Score: 6

"For a quick non-cheap laugh"

submission: The Ultimate Battle

date: March 23, 2007

Okay, that was pretty funny. I expected another drawn-out pixel-fest between the two, but because I set my expectations low, this surprised me.

Graphics: 6. Okay, let's be certain about something: you drew them pretty well. It wasn't a terribly showy presentation given the size, but that's not the point. This is all about fun.

Style gets a six. We've seen them before, but hey... this one still stands out.

Sound gets a six. The voice-overs are even nicer (they're in step with the characters) compared to text-based stuff. It might have been wiser to pick a different battle-sounding theme from one of their games instead of Final Fantasy, however. You're not prone to care since it's not a long movie.

Violence is zero (sorry if that spoiled it).

interactivity gets a one. You got a play button.

Humor gets a 10. Punchline, baby.

Overall: a six. Are you planning on a series of shorts?

Score: 7

"How unusual...."

submission: Syzygy

date: March 23, 2007

You won't get too many people to understand this. This is like a silent film. And I suggest you pick up the tempo with it because it looks cool, like the trailer to a series.

Graphics are six because various camera angles were applied, though the detail on characters seemed lacking. There could be a little more going on. They are also well-drawn... so things are okay though things look plain.

Style is seven: traditional anime style. The concept is already fascinating.

Sound is five. I swear, while I'm unfamiliar with Bjork, I get the feeling that some other moody yet mild music could have been chosen for this. If you intend voice-overs, forget it. This might work without them.

Interactivity is a one (just a play button).

Humor is 0. This is a serious short, no doubt.

Overall, you get a 7. This should encourage you to continue, though take the detail and the music selection seriously.

Score: 10

"You made my night"

submission: Penguin Racism

date: March 23, 2007

First, you're a terrific voice-over guy, off the bat. Second, this thing made me smile and laugh. You were only practicing your lip-synch technique? That's not all you did... and well-done!

Now Graphics get a four because it's really a simple form. Anybody can do that.

But Style gets a 10 because this is such a funny thing. It's also a classic tale of underdog getting hosed real hard. It's simple, to the point, and well... it speaks for itself.

Sound gets a 10 only because... well, everything.

Violence gets a one because they raise their voices; the penguin is obviously offended by the bartender's sentiment. Did they ever watch that documentary?

Interactivity gets a one because a play button is in there.

Humor gets a ten. The flip-out is the culmination and it pays off in spades. I replayed once or twice just for that.

Overall, you get a 10. If this is just for practice, you should come around more often.

Score: 4

"Yeah... it was okay..."

submission: “A Leper’s Ball…"(part 2)

date: March 23, 2007

I'm not too thrilled with it overall, but you got your message across okay. The trial is complete. I hope you're not planning on waiting until December of this year to release the rest of these things; how long does it take to create chicken soup, anyway? You boiled the bones down into stock, so now you add everything you want stuffed into the soup and there you go, right?

Graphics got a six because the crudity of the display reminded me of South Park's paper-cut style. Sometimes it can get really cluttered with a lot of stuff going on. Even so, some effects as sprays and blood look exceedingly poor or botched. You might want to try different methods to pull stuff like that off.

Style gets a seven because you got chicken soup and a wonderfully silly exaggeration of medieval and modern stereotypes. It's very colorful and satirical.

Sound gets a 3 because the theme song sounds awful (though you're trying something; it just got mixed horribly). The voice-overs are okay--well-acted, poorly mixed. The whole sound thing has a major issue with mixing that needs to be cleared out before you even try releasing future episodes.

Interactivity gets a one. You got a play button in there.

Humor gets a four because the above issues with sound deteriorated any shot of me laughing. I'd miss things when voices went soft or the sound got cluttered. A few ambient sounds like rats and a heavier bass line for minotaur growls might have improved the ambience. I keep going back to the sound because it really was a source of havoc.

For both episodes, they get a four. There are several kinks you have to work out, but the style and chicken soup artistry are definitely there.

Score: 6

"This needs something...."

submission: Something Random

date: March 23, 2007

Okay, I guess you got ticked at your computer, huh? ...If you fiddled with the settings on the sound, this thing would be less than 8 MB. But it's worth the time for a stupid chuckle at least.

Graphics are a five. You just sketched it, threw it into Flash, lip synch through the program, and voila! Instant stupidity. At least you got half the process right.... And hey, you're okay for one that had just a week to put something together. Think of the insanity if you had a month!

Style is 6. It's just randomized insanity, worth a viewing or two just to get all the parts right.

Sound is 5, because sometimes you were distinct with voice overs, and other times... not.

Violence is 3. Much of it was just implied.

Interactivity is one. You got a play button, whoopie.

Humor is seven. That part where the stick figure has a power rating of 9000 was priceless, reminiscent of Animator versus Animation.

Overall: you get a six. Do something more next time and you're guaranteed to turn heads.

Score: 10

"This is a hate review"

submission: DD : Advance

date: March 22, 2007

........

But there's nothing to hate about this!

So let's just move on to why it rocks, shall we?

Graphics got a 10. I don't care how pixellated it is... you expect that from pixels. Changing up the camera angle expertly with the proper backgrounds is a hard feat to finesse.

Style got a 10. They're right, it's awesome, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the look of the characters is very retro--very 80s style--so I imagine the arcade coin-op's sprites were used (definitely not the NES stuff). Then again, DD "Advance" might elude to it being a Game Boy Advance release. I really hate trying to guess that kind of stuff. But you got a ten, because you seamlessly mixed Mortal Kombat and Dragonball Z into the presentation.

