Manderby's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Take On Me Collab]

Why am I enjoying this so much?

[IN-SHADOW: A Modern Odyssey]

Please team up with Genndy Tartakovsky and James Lee. Make a modern-life knighthood story or somethong else which could grow epic.

And even if you don't: Kudos!

[Fatal Portrait]

Nice!

It has some flaws, like the candle, which would make cool lighting effects, but the room looks always very bright. Already pointed out by others, what is the reason the protagonist is in this museum? A short pre-story like a chase from a gang in the rain with an escape to that museum would have helped. And from the moment where she sees the fatal portrait, the scene cuts could have been even quicker, for example just the fraction of the second where the mouth blows out the candle. Would have been an even more shocking ending.

But still: nice!

RandomHeri responds:

Thank you for the suggestions, I guess the story would have been better if it showed how she got to the house. Since I had a deadline this was the best I could have fleshed it out to. But I think the best way I could have done this was show it through the paintings how she got there. Concern with the cuts I think they were fine how they are. When I was working out the timing I did have the cuts quicker but it just didn't sit right to me so I made them how they are.

Thank you for the critique it'll be very helpful for when I do my next short :)

[regarding Pie]

Now, let me give you five stars. For making so much progress.

But let me give you a little slap in the face as well. This was the first of your animations I watched completely without rolling eyes. In my opinion, you have an already (too early) established, very recognizable style in drawing and in pace. This gives you lots of fans but on the other hand enprisons your progress. Everytime I started watching something, I quit after less than a minute, because I was just not hooked and thought: Still the same artist, still the same thing, still the same flaws. This is the first piece, which kept me watching (although I would wish at times for it to be quicker paced). You clearly made progress, mainly because of basics like a proper intro and a clear story (what was the ending about though?). Even if the story has been recycled thousands of times before, it still is a story with context, setup, reasoning and propagation, which I've been missing from your previous animations all the time. Also, the proper use of frame-by-frame animation in this piece is a plus. Characters seem much more developed (still needs a little bit more of convincing though). Not everybody is the same trying-to-be-cool-and-grown-up-ever-knowing-better-and-wise-and-deep-thoughts personage. You did well this time. Overall, a good piece. Good, not great.

I think you may be more than pleased. Keep up the progres. But keep working, it is very promising!

WooleyWorld responds:

Nah. I'll stay at "pleased but not satisfied". There were a lot of issues with this animation that make me not enjoy it a whole lot. I find this is the problem with a committee.

Thanks for the review.

[Team Teen: Resurrection Part 1]

I'd watch it!

Some voice acting would have been nice.

[Welcome to SHMEVEN 11]

Very refreshing! Good voices!

And I like the undertale cameo. :)

[TD-rektoric]

When the Internet says it, it must be true.
If Google, Facebook or Twitter does it, every software engineering company needs to do it too.
If we read about something, it must be fact.

Yeah, I noticed a lack of well-founded argumentation in the current generation as well.

On a sidenote, Get more angry, it suits you well. :)

Raziberry responds:

Haha I shall forfeit my blood pressure for entertainment!

[Immersion (independent short)]

Nice to see something from Switzerland! I especially liked the part with multiple cameras in the lockers.

[Gildedguy vs Bog]

When I listen to my favourite music, I always have a movie with a story in my mind and with the choice of action packed music, there are a lot of action scenes in my mind like this one. Always wanted to animate them, never got the time to do so.

You did. And it is amazing. Thank you!

gildedguy responds:

That is precisely how I come up with ideas!

[Amazing Animation Analysis - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure]

Interesting topic. The scene you discuss is of course your own favourite, to each his own, and it is in fact a good scene. I do want to point out though some things. Not to denunciate you but rather more share some more thoughts about that scene, making it even more interesting:
- It is not gravity which is moving his arms outwards again (and of course, gravity would move them downwards, not upwards), but rather more the uncontrolled retracting power after overstretching his muscles. Enhancing what you correctly identified as being helpless/powerless in that very instant.
- The force/strength of the punch is indicated/enhanced by another thing: The camera can not keep up when he was hit.
- Everything what comes after the first few frames gives us more clues about how the protagonist in this scene experiences the "flight": The way upwards has been elongated compared to the downfall. Which already now indicates that he is aware that he had been hit and he will inevitably crash into something, waiting for it in powerless tragedy, knowing it will hurt. But already now, he is in control of his thoughts again. Not of his body, though.
- When he finally hit the lamp, it does in fact hurt and you feel his pain by seeing him suffer for some frames. But this also indicates one rather important thing: A normal human being would have been knocked out. Not the protagonist. He feels the pain and reacts to it, even fights it: His eyes are closed and he even seems to find the strength to shout by forcefully contracting his lungs. A normal human would have had his eyes open, gasp devious and not a single frame would be wasted on showing him "fight" the impact. If that would be the case, we as viewers would immediately think that the person is knocked out, or even dead. This not only is used in animation, but in gaming as well: People turn into ragdolls. The protagonist has the strength to fight the impregnable forces time and gravity itself, indicating that he is not only merely surviving such a beating, but stands (or will stand, in the course of the show) above such puny things.
- Crashing into the lamp gives the protagonist his awareness back, both mind and body. This also explaines why the downfall is rather short compared to the uprise. It felt like he was catapulted 10 meters hight where in fact, it was a maybe 3 meters. This pulls us viewers out of the subjective view of the protagonist back into reality.
- One rather large animation flaw you did not mention, but which is fairly common in eastern animation: The clothing does bump on the floor together with the movement of the body when he hits the ground. This is not how clothing behaves. But it enhances the feeling, that the protagonist is whole and in full control now again, even his clothes stick to his movements. He has survived the attack and is now rigid and strong.
Just some points. It's interesting to discuss.