GnomeZome's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[SPACE-TA - She Loves You More]

Slow, deliberate, and intentional to a point of misery.
The little details, on everything, and the overall sense of inevitable heartbreak really resonated with me.
You keyed so well to a simple but atmospheric song, and gave the intagible emotions more context.
I liked the tone of the animation so much I looked up "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by the rolling stones, a favorite of mine, and synced it up.
I think if the song was in the minor key it would fit this animation very well.
In any case, the little choices of hair movements and slowly lingering on what is clearly an uncomfortable show's a good amount of restraint.
Sometimes, a person is just in a bad moment, and they need their time to feel that pain, and sometimes their stuck not knowing how to move forward.
You choosing to acknowledge that in making this, and not giving them a happy ending, is fundamentally part of why I value art.
You caught a moment of emotion few wish to linger on, and didn't flinch from it.
Thank you for making this.

[Watch your step]

So, I think you very much so worked effectively in the constraints of Necrodancer's story.
The way you panned through shots, the eye catching and on cue hard cuts, and the may you conveyed motion was very dynamic.
I was also was impressed by your use of color, staying true to the pallet of the game, but still feeling fresh.
I loved how those skeletons moved, as it's so typical to have their motions seem more mechanical/methodical, but you really captured fluidity, and I think it's because you had the two synchronize where as one bone alone would look more silly.
Like people make fun of the dancing street gangs in West Side Story, but if a large group of people moved at you in perfect uniformity it would would be terrifying.
A better example might be a Polynesian Haka.
It's a good trick on your part.
The only reason I I can't give this a full 5 is it feels like builds so effectively to a call to adventure, and I don't feel like there is a payoff.
I know in the game you would just start playing but in this case it feels like it cut's short,
For people unfamiliar the yawning portal to the next floor down doesn't have meaning, and it visually looks like she just staring at a wall.
Maybe a few more frames of the portal flaring or surging in some way, and a look of determination on her face would close the chapter for me.
You did incredible work, and thank you for making this.

4thNoah responds:

spend alot of time on these skeletons.
i will talk about the undying adventure in the future.
i did wanted to make the stone coffin moves and slowly reveal a passage way with purple light coming out of it but well lack of video editing skill and technical difficulty happens. not excusable but i am still happy i manage to make it look ok.
thank you very much for the detailed comment.

[Punks & Thugs!]

I really like the gunplay in this.
From the breach and clear to the the tactically taking out the lights it was very well compose on a shot by shot basis.
It's interesting choice to not have any back an forth, but i know cuing clay to speech can be super time consuming.
Since you where cutting between perspectives you could have had the spoken lines delivered when the person was off screen, so we would only see the person listening.
The silence did make it visceral, especially with the emphasis of noise in the beginning.
I guess only real compliant is where she go tthe extra bullets?
I only see 2 spare in box, and I know it's a small gripe but with how engaing the gunplay is, I was expecting her to have grab the Uzi, so it broke the narrative for me slightly.
Otherwise I really liked how you set up the set, and some of your sweeping shots are amazingly ambitious, and pay off.
Thanks for making this.

[Dream Wizard]

It felt very quite, but overall I like it, and it reminded me of the old phrase
"who knows what lurks in the hearts of man?"
I enjoyed the dream wizard's design, and his blithe attitude, but when he was talking about how the system was poorly designed he seemed to enthusiastic to really be delivering that line.
The solution being "Throw his in water." is pretty funny, but I'm surprised you didn't go with a "sleeping with the fishes" joke considering the context.
Thanks for making this

KloudKat responds:

Thanks for the review! Yes, not getting the sound done within the time frame killed me and I'm always toying with the idea of making some time to fix it in the future, or, failing that, just bring this guy back. I had a great time voicing him!
Also AAAAGGGHHHH! That joke would have worked really well!

[The New Star]

Kronenburger with a side of fried eyeballs.
It's interesting to see how people express what they feel engaging with an eldritch abomination would go.
Part of the problem is that the slow tension build of horror and especially Psychological Horror in the Style of Poe and Lovecraft is that they where being paid by the word, and that meant there was a natural incentive to draw out the tension overtime.
Animation is at constant war with time, as every moment is expected to perform, either in sound, or motion of visual engagement, and while this is a pretty good jump scare, it's not that startling, nor memorable.
If you made the audience wait a little more, or just used audio to to give dramatic context to a scene of horrendous repetition then maybe it would mean more.
I get the fact you where working within constraints, but it's ok to ask the audience to put some work in if the pay off is worth it, and in this case it's a chuckle, but body horror can only get you so far.
Maybe push your sound design chops a little further, as that can be very rewarding use of time when your not sure what to visually.
Thank you for making this.

KloudKat responds:

and thank YOU for such well worded constructive feedback! I appreciate comments like this so much!
Yeah I pretty much agree with all of this. It definitely lacked some stuff that would have pushed it over the edge. I never even really considered the jumpscare mega important while I was working and I think that was, retroactively a mistake. Ideally, were the circumstance around this cartoon a bit different I would have rewritten it and boarded it to be a bit tighter and more impactful. Definitely expect better sound design in the future, as it's something I'm definitely working to improve.

[Der Abstand (The Distance)]

So, one of my favorite things to do as kid was go to museums.
Science, Art, History, anything, because it felt like such a more tangible way to learn about things the school did.
This animation reminded me of one of my favorite books as a kid;
"From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler"
it's an odd one, and it features children running away to live in a museum.
It's set in a time before security cameras where common, and they just memorized the guards schedule, and scavenged change from the fountain.
It's certainly an odd, but still almost realistic story, and your animation reminded me of that, but also the odd sense of realizing one's own history, and the role you and your ancestors played in doing fairly odd and horrible things by current standards.
Your consistent use of a darker color pallet was impressive, especially with how you choose to highlight and transition from different kinds of art and history and science.
Also I feel you where able to match the context the lyrics quite nicely with a very abstract song.
Thank you for making this, and sharing it.

[dungeons and dickheads act 3 scene 4]

I see you where certainly making an effort, but Good voice acting can carry really stiff animation, but for my own personal uncanny valley, this does not really work.
I feel like you where rushing yourself, and you obviously have a pretty good sense of humor, and understand visual puns, but maybe cut back your scope?
I know that setting deadlines and meeting them is important to pushing yourself as an artist, but what's the point if your overextending and not making something you are proud of?
I am excited to see a more focused project from you, and will look at some of your other work, so please keep trying in a way that will make you happy.
Thank you.

[Happy New Year folks]

So I see this is a simple thank you style of animation, and think that's really nice.
I was wondering if dynamite stick was going to pick him up and light him on fire, but that might have been too much work for your purpose.
Maybe just his has lit suddenly lighting up, and him say "fair's fair" and exploding?
I take it a lot of folks are messing around with fire works near you right now, and having lived in the college area of a city, I know that be frustrating.
A happy new year to you, and thank you for making this.

Koray98 responds:

Thanks 😊 no it wouldnt be too much work to animate your idea. I just realy like this idea 😂and yes i was frustated about those kind of people

[hillcrest park]

Simple, but reminds me of some of the awesome screensavers I would download back in the day.
I suppose this would work as a phone's lock screen, and I do like Scott Pilgrim in general.
I like the simplicity of the music and snow, and small shifting of the moon.
It's a strong mood.
I would love to know more about your motivations in making this, if you would care to share.
Thanks for making this.