9Hammer's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[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. :)

[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!

[The Potato Fudger]

Not bad. I appreciated how the animation is a seamless loop. Hard to find much of those that work well on this site, but you made it work. It's visually pleasing to see the chalky renditions of the characters, but the main subject with the vibrant purple design seemed to visually clash with the surrounding art style. There were some inconsistencies that were a bit distracting with the animation and coloring (an example is the final animated bit with The Potato Fudger with a solid black outline and some lip syncing) but it still maintained a noticeable visual charm throughout. Regardless, I did enjoy some of the humorous bits that you implemented like the continuous front-fliping entrances and the sunroof bit. I believe ironing out some of those kinks would be best, but despite that, I think this is alright!

daspetey responds:

thank you so much for your feedback!
i completely agree. those are perfect notes. it needs a consistent visual look. i definitely feel like it would benefit from another pass of tightening up. maybe even some variety of shots in the apartments? like close ups on whoever is speaking? and maybe some sound of the car in the beginning smooth things out.

anyway, thanks again!
-pete

[Toytopia: Episode 1!]

Charming. I really dug how the visuals just "pop" and I find the character designs to be interesting as well. The narrative was pretty solid too! Some things that bugged me a little was some of the voice actings and maybe one or two animated segments (An example being where Robuddy was falling onto the fluff), but it's a pretty enjoyable animation nonetheless. Nicely done.

SketchyAnt responds:

Thanks heaps! We will take note of those and work on improving things in the next episode!