andycastaneda's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[L. Flora- Unknown [official video]]

Absolutely astounding. I can tell this started as a vision inside someone's mind, and we have been given the gift of being allowed to watch it now. Truly amazing. I will say that in terms of animation you have taken a couple short cuts in a few places, but I have seen how good your work can be. You have an amazing talent for storyboarding/setting up scenes and shots. While I have to admit the visuals started kind of slow it built up into an amazing journey through the clouds and into the sea and through memories and experiences... I absolutely loved it.

Brainqueen responds:

Thank you for the kind words. Budgets can limit creativity unfortunately for us all

[Fractal]

The concept is nothing too new or interesting, but the execution is very impressive!

Edit: Actually, no... not only is the concept not new or interesting... it's almost as if every detail has been chosen to evoke the quintessential production that one imagines when you hear the words "animation art student film" all together. Starting with a sink dripping water, and to the lonely girl looking out the window within a hole in her chest, and a choker on her neck. Looking out at a starry night, no less... and with the very recognizable Vivaldi score you zoom into the unappreciated majesty of the cellular and molecular universe sitting right beside her... yeah I've seen it before. You did it super well. But it's been done and it's never been a very substantive concept to begin with. Yeah it's great that animation can accomplish that, and that you as an artist can accomplish that visual spectacle. But where is your personal impact on that concept? What in this piece is YOU? Because being perfectly honest, this seems just... generic to me.

[Turbo Break]

BRO,
This was for a high school class?
for a MID-TERM?? Geez man, this is insanely good. You've got a great sense for pacing, framing, choosing which actions to animate in detail in which not to. You're really talented and I can't wait to see more from you!

[4 Seasons Jackalope Whimsy]

I think you are conflating 'experimental' with 'practice'
I'm not sure what it is that you are experimenting with here, because as an audience member I honestly feel like you've come up empty handed from your experimentation. There's nothing being uncovered here, there's not anything being achieved stylistically that isn't already a familiar part of internet media.
What you did here was practice your skills and learn techniques that you didn't know before, and you can't blame Newgrounds for not being impressed by that alone.
Newgrounds *does not* have a bias against non-narrative experimental art/animation. Take for example "Almargen - Planetas" submitted on Dec 9th, 2018. It has received very little criticism for its lack of a narrative because it's a compelling experience. That animator had a purpose beyond just learning software.

I don't want to discourage you from posting more of your work in the future, but understand that this is a site based around the audience experience. That's the point of our crazy voting system. If you wanted to hear less criticism and more praise for this, I think you would only need to change one thing. The length. It doesn't feel satisfying to make it to the end. People would appreciate the techniques on display here more if it were more consumable in terms of length.

BlackUniGryphon responds:

Sir,

I thank you very much for taking the time to write your comments, thoughts, and your perspective. <3

(I also want to welcome and invite you to come talk to me on either Twitter @BlackUniGryphon or come to my Streams on Twitch. I figure it would be a good toppic to discuss on stream.)

But, this also gets to the point of the misunderstanding of what "experimental" is especially outside of academia, and cinema history.

It's good that we can have this discussion because many people do not have the full perspective, historically.

So, to qualify my stances, and explain what I mean, I thank you for your comments because this is exactly the kinds of things people think without having a full history of cinema, and what is "experimental", as well as many other art movements.

