“LittleFoot” is an amusing short film by Adam Phillips created entirely in Macromedia Flash 8. At first sight not only are the sheer beauty of the graphics and animation outstanding; but more so it is the understanding of how complicated flash is to use that invokes a sense of deep appreciation from the viewer.
From personal experience I realize that even simple animations can consist of endless lines of layers and action-script. To make matters more complicated, it is impossible to ignore the ever-common appearance of the “dotted-line of death” that usually results in the “seizure-inducing errors”. That of course typically follows with minutes into hours of trial-and-error revision, and it just goes from there.
Nevertheless, “LittleFoot” is a successful production with a sequel called “the YuYu” released a few years later. Part one (LittleFoot) leaned more toward a child-like sense of humor and the character of human nature, while part two (the YuYu) synced mystery with drama connected by music. What I find to be the most enjoyable about the video itself is how the artist continually plays against what he builds up to be expected by the audience and then incorporating slight twists to keep the viewer interested. Little does the typical viewer know, but Phillips took his production step further and included hidden messages within specific images in “Littlefoot” that reference to a language and creatures that were used in his later production of “the YuYu”. A complete list of the secrets is posted at http://www.biteycastle.com/content/LFSecrets.html
Both of the original videos can be found on Biteycastle.com, which I believe to be Adam Phillips’s homepage, although I later discovered that there are better quality versions currently available at NewGrounds.
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I've seen these before, and I can pretty much tell you that these animations were among the best that I'd ever seen. There was plenty of thought put into how each character has a particular way of carrying itself like how Littlefoot, the character, has such unrefined and uncoordinated movements or the umbrella bird/bat that flies about the forest scenes. What I found most impressive is how the animator was also able to account for the way motion skews form as best shown in "The Yuyu." The saytr-like character's mad dashing illustrates it best, especially when it's flying through the forest's canopy.
ReplyDeleteI can watch Adam Phillip’s work all day. Whenever I end up talking about Flash with someone, these videos come up in discussion since the quality of this flash work is on a whole new level. His attention to detail is miraculous and is one of the best flash animations I have ever seen online. Thank you very much for sharing The YuYu has I had not seen the video before this blog post.
ReplyDeleteI feel that The YuYu’s strength is not simply on this animation this time, but on the musical score that is playing during the chase scene. The folk music is very fitting for a chase scene in this fantasy world, and it would definitely not work in a standard action movie in theatres. Adam Phillips made a good choice to not use heavy metal for the chase scene as it would not have fit the story as well. Whoever composed this song is definitely very talented at scoring music for movies.
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ReplyDeleteThis work is very impressive. I’ve wanted to learn flash but I have never had the time to do it. I guess one can’t do everything. Although I can make flash websites, this animation seems too complicated for me. Every time I see some sort of script I get confuse. Action script I heard is easy to learn but for some reason I don’t really get it. This takes flash to another level. Good the artist did not include any form of speech in the film. Doing so, let the viewer generate their own story.
ReplyDeleteApparently my last post didn't actually get posted. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, first off, this is extremely amazing. The animations used, along with the complexity of the scenes, is simply astounding. I know from slight personal experience how hard a project like this is to tackle.
In regards to the "secrets", I find this also amusing due to the fact it proves how easy it is to slip in hidden, subliminal messages into animation. Another interesting egg that he planted was the inclusion of the Lion King "sex" myth, where the dust in the ground spells out "SEX" (or is it SFX) in the cloud of dust. Little references like that to other myths keep the watcher on their toes for any other potential, hidden secrets.