BlazingDragon's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Echo Force Zero: Vol1]

Despite the cliches, or perhaps because of, I greatly enjoyed this! :D

I particularly like how fleshed out the world is. It feels organic, as if there really is a history to it, and that makes it easier to care about. The characters each seem to have their personality quirks, none being totally flat. There is a variety of music, and the voice acting isn't over-dramatized.

On the other hand, the animation was a distractingly choppy in a few spots, and questionable spelling took my attention off the actual story ("all ready" vs. "all ready"). Still, it's clear that a great deal of work went into this, and the result is terrific. Can't wait to see more!

Also, thank you for using my track!

LewToons responds:

Thank you so much for appreciate the amount of work - - sometimes i feel like it is so easy for viewers so just dismiss things - but its very nice to have someone appreciate the amount of work - -

and yes it is BECAUSE of the cliches that you like it, thats why i make it.

[Cliff of Sorrow]

Nice but underdeveloped

Thank you for using my song. It is greatly appreciated! :D

The flash has potential but is currently too empty. Aside from the pleasent FX and sitting animation, it simply loops indefinitely. A little more substance would be helpful, even if it was only him turning over to sleep, laying down and staring upward, etc. There are some subtleties that would have also improved this such as some small twinkling stars at night, a cloud or two, etc. The Clif was nice (looked like a face, BTW :P) but was the only thing with any substantial detail. Lines in the sand would of been a nice addition. Also, during the shift from night to day, the hue (?) is a bit ugly at some points. Day looks good and night looks good, but the transition back is a little iffy. Everything turns somewhat orange and hazy.

It is a decent loop but could be so much more! There is great importance in subtle details. Rework it a bit and it could be quite nice. Also, the audio quality was slightly muffled for some reason. :(

Thanks for using my tune and happy b-day! :D
~Blaze

gnome42 responds:

yeah this one was actually pretty basic
i was really tired so i just stopped and submitted it
but i updated it with a few changes, alot of the ones that you just mentioned (are you sure you didnt watch "cliff ofdespair"?)
great minds think alike hehe,

i should probably put stars too. ill put it in the... next next one. because todays will be cliff of fire or cliff of hell or something and i doubt they have stars there.
ill change the hue to a nicer color too. the reddish orange did look pretty crappy.
and sorry about the audio im not too good at that . but great song anyway ^^

[Desert (first flash)]

Nice first attempt!

For a first attempt, this appears to be fairly solid. There's no stick figures (Hurrah! :D) and it's colorful. The animation is a bit primitive, but you'll work through that with some sweat and experience.

On a good note, everything was very colorful, and the drawing were decent. What I really thought was cool, however, his the way the flash flowed with the music; when the protaganist (?) shed a tear the music began to pick up as if he were battling with inner turmoil. Probably unintentional, but very cool!

There are things to improve as well. The animation is quite rough. As has been previously said, I believe more keyframes and pumping up the fps should help. I understand that this was just a quick attempt, but why not submit something until it is the best it could be? If you do that, you'll find yourself greeted with some surprising results! (In a good way) The music also was too long for the flash. I don't know if there is a way you could make it fade out with flash, but that would be helpful.

Not a bad job at all for a beginner. Spend more time paying attention to details, read some tutorials, and keep working at it despite what anyone may say. :)

~Blaze

PS. Thanks for using my song! ^_^

HypeSystem responds:

Thank you alot for the review!
(the way the music fitted to what happened was partly intended. I shortened and lengthened in the scenes to make it fit)
I chose your song, as it was the best fitting i could find!
Anyway, thanks a lot!

Oh yea, and I will be putting more work in future projects, don't worry :P

[Wolf Of City]

Thank you for using my song! :D

(I am not an artist and have no flash experience, so my review might not be great. Here are my thoughts, though)

I liked the flash! While the art wasn't top-notch, it looked very good for hand-drawn. I have seen many first-animations that were crude stick-figures, and this is definitely better than those. You've got a good start!

I do have some gripes, however. The biggest problem with this is the walking animation. Every step is very rigid and choppy. It looks as though there were no connecting frames between each step. I don't know much about flash, but I believe there is a technique called "Motion Tweening" which would held in this regard. I'm sure there are tutorials on this site somewhere.

The sky and characters all looked good. The landscape was nice, and the color choice matched nicely with the mood of the song. I never imagined this song being in a video about love, but it worked rather well to my surprise. :)
I did notice one character which I have to criticize. There was a person who was in the shadows and was colored black. This character looked too "blocky". :(

As far as the story goes, I didn't really get it. xD I understand the underlying theme of love, but did not understand how wolves fit into this. I also didn't understand why wings came out of the person at the end. Was this supposed to be symbolism and represent freedom or something?

Anyway, this is good overall. It isn't the greatest in the animation and story department, but the drawing were good and the music fit well. With a little bit of patience and practice, you could be a fine flash artist! Continue to work hard and hone your skills. Oh, and thank you once again for using my song! :D

~BlazingDragon

LonelyAngel responds:

:D the composer!!!
It's symbolism but... I thinking about doing the remake :L
but it will be the same music ^^
sorry if my English is bad but I think you understand the idea XD
well... thank you for your music ^^

[The Metaphor]

Profound

When I found that my song was being used in a serious short, I was very pleased. However, I could only hope that the flash it appeared in would be half-decent. And you delivered well!

While the animation wasn't top notch, it was done much better than many of the first flash films put out by various users. But more important than the animation, I really enjoyed the message told. It was profound and thought provoking. (An excellent combination :P) It also seemed to flow with the music, though I wish I would have made the song longer and better suited for a flash such as this. :(
I was also impressed by the voicing. I don't know how many flashes I have viewed and simply cringed due to horrid voice acting. I thought you did a decent job, though.

Continue to hone your flash skills, and put out more work. If you ever need a song, tell me what your flash is about and I may be able to custom make it! Oh, and thanks again for using my music and getting my name out. :D

~BlazingDragon

Slim-Bean responds:

It was only because of your music that such an atmosphere was created. One of the few pleasant surprises I had while making this was the fact that two Loops of "Ambient Evening" was the finite perfect length for the entire movie!

When I make something in future, rest assured you are my go-to-guy for music

[jump and die]

A good start

My knowledge of flash is limited, but I think you have made a good start toward being a fine flash artist. You don't see many 12-year-olds posting here, so I commend you on that.

Pros:
I you had some nice effects, and colored sitck figures here and there for variety. Though the idea wasn't exactly original, we all have to start somewhere. The individual animations after the credits were cool and added a nice touch!

Suggestions/Criticism:
-I would have liked to see more color. The cliffs, rock, and background were all white. It would have been nice to have a blue sky, some gray rocks, or even a few clouds. Just a bit of color and background substance to flesh it out.
-Also, the Naruto music was typical of this kind of flash. Find something original on the audio portal on NG; it will make the flash less generic and give the audio artists some exposure!

Overall, good job! Keep posting more, and become more experienced. I am excited to see you improve as a flash artist here on NG! :D