1). Did you know that animation its self was actually a type of experimental film?
2.) Did you that Documentary films were originally a type of Experimental films?
3.) Did you know films were originally NOT narratives, but novelties, and even carnival attractions?
4.) Did you know that the first films that had themes were originally just moving scenery with no scene cutting, like strait cuts or dissolves?
5.) Did you know that the original films using actors were based on stage scenery?
6.) Did you know that the formatting of films and styles by the "United Artists" such as DW Griffith and Marry Pickford actually is the framework of how narrative style cinema was told?
7.) Did you know that many films were actually created as a form of learning as an art form and are studied in academia?
8.) Did you know that in the early-mid 20th centuries, whole art movements such as Cubists and Futurists actually went to the cinemas specifically to NOT watch narrative stories? They would get up out of their chairs the moment the films began to make sense, and went to another theatre, and kept doing that for hours.
9.) Have you ever had to learn film analysis of experimental films like: "La tour Eifel" 1900, "Ballet mécanique" 1924, "Meshes of the Afternoon" 1943, works by Barbra Hammer, all of the mind-numbing-boring-as-heck or disturbing films by Andy Warhol, "The Cabbage Fairy" 1896 by Alice Guy-Blanche, "Man with a Movie Camera" 1929?
10.) Are you familiar with the film moments of: Dadaists, Cubists, Futurists, Surrealists, and Avant Garde?
11.) Did you know that several film techniques applied to narrative film today as a standard originated from Experimental films? These techniques came from LEARNING and APPLIED PRACTICING with filmmaking and also editing.
12.) Did you know that applying audio to motion pictures ALSO came from experimental films?
13.) Did you know that films themselves actually began as Experimental themselves?
http://blogs.iac.gatech.edu/exfm2014/files/2014/08/Gunning_CoA.pdf
It included things like restaurant scenery projection of things like being in a train station and waiters taking your ticket with the scenery was projected onto the walls. (today we use Video mapping to recreate this art-form)

The reason I know these things was BECAUSE I had to write a theses on all of these things.
In the mid-late 1990s, I was taught film from what not only in academia is SPECIFICALLY CALLED "narrative bias" but it wasn't invented by by Academia. Academia had only RECENTLY decided that cinema was worthy of study within academia. Commercialism and the film industry had no interest in preserving, documenting, and studying these things. The term "narrative bias" came from art movements such as the Cubeists and the Futurists within an art movement called the Avant-Garde, which mostly does not teach the cinema side of the Arts. It also included Surrealists, and many different factions of political movements which were started by artist in the Western word such as Europe & North America.

Normally, most people would say things like: I recommend you THIS BOOK, but honestly "this book" altho' is marketed as a "text book" is actually NOT something I think anyone would actually consider as a "text book".... and, the reason I say that is because it's NOT actually organized like one.... What do I mean???? Well..... Even tho' it's writer is literally a qualified & qualifyable expert, and actually documented over a century of Experimental Films & Cinemas, including moments, and styles.... well..... it's written in a way that is so self-indulgent in the author's high vocabulary and presumes you KNOW what he means, because from his perspective, he does... maybe He (I assume it's a "he" because I don't know what gender the name is, so sorry if I'm wrong) KNOWS all of these things, but strings them all together as tho' totally obviously self-evident TO HIMSELF, but if you don't know the references it makes you overwhelmingly feel lost... I was 1 of the very few students at UMASS Boston that would actually read each chapter all the way, and I often had to look up almost every 2-3 words or names in a single sentence, and take notes. Just 1-3 pages let alone a paragraph could take hours. Then, my classmates would often ask me what the text meant..... so.... there's THAT. :-/

That book is: "A History of Experimental Film and Video" Rees A.L. BFI: 1999
(I had the most updated version)
https://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/vertigo_magazine/volume-1-issue-9-summer-1999/a-l-rees-s-a-history-of-experimental-film-and-video/





The reason I know these things was because I had attended 4 experimental film classes, and minored in Cinema Studies at UMASS Boston from 2016-2017. But I also studied film & animation in Philadelphia at UARTS & AIPH from 1995-2001. But, did you know that? Or did you jump to a conclusion that I knew nothing?
When I’d studied cinema/film/video at both UARTS Phila, and AIPH, I was taught the Commercial end of film, which has “narrative bias” built into it. The reason was because usually when you go to a film school (including animation) it was intended (in theory) to help get the student employment within that field, and therefore commercial. Ergo, films were only taught as standardized within the “narrative bias”. This is a statement of fact, and not a statement of opinion, and objectively qualifyable.

