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DM692

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Recent Movie Reviews

33 Movie Reviews

Not just a reaction to this video, I've seen a little bit of your other stuff too.

I think one step that'll make a world of difference in your pieces is more lifelike animation, and I mean this in terms of movement. The most overt example in this piece is at the end. Revy and Spike are looking at each other with the gun arms shaking in anxiety, but their chests, heads, and neck are nigh-motionless which REALLY kills immersion.

An example of doing it right is 1:47-1:49, despite the scene being incredibly bland due almost entirely to the closeness of the camera (a point I kind of want to get to in a minute), Revy's movements look better due to the fact that she's moving dynamically. Contrast that to 0:48, where her posture and arm are incredibly stiff. It applies again at 0:51-0:53, and that kind of stuff happening that frequently really disjoints the animation. I would say my best advice for this is to physically act out what you want your characters to be doing, and pay attention to every little nuance of movement while doing so.

Another thing about the animation is the timing. The best example I could find in this one was at 1:23 with Spike's jump kick, does the amount of time he uses on each part of the kick (windup, jump, strike, retraction, fall) really seem right? It's all just a little to evenly timed, which also hurts immersion a lot.

Secondly, the camera. I'm not sure whether this critique would apply to your other work since I unfortunately cannot remember making a mental note of the camera work in it, but it does apply to at least this one. The camera spends too sitting at certain angles, and it gets visually boring at times. An example that shows the good and bad of this is the verbal exchange between 1:00 to 1:07. Spike's face is bored, flat, and shown at an uninteresting angle. However, when it switches to Revy, she's highly expressive (though she should have started talking just a little sooner, there's the timing thing again) and it creates a much stronger shot. Combine that with the fact that the high angle makes her look small which contrasts her ability to so explosively break from the locked melee.

I don't mean to sound too critical since you are definitely a talented animator, but it's that same reason that I DO want to point out everything that I think will make you better. You have a ton of potential, and I really hope you keep at it!

Kel-chan responds:

the secret is motion capture. I didn't use it in this and it shows. I used it in most of my other stuff and it shows as well.

This was a test video for doing things at 60 and also not using mocap. Both things I'm not going to do from now on.

60FPS results in huge file sizes, and it just doesnt make sense to not use motion capture when I have it available

As for cinematography, I guess that just takes years to learn.

I'm tired of having potential, I always have potential but no matter what I do it never turns into anything

Solid animation, really good choice in music, and I like your art style. It's a short piece with little room for improvement, but only because so much of it was done correctly. Honestly, by biggest issue with it would be a the end. When the camera is panning up over Grace's head, it seems to zoom out before zooming in on the bear, and it's rather jarring.

Just out of curiosity, have you ever seen Elfen Lied?

Mckodem responds:

Cheers dude. I've heard of the anime's ending but that's it.

Yeah that zooming out was supposed to show the change of focus of the camera, trying to give an illusion of 3d space. Which obviously didn't work :)

It's been said...

The graphics DON'T make a flash. It's the humor. You definatly nailed it on the funny...ness... on this movie, but the graphics could use a little fine tuning. They aren't bad, and i can't say it's shit cuz I don't even HAVE flash, but all in all, it's pretty good!

-=DM692=-

Recent Game Reviews

52 Game Reviews

Awesome, addicting game. I'd really love to see it expanded if you ever found the time, because the potential's definitely there. As it stands, it's a pretty good "3 lives, get a high score" generic game, which it does really well. However, if you added something like an upgrade system and unlimited continues, it could really feel like a progressive game.

Big upgrades would kind of ruin the whole "kite and poke" mechanic, but putting in stuff like double tapping a direction shooting a projectile that way would add some possibilities with strategy and whatnot.

In summary, it's good for what it is, and really good for a first submission. Apart from that, I think it's a great basic idea for a game and you could really expand on it and make it shine, and I encourage you to do so.

ZombieRod responds:

Hahaha thank you very much for your review, we were thinking about making some power ups and upgrades in the future, i believe we can balance that with some care in the level design :]

Stay put because we might make more games soon!

Fun for a bit.

There's not much to review for this game, but I can compliment your choice of music and well-done scoring and control system.

Also, it's based off Spank the Monkey, I played that when I was like 9 and didn't understand what the term meant.

thinking-man responds:

wutz sparnk teh mankehy?

Kind of easy, Some control issues.

I liked this game, but it seemed to easy, and the controls were strange. I figured them out, but it would be better if you could choose between using the mouse and using the arrow keys.

