Cyberdevil's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Baby Boy (EN Subtitles)]

Oh man... this is the kind of stuff that might really induce some nightmares. XD Was thinking when it first started out, and you're trying to read the subtitles when the eye blink animation happens... that it's almost like their eyes pop out somewhat. Somewhat disturbing effect I thought then, but little did I know...

I'm curious, the knitted wool sweater for the mail woman, was that custom made for this? Also curious how you made the little dust clouds during the car ride? The amount of attention that goes into not just the camera placement and transition, but the lighting - their entire world really changing between night and day, the weight of the items on the grass before they pick them up... even if the claymation itself is somewhat choppy all those details feel really genuine. And a claymation character playing with clay hmm, might be the first time I see that. :) This started so calmly but... damn, what a turn it took. The final monster might've been the most fluid one of all too...

Solid work on sound effects as well. Felt like it started a bit slow, but when you really get into it... not sure why I end all these sentences with an ellipses but it just feels like that kind of story...

Masterful but pretty disturbing work! Though not without a hint of comedy too. At least as long as the kid was still alive.

-cd-

djavh responds:

Hey, thanks a lot for a comment. I enjoy yours in particular, because they're always in depth and it's apparent that you pay attention when watching stuff.

All of the clothing was custom made for this movie. My girlfriend, sister and mother worked on this. The particular knitted sweaters for mail woman and car driver were made by my mother, since she had a serious leg injury at the time, couldn't walk and had nothing else to do. She enjoys knitting a lot, so she made a bunch of cute little sweaters for my projects :).

Dust clouds were made out of little balls of cotton wool.

At the end, I'm happy with this movie, except for walking animations (it was impossible to properly animate walk cycles with my shitty homemade armatures for the puppets, since their feet kept falling off...). Image quality is crappy too, especially for nighttime scenes (sadly, I just can't afford a proper camera now).

BTW, if you're really interested in behind the scenes stuff, look for AurimasFilms on facebook. There are tons of pictures from a lot of my claymation projects there.

[JAWBREAKER]

Sooo what just happened exactly? Expected some pun on the candy with said name but am just not getting this at all...

-cd-

[Novel Idea : Foamy The Squirrel]

Motivation doth come and go in waves... seems like it might've been at a low point during the making of this episode too. Potential corona distraction? Still entertaining to see Germaine & Co make a quick uplifting appearance though.

-cd-

[Serpent City]

We might not be witnessing a nuclear holocaust right now but this whole future dystopia thing does feel more relatable now than ever... that intro really managed the switch from normality to: something else. Very well. Was thinking it'd be a different kind of apocalypse and then there you go, reality comes barging in...

Gotta appreciate the twist to comedy it takes after that though. Making light of dark situations. Also more relevant than ever. Only one question: why Serpent City? Is there a religious context to this...? I don't really see any serpents...

-cd-

DampOwl responds:

Thank you Cyberdevil! I love this comment because it's very flattering and kind, but also because I've been waiting for someone to ask about the title so I can get all pretentious. You've opened the floodgate, my friend. (I'll attach a short answer at the end so you don't have to read through me wanking myself off in word form if you don't wanna.)

Basically Serpent City has been in my mind since 2016, which was the beginning of a fairly rocky period for my mental health. I'm sure we all remember the string of celebrity deaths, terror attacks, Trump, Brexit, it was basically just one crazy thing after another. And I needed a way to channel my anxiety and cynicism into something fun, so I envisioned this world. As far as the title goes, I had been listening to a LOT of Bowie when I started developing this idea, particularly his final album Blackstar.

The first track begins with this chanting, "in the villa of Ormen", which gave me this mental image of a creepy occult dystopia. I then found out Ormen is a Norwegian word for snake, and decided it was a nice jumping off point for a title. Villa of snakes. Land of snakes. Serpent City. There ya go. It definitely doesn't play into the story, but yeah, that was the process that led into it. It also sorta worked out because it's set in Ireland, and there's that whole folk tale of the snakes being driven out of Ireland. So this is a future where, metaphorically speaking, the snakes have returned...... Hmmmm...oooooohhhhhh.... #deep..... (or pretentious)

Short answer: it's a David Bowie reference hidden under about four layers of mental gymnastics.

[Baozi's Quarantine]

If too many stay with Baozi though this whole quarantine thing may not work as it's supposed to. :P Nice short.

-cd-

[OTB - Sea of Clocks]

Imagine an unofficial clockmod for the official game. :) This could be something...

Plotline feels a bit more nonsensical than normal but definitely enjoyable. Wonder if those salty bananas might've been pickles hmm...

-cd-

[Yonder Ho! - Episode 2]

Roy Haggard keeps making cameos! And this keeps getting stranger... love the horspitality pun... and neigh-bor-ing one, this is where the cats first make an appearance huh, and the first female VA, feels strange to see so detailed faces at times with such round hands, first re-occurring character too woo, hope you got some product placement on that 7 Up, sceneries are really getting a facelift already, his favoritest arm is called Riley hmm - wonder if that's been mentioned later on, and I wonder if those scribbles on the wall at the end actually mean anything... there's my rapid bundle of impressions for this one.

Thorough work overall, feels like it's turning into the Yonder Ho! of current times pretty fast...

-cd-

[To The Right]

Ah, so I take it you are in fact that previously referenced Roy Haggard? Or not... reading responses below. And there sure have been a lot of episodes of this... also feels almost like I've seen some of this in future Yonder animations... at least something starring that little obstacle-traversing green guy? Is he still a re-occurring dude? Is that you in that live action bit intro?

So many questions...also simple but still plenty entertaining stuff.

-cd-

[Yonder Ho! - Episode 1]

Can confirm it does get better, but I'm surprised how good it was right from the beginning! The backdrops feel simpler, but sometimes less is more too... the transitions and camera work leaves little to be desired. Like the zoom in on the monster, with a few layers moving individually - pretty much perfect right from the start. Though the audio balance is a bit inconsistent at times... and alright, the graphic quality does vary. First bits were perfect. Following ones not always.

Stairclimbing with a Walrus lmao. XD Also wonder what reference that Haggard classic is for. Also wonder if that sheep farm odyssey was ever completed... also wonder what kind of backstory Mr. Mudman and that blue bearded villain may have hmm... plot-wise it seems to be a bit all over the place right from the start, but isn't that how it always is? Somehow there seems to be a little too little red thread with these initial moments, Albert just popping up out of nowhere, with the sequels it seems characters are either introduced a bit more properly, or already characters you already know, even if the series of events is... as it always is. Highly entertaining and all but mundane. One great adventure there yonder.

And that dreamy butterfly ride... it ends nicely. Actually feels like both beginning and end are abundantly more polished than everything in between, entertaining though it has been. But impressive beginnings. First submission and all. Onto the next segment of the venture..

-cd-