Ahkihoun's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Sonic Adventure Z - Intro]

I know you mentioned that you put a lot of time into this, but look at it from the perspective of the community.

1. There's no real sound, and the sound you do have is loud and obnoxious.
2. The entire animation is made up of no animation. There's a badly drawn background, some images that slide across your stage, and sonic's walk cycle.
3. Was there a story to this? I don't feel like it was really told if there was one.

Two hours is HARDLY any amount of time on an animation, and stating that you spent that much time on it, has made it obvious why this flash is in the situation its in. Try spending a couple weeks on something first, then come back. I'm sure you'll notice that your quality will have improved.

VicManEs responds:

Ok, Thanks.
(I did this in my free time)

[Snow Hare]

OMG yes!! This is great! I love how you did the backgrounds! And how you were able to make things feel like one cohesive piece! So awesome!

ShawnBranden responds:

Thank you! I wish I could take credit for all of the backgrounds but I had some very talented friends helping me out.

[Animation Nation Ep. 2]

This was a really cool idea! But I had wished you put more effort into some kind of story or made it funnier in some way.

At7Commando responds:

I do plan to actually.. and in the 3rd one it will be longer.. so more funnies.. more of a story even.. especially what I have in store..

[Mixacation 1]

It was your first flash submission, and it wasn't bad, so don't be discouraged by any low scores. I think you should definitley keep going as I see some real potential for humor here. There were a couple of issues, but nothing that any first time flash animator wouldnt make.

It lacked color, which led to a really boring stage of black and white flatness. Adding some background in would have been great, and led to a more finished looking flash animation. My only REAL issue with this was the tv snow sound you had inbetween each scene. I understand what you were going for, and it was the simplest way for you to switch scenes without a buttload of animation. The problem was that the audio for the tv sound was SO loud, and the voices...were not so loud. I found myself bringing the volume up to hear the jokes only to get deafened by the tv sounds.

There was some length to it though, and it seemed like you had a good time making this. My score may or may not be higher than other people's. I don't know, but as I said before, if you happen to get that low score don't let it discourage you. You have some potential here.

I look forward to your future submissions. Keep rocking friend!

ChildPlayFlashFilms responds:

Thank you thank you thank you! My new animation is in color and im spending way more time on it.
And the audio i had no idea about. So thanks for telling me about that, i'l work on it. I'm not using that transition in the next one so yeah. I'l try boosting the volume, but i already have most of the audio in the flash animation. My new animation won't have that much improvement but, it will have a noticeable effect.

[Doubts&Fears]

A very simple message done in a beautiful abstract way. The style was great, and the entire animation was professionally executed. I did indeed enjoy it. My only issue is yellow on white. Not so much a good design choice as it makes it hard to see I'm sure for some people- impossible for me because I'm color blind. (kinda like newgrounds having the flash comment box red, and the spell checker has a red underline...c'mon guys!)

I certainly look forward to your future submissions. If this took only three days I'm excited how something would look if you took a couple weeks. Keep rocking!

LOUDMONKI responds:

thank you, sorry bout the yellow but i just like the power of a glowing yellow, almost like as if he became light itself without being white, buti did feel like yellow was too bright and barely noticable idk i just really wanted to finish it and put it on ng. there are allot of things i forgot to even put in the movie.
but again thank u

[Link Finding Stuff...]

Nice sound quality, and the animation (what little there was) was well done. I wish there was a way to tell that the triangle in the middle was a play button. I sat in front of the screen for a minute before figuring out that I had to roll over it to see that it was INDEED a play button.

A background will make this piece look much more finished than it does now. Its good to have empty space for your viewer to lay their eyes on, but in this case there's just too much white.

Since Link has the same animation loop every time he brings something up over his head, the focus isnt actually on link, its on the items he's finding. Try to make them each a little more interesting. Thy could animate a little more, or each one could do something special before dissappearing from the screen. Without that diversity in each scene it gets a little mundane just watching Link bend down and pick something up.

Its great that you had a good time animating this- thats what this is supposed to be about; having fun. You obviously have illustration skills, so keep up the good work, and dont be afraid to go outside of your comfort level. Thats when you end up making something spectacular.

midnafan1 responds:

Interesting. You just gave me some ideas. ;) I might be able to add some cause-and-effect animations to this to help bring it together. I'll maybe have the bomb explode in Links face. Or something along those lines. Or when he gets the rupee, his wallet icon comes on screen and adds the amount to his total.

Thanks a bunch. I appreciate the feedback and the spark of new ideas. =D

[Stick Ayumu Dance]

Even though it was short it was still fun to watch. I wish you had made your stage a little bigger, and that it was a bit longer; but thats personal preference and not so much a critique. Great job.

RebellionFA responds:

yeah i agree with you that the stage should have been longer.But I only copied the movements of the dance from the anime.And Tnx

[Sunshine at the Olympics]

I found the overall animation boring, but there's nothing in here that's particularly aweful, so well done. I look forward to future submission with more complexity.

uglyslug responds:

or perhaps the movie is so complex that your mind is simplifying it for comprehension!

[Conquest of Terra Ep1]

Hey stop motion is hard, I know, and this was pretty long, so you must have spent a buttload of time on this. Did you have your camera on a tripod? Remember light source, and how different lighting will effect dirreernt colors. I saw in the beginning when they were shooting, that the light flickered. I dont know if that was intentional or not, but it did add a little something. Tungsten lights make things more blue. Fluroscent makes things look more yellow. Use this to your advantage!

Also large areas of color, like green, will often give the rest of the shot a greenish look if you're not careful. If you're using a high quality camera, be sure to check your settings and ISO. If you have a crappy consumer camera, then I guess more power to you.

I didnt really like this, but I admire your dedication. Keep it up friend!

Badwolf66 responds:

I used a 10MP webcam, plus in my old house I had very little space to do anything, it was all animated on the floor, in a compact area of my bedroom which had space.