Wow...

...very informative...
The play button shouldn't be visible until after the flash finishes loading. I liked the Matrix reference. The graphics were poor and you probably could've picked better music for the entire thing.

is that off an advert

if thats not an advert on TV it should be.

I'm sorry, but...

...this was awful. The images were quite badly drawn and the plotline was abysmal. I can tell you haven't really tried with this one. This looks more like what should be made on Powerpoint, not flash.

On the other hand, at least you were trying to be educational. You just need to put a bit more thought into these things. If you want to be a NG author, I'd suggest getting a bit more to grips with flash, try some more complicated stuff.

It's frightening the way our schools are being run

Graphics: Noobish drawings with only motion tweens. No real animation. I guess you did the best you could. Not bad for a first submission. Consider trying the line drawing tools next time, and maybe some actual animations.

Style: I haven't seen these "Truth" commercials everyone else is talking about, but it sounds like you're emulating a specific style. Certianly you captured the "Well you see, Billy!" style of most so-called educational videos.

Sound: Perfectly suitible songs are tied up and dragged kicking and screaming from pop culture and forced to mouth The Administration's message. This is probably exactly what the teachers would do if they were producing the movie, except they probably would have chosen songs ten years older.

Overall: Decently long video that tells a story. The art is pretty clumsy, and hastily-made, but other than that it seems well-produced. I look forward to seeing what this kid can do with Flash once he starts using it to tell his own stories and express his own ideas. Lord knows Newgrounds needs more Storytellers.

Rant: I really don't know how I should feel about this piece. It's clear you're a bright kid who's reluctantly mumbling the words your teacher's forcing you to say in order to earn a passing grade.

Just realizing that our schools are being run that way is extremely depressing, and that context colors my experience of watching this flash. It's a little like watching an Auchwitz film of concentration camp detainees telling the camera that Jews are the enemy, while nazi soldiers stand just off-camera with rifles levelled at their heads.

I don't know whether to applaud you for sucessfully completing the assignment, or boo you for using art to voice a message that you do not himself believe in.

Also, I'm worried that if our kids keep getting taught this way, they'll just grow up telling authority figures what they want to hear, doing whatever they want behind closed doors, and privately acknowlaging to each other that the authority figures are full of bullshit, while maintaining an outward appearance of obedience.

Of course, I guess it wasn't much different, back when I was in school, but it's pretty disturbing to see the teacher VS student paradigm play out so starkly.

well, uh...

Sound was good, graphics were purposely poor, as they looked like the truth commercials, and the entertainment value was nil. This would be better suited for the classroom, not NG.