I liked the concept, but it just needs some streamlining ad polishing up.

Recent Audio Reviews

33 Audio Reviews

I love what you have going on this track, but the drums really need to be punchier, and the percussion is lacking some brass. As is, they end up sounding muddy and your other levels can't go up without drowning the drums too much. More defined drums mean they can be a little quieter and still cut through the mix and sound crisp, which is really what I feel this track needs.

I'm definitely into your composition though, keep at it, man!

L-55 responds:

Thank you for review! I saw mistake with drums after uploading song... It was sad... :(

I honestly can't tell whether you're trolling with this submission or not, but I'll assume you're not and give you a proper review.

There is no discernible tempo, time signature, beat, or progression. You use one bad, grating, pitch-shifted sound and one synth. This is, in no way, related to Pico Day. I'm really sorry, but it looks like you need to do some research into music composition or even listen to some electronic shit and really pay attention to its production.

I hate to sound like a prick, but this is barely a song, it's a bunch of clashing twangs over a synth with no beat.

MusicMannEX responds:

this is a crezy song, fr pcio dey!

That beat, that harpsichord (?).

Very fucking cool concept for a song, the only Victorian Ballad I can really recall. Good choice in vocaloid, awesome beat, good samples, great mixing. Everything comes together rather nicely and it creates a really unique experience. There's not really anything I have to compare this to to provide better critique.

However, one thing is that "Laissez" is pronounced Lah-SAY, not LAY-siz. Additionally, the opening chorus sound more unnatural than the rest of the choruses. I'm not sure whether this is intentional or a result of there being less musical elements to cover it, but it's an issue for a very short period and only affects the track in a minor way.

steampianist responds:

Ahh well i think the pronounciation varies depending on the dialect.

Anothing thing is oliver (the vocaloid) sounded funny when saying Lah Say so we went with Lay Sez and decided not to make the Z silent cos it sounds like his saying "lazy fare" plus his 12 and an urchin i think correct pronounciations is the least of his worries hehehe

anyway thanks for the review really appreciate. As for the intro thats the result of either over compression on the vocaloid or lack of details in tuning

Recent Art Reviews

9 Art Reviews

Looking forward to the final product, but all these little snippets are very well-done. The one thing that bugs me about this one is that the run cycle looks like it starts before Joe is actually moving.

Cute, I'm really liking your style. More good work with lighting and pose in this one, and the background contrasts the clean lines nicely. However, the gun seems a little short (whatever) and flat (which is a problem).

I don't know if you just got lazy with/rushed the gun, but it seems to have less depth than the rest of the picture. The shine on it from the butterfly is an awesome little touch, but other than that, it's just lacking little stuff that would make it pop. If you are looking to improve your depth, I'd look at "Dancing notes", your work with the notes in that one is definitely on the right track. There is, however, some decent work with depth on this piece, especially on her left arm.

Conclusively, it's a nice little piece for what it is. I'd also like to note that there's certainly more good to it than bad, but I'm not too skilled at critiquing the good.

Mckodem responds:

Thanks man. Admittedly I didn't notice the gun size until afterward, but I feel if it was bigger it could be distracting.
I did rush this out as I haven't had time to finish a picture as I work on my next animation.

Again thanks for the feedback dude.

Nice piece, but the bottom half almost feels rushed and it makes it stick out a bit too much for my liking.

When you look at the top image, you see light play and depth with great detail, and it's done very well. However, as you start looking down, it is immediately and jarringly cut straight across, and seems to go into a different art style all together. There's no depth or light source, and the straight cut across the middle of the picture (especially with the tree roots extending past it) really serves to contrast the two styles.

I get that you did have to use several mediums to create this (meaning that some conflict of styles will always be present in some way), but there's ways to use that to your advantage. For example, put a bold hand-drawn piece next to a faded cut out from a photograph to create juxtaposition, while still leaving huge pieces of background to make it 'work'. This method simply jumbles the 2 mediums together, while the roots feel like they're trying to create some continuity between them and it doesn't work.

Another thing is the font. This is sort of an obvious point (that I'm sure you would have worked on if were worried enough about it), but standard fonts tend to stick out a little bit in art. This is especially true when they're formatted in such a way that puts so many similar characters together (h, l, n, m, i). Creating lettering really isn't that hard, and I highly suggest you try it.

All in all, every piece in this is fine enough on its own, however, I think it's the fusion of them that needs a little work.

I'm the one without a soul, I'm the one with THIS BIG FUCKIN' HOLE

Age 28, Male

Canada

Joined on 5/5/07

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