DM692's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Revy Vs Spike]

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

[Good Lessons With Grace]

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 :)

[Just Eat It]

Beautiful, but short

Nice! but... short... I heard the whole song somewhere, and i think u could do a great flash to it!

Jonimator responds:

I will definatly i try making it longer, but with all the school work I'm so busy. Anyway I'm glad you liked it.

[SummerShorts]

Lol that was great...

I liked the pong thing... and also : "OK now seriousley... who left the ham under the hood of my Volvo?" great job :)

itsjms responds:

:) thanks alot.

[Online Hypnosis]

Nice try

Since u said in ur comment about the game that u needed to go close to the screen once it stopped rotating i expected a screamer. I'll admit, if u hadn't of said anything about about it in the comment, i would have been freaked as hell,but still, nice try

555exe responds:

What do you want ? Its my first fläsh !!!

[Drunken: Kebob Parts]

LoL!

This is sweet! Couple parodies, and those are always good. The music in all these videos is good, and overall a very good collection.

DrunkAlien responds:

Cheers. :D