9Hammer's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Daughter of the soil]

I think the animation, visuals and the heartfelt non-verbal narrative were good. Some of the shots could've used a bit of camera panning though. One example would be where the tree sprouting from the ground, the top of the frame awkwardly cuts off the rest of the tree. You could also apply that sort of planning to some of the other animated bits to show visual progression! Additionally, I think the song choice is decent too as it started off promising, but the way it progressed felt a little too exuberant for how the narrative progressed. Overall, not bad stuff here, though some added visual touch-ups would've made this animation great! (Honestly, this would make for an interesting story if fleshed out a bit.)

[Sensitive Hearing]

Quite an auditorial experience and it was very fitting considering the theme of this animated short. I found the varying designs of the 3D characters and how high definition they appeared to be visually intriguing. The big ears suited the character design well as it portrays the theme of the short in a visually simple way. The narrative was pretty straight forward but got the point across and brought along some interesting experimentations with such haphazard yet horrifying sounds. Very nice!

RichChap responds:

thanks for the insightful review! glad you liked it.

[Buffet]

I can concur with that description and you've portrayed that message into an animation decently. Although there isn't too much going on here visually, you have simple characters and a simple setting to get the point across. In fact, I found the last animated bit with the face in the potato mash to be quite humorous. My guess is that his unhygienic actions of digging into the potatoes made him a part of the potatoes mash, but maybe I'm thinking a bit too hard there. I did find, however, the last line of the short in response to the aforementioned to be a bit cryptic (but not to a point where it confused the narrative). Nonetheless, I think the short is animated alright and I enjoyed the over-the-top voice acting. Not bad!

Portimations responds:

Thank you for the feedback :D

[The LifeHacks - Save It For the Weekend (Music Video)]

A nice psychedelic trip. The various colors definitely added to the psychedelic vibe of the music video and the fluid animation timings with the boiling line effect added to that trippy theme as well. The simplistic character designs was a good choice as it effectively complements the background effects. I dig the usage of minimalism here as well but I think it's novelty started to wear thin once animated assets were reused. Despite that though, they were synced well and fit in with the lyrical content of the song. I also think a handful of scenes (including the spinning head) here had quite a bit of empty space. It's at least accompanied by the blurred background, but it feels like some other animated bits could take up that space to make it feel less empty. Regardless, I didn't find it too distracting while watching and I still enjoyed the music video nonetheless.

I think this is solid as is with the live-action and effects mixed in with the fluid animation, but I would've liked it a lot more if more things like effects or little-animated bits were added to the mix to fill in those holes. I believe it would've also added to the trippy psych theme too!

BoredKid responds:

I agree with all you said. I had a month to do this and with other side animations it was a bit hard to fill the time gap, thus a lot of repetitive animations. A lot of people talk about the empty space so I definitely see room for improvement with that. Thanks a lot for the feedback though, its much appreciated!

[New Perspective]

The message about technology is translated into a non-verbal film decently, but the minimalistic visuals, albeit simple, didn't mesh well with the surroundings. Most of the objects like buildings, interiors, and the airplane shot didn't have much detail to them and seemed plain. There was a multitude of perspective errors with one example being the panning shot of the main character walking alongside buildings (and the airport shot). With how the drop shadow is positioned, he seemed larger than the characters and objects around him! Additionally, the table set graphics on the window were perplexing since the layering makes me think that it's in front of the building rather than inside of it. There were also some other visual inconsistencies in the latter half of the short like the cel-drawing of the background in the hotel and various tree drop shadows as well.

Also, might be an oversight, but in the beginning, the nightly sky immediately turned into daylight after we see the main character wake up to start his day, which admittedly threw me in a loop. Though the narrative itself was at least competent in regards to the rest of the animation, I would definitely consider fleshing out both the characters and settings so the viewer can get a better visual idea to go along with said narrative!

KabungaAnimations responds:

Thanks man. I appreciate the feedback. I look to improve upon my flaws in the future. :)

[Wounded Part 1]

You have a good grasp of character design and animating the character movements in stop-motion, but some things in the film felt a little jarring to look at. The initial shots where the character was walking had some jumpy camera shots and threw off the pacing a bit. Several of the background elements like the snow on the ground and trees seemed to shift to a different position between frames which also messed up the immersion a bit. Though, I did think that the blue-ish lighting was fitting for the setting and the craftsmanship of the character designs was pretty good as a whole. The musical choice and ambiance were also fitting and added to the horror of the narrative. Going forward, however, I would definitely consider being a bit more cautious while moving the characters around the stage to prevent visual hiccups like those!

[MacAdam's Beer]

Interesting concept for an animated short. I appreciated how the character was designed and animated here. The subtle movements and hand animations were solidly animated and added more visual flair to the surrounding area. The monotone coloring was also a nice touch for how gloomy the theme was. I suppose a bit of noise canceling on the monologue would've been nice since it kind of took me out of the immersion (and maybe some surrounding ambient noise of the pub). As I'm sure the animated subject was the prime focus of this short, I think some subtle animations in the interior would've added to the ambiance as well. Still, not bad stuff here!

[Wimp Witch: LIARLIAR]

Stylish! The cartoonish characters and interior settings really matched the overall tone of the animation (and the song too). The coloring especially was masterful as it manages a visual cohesion throughout the animated music video. Not only that, you kept things looking fresh by having differently styled background compositions and angles to further elevate how things progressed in this animation. If it were possible, I think some added sound effects would've added to the atmosphere, but it's completely understandable to not have it if it were to get in the way of the song. Regardless, superb work!

cecameron responds:

Thank you so much!

[BigFoot's Existential Crisis]

I dig it! The VHS distortion effect definitely added to the mood of this narrative and I find it humorous that Big Foot lives in a house like any other person. The red/gray coloring in the latter half of the animation looked visually pleasing and fit the moody tone of the progressing story. I would've loved to see the straightforward narrative fleshed out a little bit more here as it seems a bit short, but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.

[TicPunch: Karrot]

You got something going here. The narrative, voice acting, and simplistic character designs fit the wackiness of this series, so that's a plus. Some things that I found offputting though were the backgrounds and character animations with how the characters suddenly jump from one pose into the next. The dialogue animations too could use a few in-betweens as well to help bring more fluidity to how the characters move. The backgrounds especially could use some touching up as well as some objects like the trees and the camp's buildings appear flat in relation to their surroundings. Some interior shots in the latter half seemed inconsistent compared to the previously hand-drawn backgrounds. Additionally, the intro music, although lighthearted and joyful, felt overwhelming on the ears. Might be how it's mixed, but a lot of the instrumentation sounds like it's having a war with itself. Best to leave some breathing room for other instruments to lead the song to make it a recognizable ditty.

Despite what I said, it's not a bad start! You've pretty much laid out the essentials and have a visual blueprint of what your series will be like. I would heavily suggest adding more frames of animations to character movements and polish the backgrounds to bring more life to things going forward.