Reviews for The Masquerade

[RedKovu]

Nice, very strong messages.

I sincerely enjoyed the overall messages (there were many) as well as the music and overall mood. Although my opinion of flash animations without words is such that, if I want to watch a video with only music, I'll watch a music video. Luckily, this flash broke that barrier, and the incredible story overshadowed the fact that there were no words. Heck, I believe this goes way beyond anything remotely similar to it, and I would dare to even go as far as saying this is art. For example my favorite aspect of art is how the entirety of the animation itself is black and white but the emotions were expressed with color. Awesome job my friend.

[Atheistprophet]

Truly a pleasure

The scenario presented here was divine, wonderfully creative. I especially appreciate that the majority was portrayed in black and white, with the exception of the various painted expressions. The music fit well and held pace with the animation.

I also took notice of the teacher's movements as he roughly grabbed children and gave them their marks. The dripping and splotching held true to the mood, and as it was revealed that the teacher wore the most masks and was likely the worst off, it felt like the last pieces of the puzzle were clicking neatly into place.

I wondered if there could be a conclusion for this fascinating setting, but I think the answer to that is for the society to come full circle, ending with the boy donning his own forced smile. It's pessimistic or defeatist sentiment, but I think that's the story being told.

[Endayne]

Another Drama Flash? Let's have a look!

I like the monochromatic theme, and how there was nothing but music playing, it really allowed the story to push forward with what you had. Although I did get confused at some parts, and you did seem to get lazy during some scenes. It worked great though.

What I think you did wrong with this flash, was show the girls face at the end. You should have at least built a larger climax up to it, only to end the film in black and not have it be shown. I'm assuming this is his happy ending...

Not all stories need that! In fact, not alot of them should! I think people need to realize that not everything is sunshine and rainbows.

9/10 for idea.
8/10 for animation.
7/10 for execution.

Pahgawk responds:

Well, when I was making the storyboards for this, I considered giving it a sad ending. However, I asked myself why I was making the video, and the answer I came up with told me that I was trying to make a statement about how I perceive life. The thing is, though, I'm a happy person. I guess I just thought that I should at least mention that there are reasons to continue living. All is not bad. I'm not sure why people said this review was "useless", because it's a valid point. In fact, it may make more sense than my reasoning. However, it just comes down to what the purpose of the movie should be, essentially, and a sad ending wouldn't fit my vision.

[seeker7]

Nice work

I really like how ambitious this piece is. Tackling the idea of conforming to social norms and the generalization of our school system is impressive to say the least. Your animation could use a little work though. the volumes on the body's of your characters changed a little more than i would like but, it wasn't overwhelming. Also, your video kind of reminds me of "The Wall", are you a Pink Floyd fan by any chance? :}

Pahgawk responds:

Yep, Pink Floyd is one of my favourite bands :)

[bobbymiller]

very interesting

this is kinda like how the world really is sometimes, us having to mask who we really are in order to fit in.