Reviews for A.E. Chronics BETA | Ch.0 - Pt.4

[JazLyte]

I've really enjoyed this series, I was extatic when I saw you had made two more since last I had checked. I haven't seen the live action version, but even since the first animated one you did 4 years ago, I've always loved the concept and the world. I think it's the best horror thing to hit NG. You're doing a great job with the eeriness, the feel and the timing and I was completely sucked in. The graphics have improved since you started, and so has the sound quality.

But it's not without it's problems, for one, you have issues with cinematic compositions that haven't changed at all since Zelda UO 1. Almost every shot in your movies are either a close-up, a bust shot, or a background shot, and as a result, it's extremely difficult to read where your characters are in their surroundings. The lack of variety in the angles and shots constantly reminds me that I'm watching a Flash cartoon, and that shouldn't be when the timing and feel are pulled off so well. Another major thing is that you have to step out of this paradigm you have with animation itself, I'd like to see you take more risks with the action, because there's way too much tweening and too many symbols bouncing rather than characters actually walking on the ground and interacting with their surroundings. The action scenes REALLY need more frame-by-frame, there's just no getting around it, the fight at the end looked really cheap and completely took me out of the movie. Take a crack at frame-by-frame, even if it's just keys and breakdowns; try the animator's survival guide and study live action film when storyboarding and blocking scenes, trust me, it helps.

Keep it up, though. Can't wait to see more. I'd love to animate a fight scene or two for this if you wanna save some work.

[zander1993]

very well done. great designe, color work, and story, didnt really read the sign at the end well. but over all. its nothing less than what i have come to know from scoots work.

[AnDrew19787]

I must say, watching the Flash version after watching the YouTube version is a lot better because I can see more of the backgrounds and understand what's going on better (I didn't even know they were on a floating rock until I saw it here). Darkness + video conversion doesn't seem like a good combo, though I bet some colour correction in the video version might help next time. X3

Now for the animation itself. All I can say overall is that your improvement keeps on a rollin'. The writing is always unpredictable and interesting and haunting, which makes AE my favorite of all your series. Your voice acting has more emotion; it surprised me a little when Scoot yelled, "WHAT'S GOING ON?!!" The music impressed me too, it was spot on every time. Finally, the 3D POV was a very nice touch; the camera animation matched perfectly with Rina-chan's voice.

The only thing I could point out negatively besides keeping the improvement ball rolling is the character models but I know that was for consistency and you are already working on them so I'll wait until Chapter 1 begins.

[Son23]

Very well done. The best part was the atmosphere. I also enjoyed the 3D work with the girl in the film. Very nice, scoot =3

[S1rR3a1]

A pretty decent ending to Chapter 0. I do have a few issues with this episode, though. Most of them are the same issues I had with Part 3, so I'll try to keep those to a minimum.

Visuals
The animation is improving, but it still has its occasional hiccups. It still feels rather awkward when characters move their heads and not their hair. Plus, when characters are jumping, they usually look less like they are actually jumping and more like they're being thrown, like a child has put a doll into a certain pose and tossed it in front of a camera. Personally, I found this the most jarring during the
<<SPOILERS>>fight scene at the end, when Kyo hooks his wrench into the Statistic's neck. In this shot, he looks like an action figure, and the tween job makes it look as if he's being pulled by a string. A lot of the time, the characters' postures are actually rather stiff and lifeless, almost like statues. Also, the character models are rather visually unappealing, as they usually either look like edgy paper cutouts or soft figures made of clay or silly putty(like BB in the scene where he's got his hands up on the shelves above him). But while the animation and most character models need work, there are some nice visuals here. One character model that certainly did not disappoint(much) was the Statistic. While it still has some of the same issues as the other character models, I like its grotesque design. If there's one thing that these Statistics have proven, it's that you are quite good at designing creatures, and it's a worthy successor to the awe-inspiring Baby Statistic. The backgrounds are still very impressive as well. Though the contrast between 2-D and 3-D can still be rather jarring, the backgrounds(when you can see them) are still really nice, especially with the amount of detail you put into some of them. My personal favorite sight is the green nebula in the sky. It looks really awesome, but my real reasons for loving this sight are for later in the review.
Positive:
- Some great backgrounds
- Nice creature design for the Statistic
Negative:
- Blegh character models
- Some goofs in the animation

Sound
The voice acting has improved noticeably since Part 3. Honestly, I don't have much to say about the voice acting this time. In fact, I don't really have anything negative to say about the sound aside from that the voice acting still needs work. What I really want to talk about is the music. The music is used perfectly here. While it's not exactly a five-star soundtrack, what is here is used perfectly. The eerie music always fits whatever scene it's played for, from the ambient, Silent-Hill-like drones that play in the building to the screeching, Earthbound-esque track that plays in the green nebula scene. The best musical choice of them all is the use of the A.E. Chronics theme song in the fight scene. I can see that there could have been a fast-paced action theme played here(after all, it IS a fight), but the theme song fits so much more perfectly. It fits the characters' determination and their decision to fight back at all costs, and it perfectly suits the fact that this is both the end of Chapter 0 and the beginning of the real series, as if to say, "Stay tuned. This is where it gets good."
Positive:
- Voice acting is improving
- Music is used flawlessly
Negative:
- Voice acting still needs work

Writing
It's hard to say much about the story, since this is pretty much just the prologue. So let's talk about the writing. Overall, the writing continues to impress, and it has improved since Part 3. There weren't any lines I found myself cringing at, so that's already an improvement. The pacing here is carried out excellently. There weren't many rough bits I picked up on, and the overall ride of the episode was fairly smooth. The episode does a great job of hyping people up for the series, and it gets viewers asking questions, like "What could bury the entire Earth?" "Why is the sky suddenly green?" "What is Boarston doing here, and why is he a monster?" and most importantly, "What happens next?!"
imoutofroomdammit
8/10