Snowdrop

[Tacit Moon 100]

I liked it.

 

Well animated, and the VA's were good. (Especially for fanmade anything)

 

It was really adorable, and might have gotten me a little choked up near the end when the last snowflake fell.

Edited July 3, 2016 by Tacit Moon

[~Master~ Button Mash 2,307]

That was beautiful. :') Extremely bittersweet. A beautiful reminder of how even those who feel powerless can turn around and do incredible things. When she was crying on the cloud, I just wanted to give her a hug and tell her everything was going to be okay, because things turned out more than okay, they turned out incredible for her.

Edited March 22, 2013 by AtomicBassCannon

[Just some guy 1,070]

It was a very endearing tale and Snowdrop is so adorable.I wanted to hug her when she was crying. ;A;

 

Animation was great,VA was good for fan-made stuff,and it was very entertaining.However,it didn't make me sad at all.It was bittersweet,sure,but I wasn't gonna choke up anytime soon.

[NavelColt 22,880]

Only just now got around to watching it, after hearing about it all day. Jeez, the feels, man. Very endearing, very well-done, very nice acting, expressions, plot and overall meaning. Nothing short of what I'd expect from SFS <3

[ActFast231 432]

That ending...God it was bittersweet and beautiful. It hurt. Seeing the last stretch hurt. On the inside. Cried (in a manly fashion) at how sad and bittersweet it was. I really want more of Snowdrop. I want to see her life as she helped make winter what it is.

[DeiStar 248]

Plot was generic and cheap feel inducing. I'm sure I've seen a fic or comic about Luna having a friend and then finding out she was long dead after her return, 1000 years later.

 

Animation was pretty neat. Not show-tier, but very good enough for a fanmade project.

 

For me, characters felt bland and unlikeable.

 

It was nice enough. Way better than that OC crappy 20 minute long animation called Dawn Dusk or something.

 

Only animation that will beat it will be Double Rainboom, or 'Brony Memes: The Episode' as I call it.

[Night Shine 767]

Truly, this is the most beautiful thing i have watched experienced in a very long time.

 

I actually shed a tear liquid pride from both eyes at once whilst watching this.

I've heard it said that the first eye you cry from indicates the root emotion that causes that response--left for sorrow; right for joy. Why is it that what happened to me while watching this didn't surprise me? ;~;

 

Oh, also, I made sum fan music inspired by/dedicated to it! :3

 

https://pony.fm/tracks/304-snowdrop-winter-stars

 

(My first song using FL Studio.)

[Staticboom 33]

I have feels of steel, but this made me happy and sad at the same time.

 

The story was well written and the flashback idea is great, the animation just adds to it.

 

Snowdrop was adorable and making her blind was just brilliant, I also loved her mother, even though she didn't really have THAT much to do with the story, you could see how much emotion she produced with her daughter.

 

[Sheogorath 1,155]

I watched this earlier today and I am sad to say I was not that impressed. The story was contrived in how much it tried to be a tearjerker by establishing a character who not only had a physical problem but was also mercilessly penalized for it. Sure the creators know their audience as Bronies all seem to love the underdog characters but this just was not that well written, it could be partly because of time constraints involved in how much a small group of people can animate without burning out or blowing all schedules out the window. 

Regardless of the forced drama and overblown self-narration the animation was good considering all the factors. 

 

There were parts where the quality was evidently low, especially in level of background detail and finish (or lack of rather) and the music seemed a bit lost in the woods in its attempts to fit in the story, jarring it rather by intruding to moments where it would have better suited to be silent. Music and sound direction was definitely the worst part of the video.

 

The Voice actors did a good job except Snowdrop whose performance was too cutesy and tryhard. She should have tried to aim for further clarity and maybe a voice closer to home since she had to act such strong emotions and was the centric character in the production. Now most of my emotional investment was just lost in the cheese and ham that was the voice acting of Snowdrop.

 

All in all if I were to rank this all I would say it was good in overall and definitely a product of passion, but also same time it was definitely not so emotional experience as too many diminishing factors were in place and the conditions depicted as well as resolution of the story were not believable in degree. I'd give it a good 8/10 as fan creation and 6/10 as independent product.

 

The reactions of people are either vastly exaggerated, or everyone gives far too much leniency for ponies. Not that I am saying it is wrong to enjoy this, or similar works like my little Dashie etc.  I am just saying that be honest with yourselves and see the product for its flaws as well as its good sides. That way we can also help those creators to improve their works via feedback and give them better tools and readiness to even better quality products in the future.

Edited March 22, 2013 by Pencils

[Koori 156]

I respect anyone who can create a long flash animation with good quality in it. Having done a flash animation myself (which is not good in terms of quality and is only a minute long), I know how hard it is to create one.

 

That been said, I liked this very much. The story, quality and VA are all good. If there were mistakes or something like that, I didn't notice anything. 

