Bezman's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Darfur Satire Shorts]

Brilliant way to spread a message.

I liked the south-park style. I wasn't too keen on the hard, straight black lines you used for the identikit ties and collars though.

The dialogue of the first part - with adults acting like little children and the surreal ending - actually matched South Park's style pretty well. You've got that tyle of humour down pat.

I felt Optimus Prime's speech was a bit dry but the ending was pretty funny whilst making a point well. Part 2 does feel a tad preachy compared to the silly surreal humour of part 1 though. I guess it can be worth being preachy if you've got a message worth preaching though.

I felt the graphics could have been better throughout - for example, better characters in section 2 - but the dialogue was great and you definitely succeeded in your goal of spreading the message. I sadly admit I never knew about Darfur until now.

.:Review Request Club:.

[Sand]

.:Review Request Club:.

I didn't like this. The visuals were nice and I like the idea of trying for an alternate animation style, but unltimately, it was lacking in humour or narrative and the visuals just weren't good enough for it to be good enough without those things.

Also, it was short and unfulfilling.

It looks like you're experimenting with Flash's line styles here. Has a nice effect, though maybe if the dog print wasn't in the bg the effect would be stronger.

The wave just looked like the image was at a bad quality - like you really enlarged it or something.

The buttons are horrible to click - in the 'hit' frame, whatever you draw is the area we need to touch to click the button. Generally a rectangle works well.

graphics aren't bad and I liked the end frame, but you need a narrative or joke here to make it a bit more fulfilling as an animation.

I suggest you carry on and make a longer attempt.

.:Review Request Club:.

[Godzillas Depression]

I enjoyed this, and to me that's all that matters.

I rate based on my experience. I don't bother trying to be 'subjective' or trying to rate how much work you put in or whether or not someone else would enjoy this flash.

When I review stuff on NG, I consider it a little dialogue between me and the author and all that matters is my experience and how i personally percieved the flash.

The title alone had me smiling. I paused for a moment, considered the hilarity of a godzilla too sad to stomp on buildings and readied myself. Whilst watching it for the first time, I pretty much just chuckled and chortled my way through it - the underwater dialogue is a particular favourite for me.

The happy tune was well picked, though I wasn't too keen on the techno aspect of the sad one.

I felt the graphics were fairly sloppy. I'm gonna assume you were actually trying to make them look decent and give a few pointers.

- The growing arm? It looks terrible. That made me unsure if you were going for a 'it's so bad it's good' quality or not. Seriously - the stretching arm to pick up the guy or push the building just looks ridiculous. Instead, he could've headbutted the building, or ran over to the guy, flicked him with his tail into his mouth.

- Don't stick to the swatches. Use the colour sliders (set to HSB) to get a nicer blue for a sky, a green that doesn't look so garish for the grass and so on.

Actually... given the mispellings and stuff, I'm gonna assume this was intentionally sloppy. But you know what? It didn't detract from the humour.

I enjoyed this, and to me that's all that matters.

- Review Request Club -

[Music flash vid 2]

Needs to synch up to the music a lot more.

It seems like you're still struggling with the basics. Here's a few tips.

- set music to stream when making music vids. Then you can animate in another layer and listen to what spot the music is at at that point, whilst you're drawing.

- Abstract, non-representational shapes can be cool. But you need to try and time stuff to the beat. When there's a loud beat, stuff should move suddenly or there should be a scene change. Having stuff move at a constant pace just seems like you're ignoring the beat of the music.

- Use default gradients only as a starting point. Make your own gradients.

- Don't have looped graphics for non-looped music and call it a music video. As mentioned above, you need to be sympathetic to the beat and pacing of the music. Either animate to the end of the song or just stop the song wherever you get to.

I do like the idea of using simple shapes, lines and curves for a music vid but you need to be a bit more stylish with the graphics and synchronise up a lot more to the audio.

As you're only 13, you've got a long way to go so don't worry too much. If you're doing this to entertain yourself and you enjoyed making the music flash - that's great!

If you want to entertain others though, I hope the tips I gave help you on your way.

All the best,
- Bez

zone12 responds:

ty man that helped alot i waz goin the put another one but now i see that i gotta makke some changes

[Let's Have A Party]

Without merit.

Was the voice by someone else? It looked like you were just mouthing the words. 'Hey everybody' was fairly decent, but you messed up the timing elsewhere.

If it wasn't lip-synching, I guess there's just some audio glitches.

This is clearly just an advertisement for your site, but having some nicer graphics, maybe a cool logo and link button instead of the crudely drawn text, or an actual joke or funky visual would have helped give folk a better 1st impression. As is, it just makes people connect the site with uninspiring, unentertaining spammy flashes.

I wouldn't advocate submitting a flash to NG purely to advertise something. But if you are ever doing so again, try to make the ad itself entertaining rather than irritating - then folk will mentally connect the subject of the ad with positive stuff rather than negative.

I guess the voice is meant to be funny, but if trying for a silly voice, make it sillier. And hearing any short audio over and over just makes it annoying.

[Sexual Cannibalism & You]

Some humans.

I liked the retro-styled big nose and lashes. The written narration and cheesy elevator music brought to mind the old educational vids, which I guess is what you were aiming for.

The animation could have been better and the punchline was a tad predictable.

On the whole, though, I liked it. Specially some humans!

[Pot Head Bob and a gennie]

Seriously. I loved this.

I didn't laugh whilst watching this - only staring on in bewilderment. Then, when thecredits started, I chuckled until well after they'd finished.

I could criticise the fact that the painting doesn't match up to the style used elswehere. I could criticise the cheap graphics. But really, you turn it into a stylistic choice - it becomes like a messed up collage and I reckon you should go further down that road. I like the background noise at the end (is it recorded off a TV?) as well as the voice that pops up for 'bong of destiny'. The start, with the tear, makes no sense and I have no idea why it's there. Such a short tune, but it managed to thoroughly bewilder and baffle me.

The one real crit. I'd make is that clicking at the end does nothing. Replay button would be nice.

Otherwise, keep running with this vibe man. Take it further into whatever direction you think will work.

Seriously. I loved this.

On a side-note, I thought the mouths worked well and I loved the genie appearance.

.:Review Request Club:.

D3m0n1c707 responds:

Thankyou this is the kind of comment i was lookin for
you have made my day
Thanks for your input

BTW i would like to be a animator

[A piece of puke]

a cool little short with nice FBF work - specially

Disgusting! And I'm eating breakfast!

I loved how the men became more complex - stickmen, then the filled-in-shape man. I was kinda hoping for a 3rd man but ah well. Better to keep folk wanting more than bore 'em.

I wasn't too keen on the fact that the larger guy's foot is really detailed when we first see it, but it doesn't match the full view of him. I think just using an outlined shape (like he actually is) may have helped reduce a bit of incongruity.

Anyway, a cool little short with nice FBF work - specially on the spew!

.:Review Request Club:.