But, I did NOT KNOW that I had a “narrative bias”. (i.e. ignorance)
When I was studying at UMASS Boston, I had to study from the perspective of a University within the Liberal Arts, which was very strict in some ways despite the “liberal” term. So, in order to assert something it needs to be scrutinized, peer reviewed, documented, and there’s a whole long list of this process. Within Academia “Art” or “The Arts” is quite different and they often tend to favor “ugly” things as art or art as “ideas” or “concepts” and not always as anything beautiful. So, all the things that mainstream media, or film industry does, they often have less interests in, and things that people generally dislike seem to fascinate them more. (And I mean, have you EVER watched Warhole’s films? Yeesh!) But, they eat this stuff up.
So, when we were bombarded with all of these things in the textbook, and articles, and a whole list of films to “correctly” analyze, both in groups, as a class, and by ourselves, I learned a lot of things that I was ignorant about.
I did not know the origins of cinema BEFORE because in all of the film schools and classes and “documentaries” I had watched it was never taught. But, it also was not fully documented until this century. It hasn’t even been until around 2015 that more and more people really began to have an interest in studying cinema at all. Many of the very first bonified Phds and Master’s degrees only JUST became something that anyone could even study at all in ANY university, and the teachers and professors whom teachers these classes don’t actually have Cinema degrees because they didn’t exist before, but studied and compiled the information within other Majors specializing in their passions for film, cinema, media, and video.
I had the pleasure of studying within the VERY FIRST film, animation, and Experimental film classes in a brand new department (which is STILL under construction to this day) at UMASS Boston and minored in 1 of the newest Minor’s they offered which was “Cinema Studies”.
Because these things are so new, we often had guest artists and filmmakers from other local Universities such as MIT, Harvard, BU, MassARTS, North Eastern U, Yale, and quite a number of others because the information being presented still wasn’t published within textbooks yet. I often had to attend ALL of these lectures, and sometimes ones outside of UMASS Boston.

But, many of the YouTubers whom make a living doing film analysis or essays on films are these new first waves of people that have actually finally been able to earn a degree in this field of study as its own field of study, when before it was under some other Major like Art, or Culture, or media, or Communication.

I didn’t know this either until I had to dig up tons of old books library at UMASS Boston, called books. They were covered in dust, and I often sneezed, and my hands felt dirty. Everything from screenplays, to early attempts at trying to document films and cinema which were also outdated. But, after a while you start to see a pattern. Many books even from the 1960s claims that THEY were THE expert of films, and THEIR view of how films OUGHT to be made was THE ONE AND ONLY. They even had different terms, many of which aren’t even used today, whereas some still are.

But, you see…. All of this stuff takes TIME to write, takes up space, and it’s a LOT. It’s a MUCH BIGGER PICTURE. So, HOW am I supposed to convey ALL OF THIS is JUST a blurb? It can’t be done.

However, THAT is why we NOW have this opportunity to have THIS dialectic. This Exchange of a conversation.

Many people have MANY MANY MANY presumptions and they are NOT even aware that they have them.
I did NOT know that I had them either.
But, these things were also LEARNED or “picked up” without questioning them.

It’s a blind spot. You can’t even see it. And just presume things are thus and so.
I too was also GUILTY of this myself.
I had WRONG presumptions, and lacked all of the facts.

But, there is VALUE in being WRONG. (Mea Culpa)

When you study Experimental films, you actually have to study the origins, the processes, and the reasoning BEHIND why the filmmakers/artists MADE THEM.

To assert that it lacks substance is a false assertion.
And to be dismissive as tho’ to conflate “learning” and “practicing” as less than “experimental” actually serves to show in the greater picture a preconceived idea that is false, because Experimental films literally as EXPERIMENTAL and SPECIFICALLY created as a form a PRACTICE as well as LEARNING.

I also used to make incorrect statements on the exact same assumption as you have ALSO asserted BEFORE I actually got educated on it. So, today, I no longer make ignorant statements like that because I have been educated on them and know better.

Someone like Bruce Lee whom was an artist, philosopher, and filmmaker also talked about something similar. He stated that when referring to martial arts that they started out as experimentation, and hypotheses, but over time those STLYES BECAME LAW. But, just because they had become codified and standardized didn’t actually mean they were 100% The ABSOLUTE, but rather were bias. So, he sought to make his own philosophies, arts, and films. The only way to get there was through experimentation.

