Re: The Profession

(Warning: A few spoilers)

Fantastic animation. What impressed me most about this film was the camera movement it had, and I don't just mean the shaky cam. The dollies, pans, etc were very professional and well placed...and if some of them were digital, it's extremely hard to tell. The fight scene was one of the best I've seen, maybe not THE best, but it would mark very high on the list. As everyone has been saying, the framing and lighting were fantastic, and so were the sets.

Maybe it was just me, but I found the scene transitions a little iffy. Mainly the part where he escapes, but then goes back to fight. I saw what you were trying to do, but there was just something a tad too sudden for me. Same with the hospital bit, kind of caught me off guard.

And if I wanted to be very picky, and this is just a personal opinion of mine, the story was just a tad weak. I mean it worked really well for the film, and I am by no means trying to put it down. I suppose I was just hoping for something a bit more "meaningful". But that's just me!

Oh and just one last thing, for some reason I was expecting something a bit more serious, and while this is (from what I've seen) the most serious thing you've made, I noticed it didn't take itself very seriously. But that's okay, because I thought it worked out nicely! I also really enjoyed the voice acting by Smeagol, brilliant as always, and the atmosphere you managed to set.

Very well done all around, a 4.5/5 from me, indeed a near-perfect brickfilm.

P.S. I enjoyed how you started the soundtrack for the film at the beginning, with your Logo and such. And while I didn't like it at first, I thought the soundtrack worked wonderfully. Though I admit I would have gone for something with more trumpets and violins, pianos, etc. mini/XD

Last edited by Scypax (January 1, 2011 (12:06pm))

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Re: The Profession

Absolutely brilliant. The animation had a really live-action film-likeliness to it, so it was exceptionally outstanding.

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Re: The Profession

That was so damn awesome. I think for the first time ever I've watched a brickfilm and the idea I'm watching plastic figures has escaped my mind. I don't think it was quite the animation that really mind-blew me, that sort of thing lies with animators such as Mobile, however the sheer class of the stop-motion, the fluid human like movement. I must say that you've triumphed over expectations. A personal favourite of the year for me, however it was still flawed. The story was un-original, with the whole secret-like spy (Smeagol fits that title) narrating a day in his life, and there was some grain in the early shots. However that to me doesn't matter, for it was spectacularly entertaining and cinematic. As Scypax has already said, "A near perfect brickfilm"! I'll be reviewing this in audio form as well.

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Re: The Profession

That completley blew me away. I thought the animation was outstanding. I could see this being a real film. My only complaint is when the agent and the boss dude are punching each other, there were too many grunts and pants. Brilliant work, as always. mini/smile

Re: The Profession

Well, I'm a bit disappointed that a large chunk of it was a fight scene. Most brickfilms now have some sort of gun-fight or fist-fight, and it's getting a bit old. Given the amount of time you spent on it, I thought there would be a bit more story to it.

However, everything else done well. I know you spent a lot of time on the audio, and it turned out great. All other technical aspects were well done, too.

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Re: The Profession

Amazing, Great Animation but I have to agree with Littlebrick I would of preferred more of a story and less of a fight scene but that fight scene was amazing the best I have seen! Well Worth The Wait!

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Re: The Profession

That was fun, I knew what to expect at this juncture but I enjoyed it.  It might have been nice to have a larger story around it but it works as a showcase for the fight scene.  I was glad to be a part of this!

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Re: The Profession

The only thing I really enjoyed was the animation, and the rest I felt was just plain boring. In my opinion, there wasn't anything special about this film aside from the animation, even the voice acting was pretty cliche.

-JK

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Re: The Profession

Ah gawd, ah gawd.

This makes me want to go buy LEGO's and animate again.

Re: The Profession

Go do it. Help the economy.

Re: The Profession

Just Kidden wrote:

the voice acting was pretty cliche.

-JK

Oh, no. Now Smeagol's gonna stalk you now

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Re: The Profession

But it's true.  I was going out of my way to sound tongue-in-cheek there.

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Re: The Profession

/methinks someone got a little influenced by Inception with the silent kill sequence (1:24).

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Re: The Profession

There's a lot of great elements in this, but they never seem to come together in any scene. Most disappointing is the editing; there's a lack of dynamism that brings down a lot of the movie. With the animation, camera movements and sound design, I'm thinking to myself, "I should be having fun," but all I can think of is how much better it could be with quicker cuts and additional shots. You open with what I imagine is intended to be a montage, and yet the first couple shots last 8-10 seconds. Nothing should last 8-10 seconds, especially not static shots. And this is your opening, for crying out loud; I gave up on the film the first time around because nothing happened in the first 45 seconds (30 is usually my limit), and I would not be surprised if other viewers do the same. I would estimate that your average shot length, prior to the fight scene, is something like 5-6 seconds, which is just too long. Things need to move quicker, particularly if you're trying to build tension. The editing does pick up pace during the fight scene (though it might go too far towards MTV-level cutting), but the sound design no longer passes muster.

A fight scene, particularly when you're dealing with inhuman subjects, needs sharp sounds to be effective. As phenomenal as the animation and camerawork is during the fight, it mostly sounded like a hand running over a microphone combined with random grunts and belt buckles shaking. I need to feel the impact of the blows and believe these characters are having their plastic insides torn up, and sound is probably the most important part of achieving that effect.

The lighting fluctuates from bland to distractingly harsh. The camera movements are great, but again, they only work if the editing works.

The only exception is perhaps the end, with the car in the city, in which animation, camera, effects and sound finally coalesced to make a really cool, affecting couple seconds.

But yes, really great animation throughout. It's the traditional film elements that need some attention.

Asteroidmagenta

Re: The Profession

Visually this was pretty dang noice. Storyline was fairly clichéd, though I'm not sure if that was intentional or not.
Also, you'd think if someone got their face slammed into a table several times their face would be bleeding at least a little.

Re: The Profession

I agree with Danimation here. The technical aspects were really great, but the story was kind of cliché. And the voice-acting was good, but I don't find it fitting the part.

Re: The Profession

Great stuff, MG.

it's always great watching your brickfilms.

Re: The Profession

The animation was great, the fight scene and silent kill especially (I thought the body catching was very well executed). The sound effects have been highly underrated; in my opinion they fitted perfectly every step of the way, and you managed to keep that up in the fight scene, so very well done. The story as everyone else said wasn't great, far too much cliché and not enough originality. The voice acting was par, I wasnt ecstatic about it, but it was of a much higher standard than a lot of other films I've seen. The lighting - meh, I've seen better, though the ending was spot-on with the camera flashes et cetera. I have to say, this contains one of my favourite fight scenes, and you're still a top-notch animator. Fantastic job.

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Re: The Profession

That...um...was...amazing?! HAHA! Fantastic work! Camera angles=FANTASTIC! Well done, sir!

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Re: The Profession

Excellent work. I enjoyed the slightly different approach to storytelling in this, though the pace was thrown off slightly by the fight going on so long. Fantastic animation and editing, though. I also liked the music quite a bit.

Last edited by Nick Durron (January 3, 2011 (06:44pm))