[Toastie 110]

My liquid pride level...it's over 9000! The thing which set me off the most was the music, it was a mix of happiness and sadness at the same time. I also love the design of Snowdrop's mother and the voice for her as well

[Dark Qiviut 22,393]

Finished my review!
 
-
 
This is a fan-made short story about a young filly long ago. In Equestria, winter is one of most cherished and most celebrated seasons. Hearth's Warming Eve celebrates Equestria's history, and Winter Wrap-Up is a merry time to welcome spring. But it wasn't like this previously. Winter was dreaded and not anticipated. The winter never cooperated with the weather team, behaving violently on its own terms. Snowdrop is the fan-made tale detailing its origins of winter's celebration, tracing back to the young filly referenced in the story title.

This short animation is very well-done and accomplished plenty of it right.

• Snowdrop, the filly named in the title, is extremely well-written. Unlike characters in the canon, she is blind, foreshadowed by her opaque pupils, dialogue, and monologue. It's a unique physical flaw that helps her stand out. However, the story never says it so outwardly, a big strength. For one, it focuses less on her disability and more on what could she can do to make her worthy. She never uses it as an excuse. (In the animation, she's a blank flank like the Cutie Mark Crusaders.) Secondly, it gives room in the script for Snowdrop to be treated as an equal by some parts of society, notably her teacher (Mrs. Windith), mother (Primrose), and princesses.
• Because of her blindness, her other senses are highlighted, such as touching and hearing. It's a myth that a blind person's other senses are more enhanced due to blindness, but those who are blind tend to pay more attention to them compared to those who can see. The flashback with Primrose foreshadows this.
• The monologue shows her pain and anger. Throughout her time in the classroom, she is teased and mocked by her classmates, seemingly because her blindness has hindered in her growth. She's happy and safe with her mother, but in school, she feels lonely and ostracized. Because of this, she works solo and tries to hide her anger. The bullying she suffered in her classroom resulted in her losing some of her trust towards Primrose, a common side effect in bullying.
• The origin of the snowflake is extremely believable given the folklore canon we currently have. Equestria is a fantasy fairy tale and uses a lot of mythology and folklore, true or made-up, to correlate with the universe. In the canon, winter is very gentle and welcoming, but in the real world, winter is a mixture of happiness and sorrowing overcast skies. The origin here mixes the two, but in a way that objectively works. Snowflakes are gentle, fragile, and a pleasure to see and analyze. Snowdrop has a fragile conscience, blind, and doesn't know where to go in life. But she has the ability to judge the other three seasons without the need to hold prejudice towards winter. Spring, summer, and fall are celebrated, but winter is shunned; Snowdrop wants winter celebrated, too, and her snowflake is the key to making it memorable.
• The lighting. The color scheme and strokes are in character to the canon, but there's great usage of the lighting to give the anatomy of the characters some depth, examples including young Celestia's tail and the bodies of some of the characters. In the scene where the teacher's class faces the princesses, the shadows are behind them, forcing the viewer to focus on the front layer.
• The musical score fits perfectly with the animation. It's soft and gentle like the snowflakes themselves, and they enhanced the mood of each scene. Without the score, Snowdrop wouldn't be as strong as it currently is.
• The reason why she was chosen is believable and in character of the princesses. Her snowflake wasn't well-shaped, and it wasn't pretty. However, because of her disability, she knew and analyzed things others couldn't. She has another perspective on life because she's blind and wants to spread her gift and eventual lore to future generations. She sensed the snow's shape and used her feather to create something that the princesses could understand and enjoy.
• Luna's eventual friendship with Snowdrop is hinted here. During Snowdrop's last monologue, Luna looked back to recollect. During the intro of the pilot, Luna was described as feeling jealous, sad, and angry that her night was discriminated by the citizens of Equestria. Snowdrop is blind, so she can't visually judge the sun and moon, the day and night. In Snowdrop's point of view, both day and night are equal. This is refreshing for Luna. But the fact that she didn't get the chance to say good-bye after Snowdrop passed away was something that hit her hard. It's tough to say, "good-bye" by itself, but it's difficult without getting the chance to do so personally.
• At the beginning of each winter, one of Snowdrop's original snowflakes is used. It's a great, touching tribute and is a method of commemorating her legacy. Without her influence, winter wasn't celebrated. The fact that Celestia (and Luna following her return) kept her original snowflake until the very end shows how much she meant to them and especially Luna.
• The last line before the credits is very powerful, touching, and a respectful gesture to Snowdrop's legacy long after her death. Celestia and Luna used all of her snowflakes, but always kept the original to honor her. One thing can make a difference, and her snowflake (plus the room it's kept in) shows prestigious love, honor, and respect the princesses had for her. But even with her final snowflake dumped, Snowdrop's legacy will always be remembered by them.

That said, there are some things that could've been done to make the animation more fluent, something I don't really expect to be revised because exporting revisions can take hours to finish (and with high-resolution imagery, it's a nightmare).

