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Sleepless Ep.1

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EDIT---it really makes me proud to have gotten third place! thank you so much for the support!

Edit: there seems to have been some kind of delay with the audio when i uploaded this. try to overlook it.
ok first off....this episode was a long time in the making. i actually can't even do anything on the flsh file anymore because the file is so big, my little computer can hardly take it. anywho...

Enjoy Ep. 1 of Sleepless-The End of The World.

Running time is about 8 minutes give or take. this is an introduction to the world of El'Equine. i've worked hard on making this movie, as well as making it under 10mbs compressing where i can, but it is graphics intensive and i made the audio as best i could. also theres a bunch of special features that i simply couldnt fit into this file, so please check out EP 1 special features that i will be uploading soon after this movie.

reviews are appreciated very much.

*to start the movie be sure to press the awake button*

I really hope you like what you see so far.

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Pretty good

I have to say this is pretty good. I like your art style. The only thing that is a little distracting are th spelling errors. It's not major, but that's all I feel like pointing out. Probably cuz I'm a writer first and foremost. But this is interesting and I'm looking forward to watching more.

First off if you can keep people entertained then you're doing your job. Cliches happen, don't stress them, practically everything's been done, and everything you see has been influenced by something the author/writer has read or even seen. Just continue to make it your own.

I'll make a better review/advice response in the next one, for now I'm heading out. XD

Boring

It could have been more on one subject and a little bit more cleaner.

okay

it was good and all but i couldnt get into it and i was confused throughout the whole thing...

Acceptable, but a few things need fixing

I've looked at some of the reviews, and some are complaining about your art style, how the lines look like they're unfinished, and you counter by saying it's just your art style. However, in the author's comments you say that there were problems keeping it under the 10mbs limit. If you were to clean up your lines a bit, it would help with the size problem. I'm not saying make completely clean lines all the time, but extra, unnecessary curves and lines just devour resources. There's a function in flash where it decreases curves, I think it's called simplify shape or something like that. You don't need to sacrifice style for functionality, but since it was so graphically intense, I had to watch it on low quality, making the lines a tad unbearable.

The story seemed a bit formulaic as well. Unless you can redo the dude-with-amnesia-plot so that it isn't like all the other dude-with-amnesia-plots out there, there's danger of the following animations to be rather cliched. Also, the 'gah you destroyed my village' part at the beginning absolutely reeked of cheese and melodrama. I don't know how difficult this would be to fix, as everyone has a different writing style, but I have faith. I remember you responding to another review stating this, saying that you feel that it would appeal to a larger audience if it was cheesy. Please, don't go about thinking like this. You'd be losing quite a number of intelligent people who are looking for something that would make their life/day/that moment a bit richer than it had been before. Also, it's my personal opinion that the author should create for themselves, not for the masses.

The script reminded me of Dragon Ball Z, with the obvious inner monologues and the expository nature of the phrases. It was like you were trying to get as much information out as possible. This is understandable, as this is the first installment, but it's better to show instead of tell, or maybe to hint and leave cliffhangers. For example, the part where amnesia dude (I can't remember anyone's name, forgive me) started flickering in and out of existence. His companion said something along the lines of "I don't care if you don't know who you are. Ever since you rescued me... ... ..." Do we REALLY need to know that he rescued her at that VERY moment in time? Right there you're telling us that a) he doesn't know who he is, b) only remembers that one village, c) flickers randomly in and out of existence, d) rescued his companion, e) that she feels the need to pay him back and f) gives possible leeway into a romantic interest subplot. That's a lot in just a few lines, and feels a bit forced.

Now on to audio. The music was pretty decent. There were some parts where it was a bit unneeded or excessive (like the amnesia dude scene), but other parts where the music fit perfectly, like the scene after that. It also looks like you wrote all the music yourself, and I respect that. Good job.
The voice actors however... they're a different story. It seems to me that the people who are raving about the superior quality of the voices are confusing it with the quantity of different characters, and the fact that there were three people doing them instead of just one or two. Quite often they were excessively melodramatic, which just accentuated the melodrama in the script. Try toning it down a notch or five. It will be better because of it. I'm NOT saying that you have to replace them with Tomamoto or Egoraptor, but maybe a few more tries going for that perfect, natural sounding tone. Think to yourself: would these words actually be said like this?

