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MNOLG-Style Animation Series


emily
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This is my big project. I cannot even begin to describe how much Templar's work on BIONICLE has meant to me, but suffice to say what they created is perhaps my most cherished story. I want to be able to pay homage to Templar, as a way of saying thanks, and this is how I am doing it.

 

These animations are made to complement the ones Templar produced for BIONICLE in 2002. It may not be apparent how they are connected yet, but eventually they will fill in the blanks left by Templar's animations. Templar's work was, of course, perfectly functional as a story, but they covered so much ground in so little time that not everything could be shown. This project is sort of going back and looking at the things skipped over.

 

I'm not completely satisfied with these animations (especially the first one, that one's awful), but I am new to Flash and I've intentionally used this first, three-part arc as a testing ground for my animation abilities. Future installments will have a greater focus on plot and character development.

 

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3

Episode 3.5

 

I appreciate any and all feedback. Even if you know nothing about BIONICLE, I'd love to know if the animation looks any good. The assets (art and sound) used are taken from Templar's animations.

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Quisoves Potoo

I'm glad you've to see you've made a new one. These are truly excellent. In addition to your technical expertise, your sense of timing,  use of camera, and use of music are all superb, and very much in the style of the Templar animations. I think you would make a good director of films. 

Your third episode is the best yet, and makes remarkably good use of the Templar-Bionicle animation system. It really shows just what can be done with it.

 

My only major criticism is that some of the action, primarily in the third episode, seems too slow. The one sequence that comes to mind immediately is the one in which the Ta-Matoran is trapped under the ice by the Nuvohk. And it would be nice if some sound effects were added for Nuju.

 

All in all, fantastic. That third one in particular managed to evoke nostalgia, despite being new. Have you offered your services to the MNOG 1.5 (The Bohrok Swarms) project? I think they could use your talent. While they have some mastery over the animation system, I think it is considerably less than yours, and as a result, their animations lack the elegance of both Templar's and your own.

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These are truly excellent. In addition to your technical expertise, your sense of timing, use of camera, and use of music are all superb, and very much in the style of the Templar animations. I think you would make a good director of films. Your third episode is the best yet, and makes remarkably good use of the Templar-Bionicle animation system. It really shows just what can be done with it.

This is wonderful to hear, thank you very much for your feedback. :D

 

My only major criticism is that some of the action, primarily in the third episode, seems too slow. The one sequence that comes to mind immediately is the one in which the Ta-Matoran is trapped under the ice by the Nuvohk. And it would be nice if some sound effects were added for Nuju.

I'll see what I can do to address the pacing issue next time. Nuju is popping up in the next installment and will definitely have some sounds to accompany his speech.

 

Have you offered your services to the MNOG 1.5 (The Bohrok Swarms) project?

I wish Nuparu77 all the best with his project, but to be completely honest my own project is so time-consuming, I feel that I really couldn't take on work for another one. Too much other stuff to do, what with college coming up and all.

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Quisoves Potoo
I'll see what I can do to address the pacing issue next time.

Watching the third episode again, I realized, embarrassingly, that the one with the Ta-Matoran being trapped under the ice was not what I was thinking of. Its pacing was good. I got it mixed up with the first Ta-Matoran being attacked.

 

 

I wish Nuparu77 all the best with his project, but to be completely honest my own project is so time-consuming, I feel that I really couldn't take on work for another one. Too much other stuff to do, what with college coming up and all.

That's fine. You are doing such a fine job with these that anything else would simply be icing on the cake. And of course your education is much more important.

One more suggestion: When you're with the Bohrok animations, might you consider doing a series set on Metru Nui? Those Vahki animations made me hungry for seeing more of the city in Templar's style.

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These are very good and I greatly enjoyed watching them. Thank you for making them.

 

It may have been my computer, the sound stopped every now and again, but my main complaint is that the mechanical sounds the Matoran make seem almost random. I think the best example was when the 3 guards were talking and the fourth walked up. The three were vigorously nodding(talking) and gesturing, but made no sounds, and the forth made no walking sounds when he came up, but when he started talking he made a loud mechanical noise, and after that, when they all walked off you could clearly hear every leg movement. This incongruency annoys me, but doesn't detract from the animation and isn't really a big issue for the presentation either, so take it how you like.

 

One question (and please don't be offended by my apparent doubt), did you draw everything yourself, or use already-made characters when possible? If you made everything, not only are you a good artist, you are excellent at copying a style, and if not, your animation is still excellent and you managed to seamlessly integrate them. I just wanted to check because although I'm not comparing them side-by-side, they look exactly as I remember them being in the originals.