Sound gets an 8. I downloaded all the covers Mr. Kline has on his site. Now I got to see if Galbadia Hotel has the OST... But aside of excellent music, the soundtrack of heavy crunching hits is very nice. If there is a drawback, it is that we're at the point where a little voice-over work--as clean and well-acted as possible--is in order for many sprite movies; the silent film treatment with text only goes so far when you already have sound effects. It's a minor complaint; I don't expect everyone to follow suit.

Violence gets a mandatory 10. The limbs were cool, but the head popping off is even cooler.

Interactivity gets a three due to the scene selection and credits options.

Humor gets a three. It's a pretty dire setup, this story, and there are few direct attempts at humor, but some people might find it funny anyway.

Overall: 10. Don't let the haters say otherwise.

Score: 9

"Funny and Charming"

submission: The Legend of Link Part 4

date: March 21, 2007

Few people know how to tread the line between spoof and heart-warming. You succeeded twicefold.

Graphics got a seven for many reasons. While sprites were applied, they were well animated, and correctly modified for a multitude of animations. However, the screen is tiny... quite tiny in fact... so the reason this wasn't like an eight or nine was squarely due to having to squint or alter the computer screen resolution.

Style got eight for being very, very stylish and fun. You definitely made these with love and care; it transcends most of the sprite movies through reliable writing and voice overs to boot.

Sound gets a ten. Though effects like echoing in certain spots, ambient outside sounds, and other such quirks could have been applied through a free program like Audacity, I never missed them when I heard the voice overs. The lot of you should consider regular voice work, and the acting was top-notch.

Violence gets a four because the only fight sequence and the bad daydream are relatively tame. It exists, but is not a central role in the story.

Interactivity gets a one. There's a "Push Start" button, and the design of the button itself goes to style. The fact that a button exists is fine by me. It would have been nice if scene selections or playback features were involved, but personally I rarely use those features anyway.

Humor gets a ten, plain and simple. The emphasis on relationships and why Link never gets to pick the game's title... these bolster the whole of the hilarity. Including the Rabbit Joint's cover of the overworld theme--almost obligatory given the context--was wise as well, even if a great multitude have used it before.

Overall gets a nine, and this goes for the entire series (didn't feel like critiquing each one step-by-step).

In terms of writing and structure, you certainly got a gift for this stuff. There was the appearance of Dark Link at the beginning that kept me thinking about where the direction would go. After you established how Link and Zelda think of each other, you devised a situation where they might just reconcile some differences. But I still had the feeling that another string of these would premiere, and if not, I'd still like to see where you could take your skills on this site or elsewhere.

Keep up the good work!

Score: 5

"Good Demonstration"

submission: Media Instructional

date: March 21, 2007

While I'm not going to question facts (the information was very dead-on), I got to say this was a cool little broadcast. There are a few issues here and there, though.

Graphics are an 8. From the outset, the cartoony look helps simplify and digest the information quickly.

Style is a 6. It could have been a little more humorous at times; it is terribly cut and dry in terms of presentation, and while that may be intentional, it makes note-taking and learning a little difficult.

Sound is a 5. While the sound effects and music are okay, they often overpower the narrator. The narrator doesn't inflect or throw a voice well enough to make it distinct, so it's easy to foul up and miss a few words here and there, especially since the volume levels are imbalanced. The fact that these are incorporated at all is good, however.

Violence is 0 (inappropriate anyway, given the context).

Interactivity is 0, which may or may not hurt the presentation given the medium. If this is just a playback, then it's to be understandable. If this can be upgraded to an interactive style, the classroom can retain a lot more from the material.

Humor is 4. The beginning of the movie and the presentation style are both quirky, but again, that narrator is terribly dry.

Overall is a 5. In terms of what you had, a few things need to be improved before you can really make this thing hum. You're on the right track, though.

Score: 7

"Funky"

submission: Naruto Randomness 5

date: March 21, 2007

I know nothing of Naruto, but that doesn't dismiss the number of corny in-jokes from everywhere else. You spliced it with goofy stuff from pop songs to gangster movies. I smiled.

Graphics are a seven because I know you can probably draw better than this. If you sketch the characters, take a digital photo of the page (or use a scanner), then you can import the image to flash and simply trace it. Trying to learn how to draw with the mouse after mastering the pen and brush is a hassle, but if you have a road-map, you won't have as hard a problem and you can increase the detail.

Style is seven. It's a little simple, and a few don't make as much sense or generate as much of an effect as others (for example, the Scarface rip sounds cooler than the Simple and Clean segment, if you ask me); it's hit-and-miss stuff, though you hit more than you miss.

Violence is zero. I'm not even sure if this stuff even happened.

Interactivity is one. I think there's a play button. Good.

Humor is eight. Let's face it: I chuckled plenty of times, even if I don't know anything about the anime. The cheeky way you put it together--choice bits of music videos, etc.--stood out.

Overall is seven. This could have been better, but honestly, you did quite well.

Score: 3

"First shots are always awkward"

submission: Redmen Battle

date: March 21, 2007

I voted 1 because I would prefer you to try again.

Graphics are five because the details on weapons and equipment--paired with a brief if primitive close-up of the supposed hero's face--are decent if not spectacular.

Style is three. Frankly I've seen plenty of Madness Combat sequence imitators to know the show here.

Sound is five. I was skewed on this because no sound effects were employed, but the choice of soundtrack was okay. If you manipulated and programmed sound more attentively, the file size would not be as large.

Violence is 8 (self explanatory).

Interactivity is 0 because you didn't even have a play or replay button.

Humor is 2. It wasn't unfunny at least.

Overall, you get a 3.

Remember: Flash is mostly Rote Learning without a support network. The fact that you submitted something automatically qualifies you into some kind of group that will help you out.