Riveting til the very end and its poignant story was very well done.
Reviews for "GIRL & IT"
This type of work is the reason why I love Newgrounds.
Its not too often I find independent animations on Newgrounds that are this well done. Most of the stuff on here is silly, goofy and occasionally absolutely stupid but, that doesn't make them bad.
Then you find gems like these. These are so well done, with an incredible amount of work, time and absolute talent poured into them that its pointless to compare them to the rest. This shining example of hard work needs its own category.
I urge anyone and everyone to watch this. Its incredibly well done. The art style is different and may take a moment to adjust to but, its still captivating. The story is what pulled me in. This story is compelling, engaging, beautiful, sad and original. All-in-all this animation is the full package and deserves more recognition.
Now done with the fawning and onto the constructive criticism.
1. Emotions
The atmosphere captures their emotions well enough to give a pretty good idea on how the characters are feeling but, they themselves seem lacking in way. I mostly mean this in terms perspective. I'm a very perceptive person so, I can easily assume and catch what they are feeling without needing to see their faces with perfect clarity but, at certain times there isn't enough attention or "focus" on each individual character that some people may not pick up on each characters exact emotions individually. I know its impossible to focus on everyone without adding scene breaks, which in turn, interrupts the flow of your story but, its food for thought.
The atmosphere is set well enough that with your animation style its not that much of an issue but, its just a small point that I wanted to address.
2. Movement/Facial expressions
I only review these together because they have the same issue. Rigidness. Overall the movement seems fluid but, almost stiff at the same time. The facial features at times seem to suffer the same issue but, they aren't as easy to notice and aren't as rigid. At certain times the characters are stiff in simple or quick motions but, fluidly transition into each other. It appears as though the simple and/or quick actions are hesitant at first but, immediately become fluid as though each action requires a "pause" before the next can happen. An example of the "pausing" motions are most of the running and climbing scenes.
I apologize if at times this is a tad hard to understand but, my thoughts kinda ran together at times.
Well, now that all of that is out of the way, I'd like to say congratulations on your well deserved awards and good luck in your future endeavors.
5/5 Will watch again.
whoa amazing! standing ovation! for plot, writing, animation, and art! 5/5! one question.
what language is that? I know i've heard it before. is it a pre-spanish-invasion middle or
south american language?
It is not often that a quality work of this caliber is is shown on newgrounds. This was a moving, visually impressive piece. It was a moving experience to say the least. And it deserves more than a 3rd or 4th place. AT the very least I think it is one of the best works on new grounds for April. Maybe one of the best works newgrounds has this year.
Dude, not only is the story/animation top quality but your music is world class as well. You're Disney Pixar Studio Ghibli caliber. I don't mean the movie itself could pass as one of theirs, but considering that you're just one guy you could easily work for a top animation company, even as a high-level employee like a story consultant or something.
Others have mentioned lack of facial expressions and that's kind of an obvious gripe and it didn't bother me. You knew your limitations and you made it work. I especially makes sense for the girl to have a frozen face because she's sort of this traumatized mute. And your whole style is very much like a puppet show, so that works out just fine.
If I were to make suggestions it would mostly be about clarity in the story. I had no idea why the Flying Crow trio was chasing Sunrise at first, and maybe it's supposed to be that way because it becomes clear later on. But I think it could still use a little hint, maybe just one piece of dialogue earlier on that suggests these guys have gone rogue and aren't operating under the king's wishes. Also it's a little confusing why the empire wanted these people eradicated in the flashback. I mean of course it makes sense when we have cultural context that exists outside the scope of the movie, but the movie maybe could've done something earlier on to suggest that the situation in the movie corresponds to what we've seen in historical genocide situations. The movie ambiguously makes it seem like the mother and the daughter and the boy are special for some reason, like they're part of some bloodline that has the right to the throne. It's not really clear.
I think Sunrise's internal conflict could've been played up more before the flashback. Like he should've been more unsure of whether to kill the beast to become king or to let it live because he is befriending the beast. Of course other people mention the ambiguous focus of the story so I won't get into that. But it is a little strange that it's called "GIRL & IT" when the last quarter of the movie doesn't have "it" in it.
If only Sunrise had killed the beast and brought back its head then there could've been a happy ending. As king, he could've ended the slaughter. Maybe the beast would've understood and offered up its life.
I think what I like most about the movie is the setting. You've created such a deep and vivid and beautiful fantasy world that works so well. What language is being spoken in the movie?