There are so many genres that started as experimental films. Bruce Lee started coming up with his own format for adapting martial arts, and incorporating philosophy, into Television shows in the US to slow down his moves for the camera frame rates and utilize choreography and staging, but he has also experimented with character acting in HK as a child actor film star. Altho’ his films are narrative, they were also experimental.

I too am a filmmaker myself. I have been working as a DP (Director of Photography) myself, as well as a videographer for Ice Hockey games.
I am ALWAYS learning.
It doesn’t end.

Throughout the ENTIRE 2017-2018 I found out many times that many people,

[Maxine Vlog 01]

People are criticizing this because the production value is so good that it doesn't appear to be what it actually is... What it actually is: An artist liked their friend's voice clip and used it as practice for animating.
I'm pretty sure this is not meant to be a character we are supposed to be particularly invested in.

[Raventhorn S1E2 3/3 - Nocturne Part 1]

Let me tell you, I think this is absolutely excellent. I love the animation you're doing. It's very expressive. You're able to display emotions very effectively with these 3D models.

However, if there are people who are telling you this feels unfinished, or it needs work, I would disagree with them. This is an excellent storyboard for an anime. If that is how you contextualize it, it's amazing and I love it. If you didn't know, there are a few anime that utilize 3D models in a manner just like this as a method of storyboarding. I think Attack on Titan did it that way.

This has a lot more that could be done to it as a 3D animated series. However, I have no doubt that all the improvements you could and should make in that realm would *multiply* production time. Models need to have precise weight-painting in the face to properly display the emotions you are expressing in close-ups. You need to create a new, or perhaps multiple lighting engines/shaders to bring out the best from your materials and modeling. I think I understand the style you are going for, and I suspect that having the characters look like they are made of plastic/wax is not intended.
And then the most glaring issue... you need to actually model peoples' clothes. That's what makes this feel the most unfinished. There's no good justification... no earthly clothing clings to a body the way the tops on your female characters do. If that's a stylistic choice... my advice to you is abandon it. But again, I understand that might add a lot to production time, so take it or leave it.
I just want to say again, I really enjoyed this and I will be definitely be watching any future episodes!

[Snow Day]

Wow. Okay...
This was a good submission. Not a great one, but good.
You took the time to create unique and (relatively) detailed character models, and there's nothing in there I would consider an animation mistake. I liked the visual references and jokes, and the story was told in a fun and entertaining way.
My main criticism for you is that you have not improved very much stylistically in 5 years of animating. Your humor is fine, your storytelling structure is fine. The quality of the audio is quite excellent, actually.
I see that you're trying to hand-draw more scenes now, and trying to rely less on stock images/irl pictures imported into the scene. I really commend you for that! With that in mind, I would recommend that you take some time away from the brewstew series and try to push your boundaries and see how high you can raise the bar for yourself.
I would say you are an accomplished animator. And, I see even greater potential in you from the work you have submitted to the site. With that being said, I want to recommend you try checking out some tutorials on drawing backgrounds, try out some drastically different styles of animation, challenge yourself to make something you didn't think you could, even if it looks bad. Right now you're making things within a limited scope, and you're doing well. I believe you could find great success and satisfaction in pushing yourself further than this series has brought you so far.

[Tutition Tip]

Loved it! As soon as the singing started I fell in love. With that being said, there were times the style really contributed to the comedy, and there were times when I could tell that if you wanted to spend another 3 weeks on this, it would look absolutely amazing. You didn't, and you chose to focus on delivering the laughs, which I totally understand and am super glad you've made this for us to enjoy.

[everyday life]

More like... belongs in the trash.
Was this humor? Or meant to weird me out? It has had so little impact my only reaction is to question why it even exists....

[Grinding Gears]

Excellent! I loved the combination of new and classic styles. I think I can see where you're drawing your inspirations from in several places. This hits me exactly like the awesome and passionate animations I saw on What a Cartoon! on Cartoon Network as a kid.