like when he's spitting out Macross missiles going buckwild all over the place.

The special effects are a marvel and a study-piece for me to pick apart frame by frame. I love the anime reflectivity going on in the metal panels, that pink-eyed Zaku with biology all up in it was fucking gorgeous and perfect...it's just MOTION, man. Dramatic, lively motion is missing from this. All I can recommend is Richard William's Animator's Survival Kit, (which is like essential reading, practically bible) and to study frame by frame the rate at which these starships are rocketing in and out and curving away at the rate that they do from some crazy stuff you like to watch. You have special effects and 3D roto down like a super pro. You have your STYLE nailed down to an enviable degree...once you nail the imitation of life, you're going to be an unstoppable champion for animators everywhere.

Never ever stop, I'm rooting for you dude. This shit is a masterpiece, and the next thing you do will dwarf this for sure! I can't wait to see what you do next! We're watching you now! An easy easy Vote 5.

[Save Da Hyrule!]

This was hilarious! I loved the character animations too, y'all did a really good job on this! Keep up the great work!

[Sneak Bot 199X]

I love the idea of this robot, whose sole purpose is to be sneaky and by design he's clearly not. The voices were fine, and I loved the gags! SFX and music were on point as well.

What keeps this from getting a perfect score to me was pace. The world-building introductory text-crawl would only really be needed if you intended to expand upon this character and setting, but if this is a one-shot, is kinda unnecessary. The audience wouldn't think twice that, for whatever reason, they're sending this inept sneak-bot to save the president.

Also, what's up with this world's Colonel Campbell; maybe it's because he's an old white guy with white hair dressed in white, but I'm getting a serious Colonel Sanders vibe if we threw on a Daffy Duck sailor hat and slapped a Cyber eye-patch on him.

Some of the gags necessitated padding, like the slow trudge of the clunky tank treads, and slowly reversing, and that's totally fine but it helped provide the sense that the overall pace was kinda slowly trudging, there was nothing inherently quick to switch up the pace. With some minor tweaking into comedic timing, the jokes could punch more as well as quicken the pace of the overall short.

Having said all of that, I think you did great! Voted 5!

SuperPhil64 responds:

Hey thanks a bunch for the nice words and feedback! Storytelling and writing are two things i'm trying to improve so i will definitely keep this feedback in mind moving forward!

As for the Mission Command guy i tried to just make him look really goofy, figured a world with shitty robots would have shitty leaders. But who knows maybe he also has a chain of fried chicken restaurants?

[Define Intervention]

What a production! Everyone involved did a spectacular job on this. What I'd call the internet equivalent of a star-studded cast, the audio was mixed well (There was like, one too-quiet line as the protagonist priest was just leaving his church in the beginning). The music was on-point, the action and dialogue alike were well-paced. The animation was MARVELOUSLY well done! I had a great time watching it!

I can't wait to see what awaits us an audience as your talented-ass thrives and grows. This was top-tier stuff, easily. Great job!