Lately, some of my Newgrounds buddies and I have noticed an interesting and slightly disturbing trend within the Flash community: a fierce division between two types of artists and their fans.
On one hand, we have Flash artists who produce random, often quickly animated shorts that are a parody of a videogame or movie. Such videos often end up becoming viral, getting hordes of 5s, portal awards, and plenty of fans for the artists, who may or may not have expected their projects to be so well received. Some may write specifically to target the Newgrounds audience while others just make whatever they find funny.
On the other hand, we have artists who spend several months to a year (or more) working on a project, often original, and find that while it may be featured on the front page for as long as the first type of submissions, their work tends to get overlooked. As a result, they may become resentful of artists who churn something out in less than a month and get portal awards and/or lots more views. They believe that the Newgrounds system should award quality and originality and that the average viewer is too focused on whatever is familiar or makes them laugh. However, they may have a hard time marketing their work to another crowd (such as YouTube, where because there are so many videos, it can be much harder to get one's work recognized).
Lately, a sort of rivalry has sprung between the two sides, with fans of each type of artist attacking each other through forums, review spaces, blogs, and even other Flash movies.
Newgrounds community, I want YOUR take on this for a special episode of the podcast. From both "sides" or those who believe that there are no sides at all. From a variety of artists, both well known and not as well known. It is important to note that I am going to do my absolute best to make this podcast episode a non-biased, documentary-style look at this phenomenon, which is why I want input from a variety of artists.
So if you consider yourself to be currently active in the Newgrounds community (preferrably as an animator, but exceptions will be made for community members who contribute in other ways), I want to hear your take on this. You must send in an audio file (mp3 preferred) as this is an audio podcast. Do NOT post your responses/opinions here; they will not be included. Please use the following questions as a guide for your response:
+ Start off with your name and/or NG username along with a VERY BRIEF summary of your involvement in the community (example: name of a couple of your most recognized movies). This is just a short introduction so everyone listening will know who you are.
+ When viewing submissions by other artists, how essential is the quality of the art/animation to your enjoyment of the flash? How about the humor? Do you think that in general, a flash needs to be funny in order to gain a large following?
+ Do you think that, in general, the voting system is a fair assessment of the quality of a Flash? (For instance, if a flash is based off a game or movie, the people who automatically vote zero tend to even out the amount of fans who will five it?)
+ What are the factors that influence the popularity of a Flash artist? Is it important to you that your work and/or you as an artist are well received in the Flash community? Why or why not?
+ Do you find you receive a large amount of criticism from a certain type of viewers in general? What is the biggest criticism they tend to give you?
+ What is your take on the rivalry mentioned above? Discuss your opinions and the reasons behind them. Please feel free to draw on your own experiences to support your views.
+ How involved are you in the critiquing aspect of the community? For instance, are you involved in Flash-related forums where discussion or debate on this subject tends to occur? Have you ever been involved in a "flame war" over your work or that of another artist you appreciate?
+ What do you think is the best solution to the current problem? Or do you think Newgrounds should stay the way it is and become "survival of the fittest"?
RULES. Read before you send!
+ You may reference specific Flash artists for examples but no abusive talk or insults aimed at specific Flash artists will be allowed. For example, you may say "I personally don't enjoy RandomNewgrounder's work because it seems to lack effort yet gets plenty of awards" but NOT something like "RandomNewgrounder is an unoriginal faggot". If the main point of your submission seems to be to take jabs at other artists (regardless of which "side" they seem to be on), your submission will probably not be used.
+ NO trolling/joke entries... it's simply a waste of both your time and mine.
+ In general, the time limit is pretty open...I will cut and paste quite a bit to fit the format of this edition of the show. But as a general rule, keep it under ten minutes total.
+ Please record in mp3 format in as clear, high quality audio as possible. If you absolutely cannot do mp3, I will accept wavs.
Email your file(s) to midori.ninja@gmail.com no later than Sunday, June 8.