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but my main complaint is that the mechanical sounds the Matoran make seem almost random. I think the best example was when the 3 guards were talking and the fourth walked up. The three were vigorously nodding(talking) and gesturing, but made no sounds, and the forth made no walking sounds when he came up, but when he started talking he made a loud mechanical noise, and after that, when they all walked off you could clearly hear every leg movement. This incongruency annoys me, but doesn't detract from the animation and isn't really a big issue for the presentation either, so take it how you like.

That was definitely a problem with the first one. I've been trying to be more careful with my use of sounds since then, but maybe I haven't been as effective as I thought. Are there any examples you can think of in the third animation?

 

One question (and please don't be offended by my apparent doubt), did you draw everything yourself, or use already-made characters when possible? If you made everything, not only are you a good artist, you are excellent at copying a style, and if not, your animation is still excellent and you managed to seamlessly integrate them. I just wanted to check because although I'm not comparing them side-by-side, they look exactly as I remember them being in the originals.

No offense taken, all of the assets and sound effects are taken right from Templar's animations. I would never have been able to produce all of that on my own, I lack the skill.

 

Thank you very much for your feedback!

 

EDIT: Didn't see your second post, Quisoves. Sorry!

 

One more suggestion: When you're with the Bohrok animations, might you consider doing a series set on Metru Nui? Those Vahki animations made me hungry for seeing more of the city in Templar's style.

 

There's something bigger to come when this project is done, and while Metru-Nui would be really fun I think things will be going in another direction. All will be revealed in time... :ninja:

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I will admit to only watching the third animation, but my goodness what an awesome animation it was. Hats off to you for making this on your own, too! I loved the sequences and your use of the sound effects, I actually felt rather tense at times.

 

Looking forward to what you produce next. I agree with Quisoves that it does seem a little slow at times, but then again, that seems to be part of the style.

 

All-in-all, excellent animation!

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I agree about the action. It feels really slow at times.

 

Also, the dialogue in the third is a bit odd - it would be better if Jala said "the guard will" instead of shall, and "Their numbers are too great. We must flee" makes more sense for Matoro than what you had.

 

Other than that, great work.

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Quick question, what application/program did you use for these animations? (which are great by the way)

Adobe Flash CS6. Glad you liked them!

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  • 5 months later...

This thing only looks like it's dead! I've been working on part 4 more as of late, and I've decided that what I had set as its beginning really made more sense as the end of part 3. Unfortunately I can't combine the two animations very easily as they were completed on canvases of different sizes, but here's a separate addendum to part 3 to span the period between it and part 4.

 

SWF

 

Fancy MOV version

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...

That animation was awesome! You've perfectly matched the style of the original LEGO ones. And that moment when the camera looks at Kopaka's back... Ah, he has such presence.

 

Will you be making animations in the new BIONICLE style once the cartoons are released?

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Fluffy Cupcake

You've perfectly matched the style of the original LEGO ones.

The origi... oooooh, I think I have a vague memory of those. It was such a long time ago! I kinda want to see them again now.

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Could these be converted into, say, .MP4s in 1080p or something?  I need a volume slider to appreciate them properly =P

 

The animation does recapture the original MNOG style quite nicely, though.

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That animation was awesome! You've perfectly matched the style of the original LEGO ones. And that moment when the camera looks at Kopaka's back... Ah, he has such presence.

 

Will you be making animations in the new BIONICLE style once the cartoons are released?

Probably not, I'm content with what I'm working on at the moment.

 

There's also the fact that that would require me to build the assets used in the new animations from scratch - something I know I couldn't do. With these animations, I can take the original assets from the extant SWF files.

 

 

 

The origi... oooooh, I think I have a vague memory of those. It was such a long time ago! I kinda want to see them again now.

No problemo.

 

 

Could these be converted into, say, .MP4s in 1080p or something?  I need a volume slider to appreciate them properly =P

 

The animation does recapture the original MNOG style quite nicely, though.

There's a link to a 720p MP4 for the most recent one in the first post I think, but the others were made on a really small canvas and I couldn't export them in a decent resolution without a painstaking amount of work. Sorry.

 

EDIT: No, that link is actually in my last post.

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Fluffy Cupcake

I need a volume slider to appreciate them properly =P

Taskbar -> Volume Mixer -> Slide the volume slider specified to the flash program, unless of course you are currently using Linux. If so, just wait till you're on your Windows, because I have no idea if you can control program specific volumes on Linux.

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I need a volume slider to appreciate them properly =P

Taskbar -> Volume Mixer -> Slide the volume slider specified to the flash program, unless of course you are currently using Linux. If so, just wait till you're on your Windows.

 

I'm on Windows but the space to move that slider is... about three pixels high.  Because studio DAC makes low impedance headphones loud.

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