Bezman's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Chalk Adventure]

Cool idea but some parts look too close to digital

This is really impressive stuff. Judging by the number of frames, I'm guessing it took the better part of a day? I'm guessing 10 hours work?

Think is, it doesn't really show. I mean, though the imperfections in lighting make it look different to just a static background with frames made using a custom photoshop brush, for a lot of it, it seems almost indistinguishable from a digitally-made animation.

Having your hand in there for the thumbs up or specially for the 'interaction' with the box does make it stand apart a bit, as does the variable lighting at the start.

It would be totally cool if you used your chalk on a 3D object - like drawing over stuff, then dusting it off. Asyou're following contours and stuff, it'd make it a bit more different to digital work.

Still impressive and fun work though, even if a bit short.

Eager to see you take this further yet.

-Review request Club-

Graeme responds:

I did it over two days. Maybe totaling to 7-9 hours. So good guess.
I can't fix that lighting problem. It's better since my first chalk movie, since I used low light filters and such, but I can't shine a light on my board without creating a huge glare :(

I like your idea of drawing on other things, but that seems ridiculously hard! You gave me a cool idea I might experiment with, but no promises, because it would be very hard. haha

[BlueHippo's Birthday :0]

Liked the abstracted depiction of violence.

I've always liked the font you use in your intro. You should maybe think about using for more stuff. Specially the 'next' and 'replay' buttons which are (and have been for a while) a bit shit. Cyan on grey looks tacky, specially combined with the thin sans serif, which I assume is verdana.

I like the script-serif font you've used for 'Notes'. the 'happy birthday bluehippo' message alongside his icon looks cool too. Btw, is that just verdana emboldened with flash's text-editor?

Bluehippo is well drawn and I LOVED the way you depicted the killing. Quite stylish and reserved. The 'slashes' were cool too and it was far better to have it done this way.

There was some other stuff I didn't like, but you really should sort out the next and 'replay' buttons. The end screen would actually look pretty nice this time if the replay button was different.

kinggila responds:

Of course, that replay button. I'm afraid it will have to do for now, but I WILL change it someday!

Heh, you're really good at knowing which fonts I use. :)

Yep, BlueHippo nicely draw himself for myself to borrow it, but I WILL draw BlueHippo myself sometime.

Thanks for another great review Bezman. :)

[The Skeletons of Rock]

Nothing to see...

I actually thought the skeletons looked pretty cool, but can't give you kudos as i really doubt you drew them yourself.

It's just a bunch of sprites on short loops. It would have been cool if they'd been synched to the music or if there was something more going on...

As is, it seems you just found the skeletons and wanted to share.

The curtains were cool and apart from the poor placement of your logo and the text, it did look OK for a few seconds.

[The Brain Fights Back]

Style of substance.

Brilliant style. Love the colours and everything.

How did you get the pic of the brain?

The blood could have been better and I think seeing the brain shoot lightning to decimate those boots and guns would have rounded it off better, brought it to a close and made it worthy of the title.

As is, it's wonderful to look at, but I remain slightly unsatisfied.

You tease.

[The Duders: Mic Check!]

Cool energy

Heh. Pretty silly, but I like the sorta off-the-cuff energy about it. A real feeling of spontaneity.

Also, the intro with the mini dudes was cool.

Some words were really hard to make out (US accents can be wierd) and it could've been funnier, but I enjoyed it.

TheCriminalDuder responds:

US!?
Wow, wow, wow, wow!
We're Canadian. :3

Anyway no worries. It was just a recordin' of an actual mic check. I just wanted to make somethin' usin' it for fun. :P Our voice actin' is improvin' along with a bunch of other stuff. Get ready, we're gonna hit NG with somethin' real good soon!

[Adolf Hitler:CAI493+D SE3]

Nice to see.

Hehe. Seeing Hitler looking like that was pretty cool. Also, I liked how Alice Cooper's arm kinda matches hitler.

Seeing this makes me wish I could make one of these myself.

Coop's face was great, but the body could have been drawn better.

The format limits how great these can be, but this was nice to see.

kinggila responds:

"Seeing this makes me wish I could make one of these myself."

I dunno why you can't make any of these sort of flashes.

[Adolf Hitler: RCBRA203D]

Heh

Great pic of Coop. I like how the Hitler series has spawned all these side-stories. The format means its easy for you to expand and take it into new avenues. It's kinda like a little billboard/public shoutout space.

After seeing this and reading the reviews, I feel like I know the man behind the icon a little. I'm sure he was honoured!

As usual, points of interest or amusement are kinda limited, thanks to the format.

AfroUnderscoreStud responds:

His expression was great from what I seem to remember.

Yep, it was very easy to make various spin-offs in the same format. I certainly did that a lot. XD

I think this may be my only flash where Hitler meets another person.

[5 Hour Challenge #1]

Good job, but it doesn't really entertain

I gotta say, that was pretty good going for 5 hours' work.

However, it reallhy shows. I mean the glitches in the background as the dad walks to the store, the crappy walk cycle and single-tween attack animation, the generally limited animation...

And the story itself - I assume the dad's killed by the alien, but how do the children survive? And how did the alien finally die? Why bother showing the interior of the shop?

I feel your scenes could have been better chosen to tell the story.

The sounds you picked were generally good, though some soft accoustic for the opening scene would have worked well. However, my tip would be to spend a tiny bit more time working on your storyboards before you start.

By the way, my rating doesn't take into consideration the time limit - only how much I enjoyed it. Though it may have been a somewhat impressive feat, I feel that only the final result should matter when judging things, not how much talent, time or skill went into making it.

-Review Request Club-

[Coop83's Birthday]

Nice vibe

I liked the wee deviation from the subtitles early on. Also, the 'bullshit' message over the subtitle later on.

You should play more with the subtitles - might be interesting.

Coop's face was cool. I liked his hair.

Curt answers were cool. Not many jokes here, but a nice vibe.

Oh, I forgot I said I wasn't gonna bother giving you criticisms until you change the replay button. Need to be firmer.

6/10. No explanations. Replay button is one (small) factor though.

-Review Request Club-

kinggila responds:

Better change the replay button on Bahamut: CAI493+D 001 then.

[Spiderman vs. Pie]

Some great transitions

I thought this was excellent.

Spiderman and the pie forms a simple framework for a few surrealist twists. I liked the transitions with the images sliding in, the way images/sounds were intermingled without horrible seams... there was definitely some skill both in the image cropping and the audio engineering.

I felt some background would have made it graphically more interesting though and it was kinda low on actual jokes or forming many non-obvious connections. I did like the consumption bit (pie,cookie, beer).

I'm slightly shocked at the score, voted 5 and though this is yet far from perfect, I'm really looking forward to watching more from you.

-Review request Club-

SteamTusk responds:

I like consumption too. (drinks)