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Birds of the Night

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BIRDS of the NIGHT
2011

This is my eighth animation on Newgrounds since my humble (also known as bad) beginnings in 2006. A lot has happened in those 5 years. For instance, my first animation was blammed.

This movie, as it seems to be with everything that I do, was on the backburner for a solid year or so before I finally dusted it off, re-examined it, and ended up throwing away almost everything I had. Thanks to everyone who contributed their help and motivated me to keep working at it.
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DAILY FEATURE! My first one! Thanks everyone. It means a lot to me that this has gotten such a great response.

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After all these years, this is still a favorite of mine.
Birds of the Night is not only a superb demonstration of (almost) silent animations and how they convey storylines, but also a solid practice in building and balancing atmosphere. The character designs could honestly lend themselves to a half-baked creepypasta, with stretchy shadow people meeting in the middle of the night to compare birds. The sound design, lighthearted jokes, and heartwarming plot development, however, lead the viewer on a short but delightful trek through an abstract world.
I can only commend your ability to build and develop a world, if only for a short time. We're suddenly dropped into a story where, for some reason, a bird club is the most important thing to a lonely creature. This never feels out of place, though, as the world is left bare enough for us to be invested in only the main character's interest, no matter how silly. Everything is communicated very well visually, making dialogue completely unecessary, except for a few grunts and a yell for flavor. The personalities and emotions of the characters are always on point and great fun to follow thanks in part to the swift frame-by--frame animation. This all is layered nicely with comedic timing and silly jokes that never allow the animation to seem too tender and sad or too unnerving with the mysterious and evidently powerful shadow people. We're left with very human and relatable, though otherworldly characters.
This animation is still a gem of the portal and I think it's a shame it's gone five years without so much as a new review.
This animation is worth revisiting for many years to come.

Just Epic !

WHY THE FUCK DIDIN'T I SEEN THIS BEFORE!
THIS IS EPIC!
The creativity, the style, the unique plot!
Oh my god, Pure talent!

Courageousturnip responds:

awww thanks :)

awesome animation

i cracked up at the end , cant wait for another , great job!!!!

very good

quality stuffs getting harder and harder to find around here, keep up the good work, your one of the few artists we still have around worth keeping an eye on...

Credits & Info

Views
59,490
Faves:
356
Votes
158
Score
4.44 / 5.00

Uploaded
Apr 11, 2011
4:48 PM EDT
  • Frontpaged April 12, 2011
  • Daily Feature April 12, 2011
  • Weekly 2nd Place April 12, 2011