00:00
00:00
Newgrounds Background Image Theme

ParallaxDraw just joined the crew!

We need you on the team, too.

Support Newgrounds and get tons of perks for just $2.99!

Create a Free Account and then..

Become a Supporter!

Straw Boats Borrow Arrows

Share Collapse

Author Comments

This is "Straw Boats Borrow Arrows", adapted from a part of Luo Guanzhong's classic chinese novel The Three Kingdoms. I entered it in a contest for short movies (5 minutes or less; this cut is available on youtube - just search "Straw Boats Borrow Arrows"), but I made an extended version just for you guys. xD It's not a comedy, nor is it some bloody showdown - its a battle of wits featuring one of the greatest military minds of all time.

Zhou Yu, director general for the Southland forces under Sun Quan, is jealous of Zhuge ("zhu-guh") Liang, director general of Liu Bei's forces (united with Sun Quan at this time, to oppose Cao Cao's invasion force from the north). So Zhou Yu conceives of a scheme to eliminate Zhuge Liang - he asks for 100,000 arrows for the army, and he wants them in ten days. Failure, he emphasizes, will be met with death, according to military law. Zhuge says he'll do it in three days. Thus our story begins.

To reviewers: I appreciate and read every constructive review, and I'm always eager for suggestions on how I could improve. In particular, I'd very much like to know what you thought of the story, which I had a hard time adapting so the context still came across. I made the music myself, despite not really being a music person, so if you have something to suggest, try not to use too much music terms, cuz I'll have no idea what you mean. I know all the people who did the voices (most aren't members of NG) so if you've got somethin to say to them, I'll pass it on.

Special thanks to Tom for letting me upload this huge file (sorry to everyone for the large file, movie's got a lot of 3D shots, so hopefully its worthwhile in the end)

For the first time in any of my movies, there's an easter egg! Who can find it? (if you're stumped, I'll probably post its location on my userpage later, or you can PM me) What do you think of it? Should I ever do it again? Feel free to give me some advice.

Edit: Daily 4th, not bad! Thx again to Tom, and to everyone who voted. Keep sendin reviews tho, I'll keep readin.

Log in / sign up to vote & review!

Great!

This video was really well done - I love the Three Kingdoms Era. Though you have the pronunciation wrong. It's pronounced zhu - GAE, not zhu - GUH.

RPGsrok responds:

Glad you like the movie. As for pronounciation, I was just goin by some vids of the tv series i saw on youtube. It may vary by dialect in china, and im pretty sure Dynasty Warriors pronounces it Zhu-gae, and so I'm confident with my choice, but if you want, go ahead and send me your reference to the Zhu-gae pronounciation, and (although it's kinda pointless to change the movie at this point) I'll certainly admit i was wrong >_>

Replying about the Chinese sentences + My opinion

Replying the review by pokthegreat in April 7, 2009:
"Wonderflu job with the flash.
but the background music is a mess
How do you manage to find such a off tone violinist?
and the 2 chinese sentences on the wall are jokes right?
hope you know the meaning of "%u4E00%u8AAA%u66F9%u64CD%u66F9%u64CD %u5C31%u5230" & "%u8996%u89BA%u4E0A%u7684%u5F69%u86CB "
I just can't help my laughter."

---------

The former one is the Chinese version of "Speak of the devil, there he/she is."

And the latter one is literally translated into "Visually colourful eggs", and I am confused about the purpose to display this in Zhuge Liang's fleet.

Overall, the excellent idea to adopt the Chinese literatures should be promoted by making more movies adopting Chinese classics.

RPGsrok responds:

Replying to the translation by EdwardKnave in April 9, 2009:
"And the latter one is literally translated into "Visually colourful eggs", and I am confused about the purpose to display this in Zhuge Liang's fleet."

---------

Try clicking on it. If you've watched a good amount of flash videos, I think you'll understand.

And if you still don't understand, feel free to contact me, and I'll explain its significance.

Overall, I'm glad you liked the adaptation, and I think it'd be a great idea for more people to do such movies, but I've got other movies to make right now. Thanks for reviewing.

Eh.

It was pretty good. The art was not bad and I can tell you spent quite a lot of time working on this video, however, the sound quality could be much better. Perhaps invest in a pop screen for the mic? And better voice acting. That's my only real problem with the video.

Oh! The music! The music was bad. Definitely need better music next time.

Wow.

Fantastic story, fantastic adaption. I would love to see more.

good flash, bad music

Wonderflu job with the flash.
but the background music is a mess
How do you manage to find such a off tone violinist?
and the 2 chinese sentences on the wall are jokes right?
hope you know the meaning of "%u4E00%u8AAA%u66F9%u64CD%u66F9%u64CD %u5C31%u5230" & "%u8996%u89BA%u4E0A%u7684%u5F69%u86CB "
I just can't help my laughter.

Credits & Info

Views
16,718
Faves:
20
Votes
41
Score
4.43 / 5.00

Uploaded
Apr 6, 2009
8:23 PM EDT
Genre
Informative
  • Daily 4th Place April 7, 2009