Dulci: Thanks for the offer. I will send you an email when I have something, probably soon.

Planetstardragon: Thanks a lot for the suggestions. This kind of review is what I am looking for. It is for fun but I want to improve as much as possible. I agree with all the points of your review. I will keep them in mind when doing my next project.  

For this phase, I am focusing on the basic stuff, like storyline, avatar, prop, and color design, etc. The next phase is directing and editing. It will take a while to improve these to a decent level. After that I will turn the focus to better sounds and soundscape design. I agree with you regarding the importance of sounds - sounds make or break a piece. So far I have been using whatever stock music or sounds that I have, and they have been added on in the last minutes. This is definitely not the way to go. But I have to break the learning curve into phases and assign a focus on each phase. I will get there though. Reviews like yours will help me to get there sooner.

Thanks again.

I like the idea of good criticism. Perhaps we should be pro-active first with what is currently available. I'd suggest using the Showcase forum, but using identifiers to let people know you are looking for constructive criticism. Like putting "CC: Film Title" in the subject, then add a little note that you're looking for constructive criticism and link to this thread, then have your movie link.

If a lot of people pick up on the trend, then you can push for a special forum. There's no reason to let this idea idle. If the community deems it worthy to pursue, then it'll advance.

I'm at work, so I haven't, yet, watched your movie. However, the "moves too slow for modern audiences" problem seems to be common in machinima.

- Keith

I just watched the Turkey Hunt video. It wasn't as slow as I thought it was going to be. My critique would be about the characters. If you're going to have two "dumb guys", try to make them dumb in different ways. You never want to have characters who can swap random lines with each other and not be noticed. By the end of the movie I knew who the "in charge" guy was, but I couldn't identify which was the guy that went to pee, nor the guy who called the Turkeys by saying they had beer. Only that it was "one of those two".

- Keith

Gnasche, Thanks for the review.

I did consider using the Showcase forum. But the Showcase forum has been the place where people share their creations and cheer each other on (we all need that from time to time:-). It is a nice place that has served the community well in that regard. I am concerned that mixing in constructive criticisms can cause confusions, making people hesitate to post their projects, and in general alter the nature of that forum.

I don't think we are going to get a dedicated forum any time soon. What we can do is to start a dedicated thread for it. I happened to have one today needing constructive criticism, so I will start one right now. I will just call it "The Critique Thread" and see if it catches on. If not, no harm done.

Yeah, that makes sense. I could see people not posting if critical responses became commonplace. I bought iClone just two weeks ago, so when I get my first movie done I'll put it up in your critique thread.

- Keith

"I bought iClone just two weeks ago.."

Welcome to the world of iClone, Gnasche. Judging from the review you wrote, you will put iClone into really good use. Look forward to enjoying your movie.

Hollywood movies follow a mathematical formula

"the shot lengths in the more recent movies followed the same mathematical pattern that describes the human attention span."

The kicker? The guy's NAME is Cutting.

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