Last point: the subtitles. I can appreciate subtitles. They help to make it so that people can understand what your people are saying. But they are no help when they are distracting. And when there are blatant errors in the text, it pulls the viewer away and diminishes the immersive quality of the work. The blatant spelling mistakes qualify, same with those instances when the words didn't line up with the audio.

Overall, it was decent. Not groundbreaking, but I'll keep watching.

Sci-Fi responds:

ok... hmm lets try to do this point for point. what i meant about my art style...i meant that i draw that way in real life. to be honest its really hard for me to try to shake out of my usual style of drawing. the only time i clean up things is if i'm cg'ing it and then i ink it. but i try to do most of these drawings with only 2 steps. by that i mean basic outlining, and then going over that with the actual cleaner version. maybe 3 times would help? i'm also not really sure how the clean lines would of helped the file size, but it might be my inexperience in flash...tho i do know what function your talking about, it really does take some style out of the art, because it basically conforms everything to a more unified shape. this for me would be a greater sacrifice.

as far as story plot. i write a great variety of different types of stories. and as far as formula's, i could very well have just fallen into ones that i use often. i agree with you there. and Sin's plot isn't as bad as it seems now. though just saying that is no excuse. i realize i may have introduced his character's plight as "oh no i got no memories!!!", but thats where i messed up, with the emphases! the amnesia plot is not important at all and has nothing to do with the main story. i think that the melodrama is a taste, because i absolutely love the lines(i'm a bit bias i know) but i think you mite be having a problem with the delivery of the lines. if so, also a taste thing. because there were also alot of people who like that style of delivery. for this type of animation, where its serious, people judge the voice acting alot harder than that of a comedic animation, where you can get away with anything. about the timing. you hit every nail on the head. you are very perceptive and right. and though i said that i thought that type of melodrama would appeal to a certain type of audience, i absolutely did it for me. its almost exactly how i wanted that scene to feel. depending on how you like your stories would probably change the way you viewed certain scenes. other than that. yeah i'll be forcing as much plot into as few lines as i can for this and the next 2 episodes, because the majority of people wont view the extra's and read what i wasn't able to put into the actual animation. so i save the time, and someone kill the pacing. it bothered me too, so i cant blame you. i hate that scene completely.

and thank you. i'm really really glad that you .liked the music, and the placing, because above all, i pride myself as a musician rather than an artist. i find your comments after this, though very well thought out and expressed, a bit contradicting to the lines where you say "dont make it for anyone else"(not actual quote) i loved every voice, and even though there was a hell of a lot of complaints, they for the most part arent changing for these characters. hopefully people will warm up to them, i think they may seem a little unusual to people not use to this style of presentation(voices i mean) again the 2 you point out for voices further prove my point that, comedy can get away with anything. sure a voice actor is considered great when they can over-exaggerate comedically. but when its dramatic, people tend to frown to it. its a taste issue. and yes when you think to yourself..."would these words be said like this", i say yes...for these characters.

i know i had spelling errors and grammatical errors, and diction errors because some lines didnt even match lol sorry i'm actually ashamed.

yeah over all i consider this the best critique i've ever, and probably ever will have gotten! i really appreciate it. i also hope that my reply didnt come off as arrogant or me just making excuses for my own work. i really do hope to improve for next time. and i feel flattered because the way people are seeing my animation is basically the the "bottom of the best" which i dont mind. anyway thanks again
-Sci

Great film

This has been one of the best films I've ever watched on newgrounds. Sleepless was well done, great voice acting, good animation, and it seems to be needing a prelude to this story, or possibly this will be explained later on. Wonderfully done keep going and make many, many more.

Credits & Info

Views
17,049
Faves:
30
Votes
67
Score
4.16 / 5.00

Uploaded
Jul 21, 2009
1:01 AM EDT
  • Daily 3rd Place July 21, 2009