• One of the scenes really lagged, something the animators know personally. I have no idea why that happened, but I'm going to assume that it lagged because of programming and exporting issues.
• There is some clipping of the anatomy. In one of the scenes, when Luna hunches a bit, Celestia's front part of the wing hovered for a moment before moving down to appear one piece.
• Some of the microphones sounded like they are a bit muffled. However, fan-animations don't have the budget that professional production normally has, and this one is a minor quip, so this is very forgivable.
• A more personal touch, but I would've loved to see the fanon friendship between Luna and Snowdrop developed and focused on, even if it's other animations, fanfiction, music, and fanart. There's a lot of potential to show their closeness, eventual folklore, and relationship between them, especially after Nightmare Moon was sealed on the moon.

Despite these small flaws, this doesn't deter Snowdrop from being a high-quality fan-animation short story. It isn't as cheery as it is more historical in the form of fanon, but fan-animations don't need to confine with that compared to the actual professional product. This team has worked on this project for up to a year, and it is a year well-spent. This is a great starting point, and the people at Silly Filly Studios really learned a lot about animation as a result of Snowdrop. It's well-written, well-composed, and has a very relatable and likeable lead character. Well done!

Edited March 22, 2013 by Dark Qiviut

[simba86 1,541]

it was so awesome i almost cried! i loved it! the only minor flaw i saw is it looked like celestia's hair was solid pink in one scene then normal in the other. still it was very sweet and cute!

[ActFast231 432]

it was so awesome i almost cried! i loved it! the only minor flaw i saw is it looked like celestia's hair was solid pink in one scene then normal in the other. still it was very sweet and cute!

Her hair is solid pink because the story, and by extension, the time in which Snowdrop is alive, is before Nightmare Moon, 1000 years ago. So it wasn't until Nightmare Moon that Celestia got her flowing mane.

[Arcus (Silver Lining) Wind 983]

I really enjoyed this film, as it seems many others did to. I really hope to see more of Snow Drop and the other projects from Silly Filly Studios. I'm sure other artist can do a much better job of capturing the amazingness of this story, but i wanted to share what little I can do. I know it's kind of crappy quality just click on it to see it better.

 

Edited March 22, 2013 by Arcus (Silver Lining) Wind

[simba86 1,541]

Her hair is solid pink because the story, and by extension, the time in which Snowdrop is alive, is before Nightmare Moon, 1000 years ago. So it wasn't until Nightmare Moon that Celestia got her flowing mane.

that makes sence, also i get why her eyes are glazed over, because she is blind, before i watched it i thought she just had very light eyes, it was really sweet and touching,

[TheEngineer 188]

Amazing animation...no, this is not a mere animation, this is an episode! Seriously, am I the only one who thinks this beats out many of the regular MLP episodes. Hasbro, DHX: HIRE THESE PEOPLE! The episode was touching, well-animated, heart-warming, and did an exceptional job creating a character and giving her a simple and fulfilling backstory in the course of a minute or two. Seriously, well done, bravo to the creators! You are an inspiration to the entire fandom!

[Champion RD92 8,658]

That was pretty good

 

I found it interesting how Celestia and Luna both changed in appearance after all those years.

 

Also, is it just me, or did that one pony remind anyone of Diamond Tiara? I mean the one in Snowdrop's class.

[FoxyCryptid 4,330]

I loved it, It reminded me of old Christmas specials. 

 

Considering I went into it with a bias from the source that posted it to facebook, fully expecting it to be Lifetime movie bullshit, I was amazed with it. The fact it's up to par with studio done stuff is amazing. 

 

It got a little tear out of me at the end too. 

Edited March 23, 2013 by Shoboni

[Ace-skylight 11]

I usually watch fan-videos for the heck of it but this was seriously different Snow Drop was adorable and the ending it got me tearing up especially the snowflake landing on the flower at the end

[dekutree64 713]

Have I ever mentioned how much I love this fandom? That was incredible I hope the official show creators are able to incorporate this into canon without copyright issues... it fits so perfectly. The Windigo winter was of course terrible, so it makes sense that winter would be especially dreaded after that. And I've always wondered how they would explain snow in natural weather regions like the Everfree, if flake-making was done by hoof. But with this, natural snow is just little fluff balls, but ponies can craft it into wish-granting stars. Such a lovely concept.

 

I also love the subtle reference of how Snowdrop wanted the ponies to appreciate all seasons and not shun winter... just like they had been shunning Luna's night. If only there had been another pony with Snowdrop's vision to rectify that as well, before Luna couldn't take it anymore

 

This is the kind of thing I've been wanting for a long time, seeing more of the non-violent moments in Celestia and Luna's past. I do hope the show creators use the flat pink and blue manes for young Celestia and Luna like this if they ever do anything similar. Not only does it help keep clear on what time period you're watching, it makes it more likely that Twilight is immortal now, and just won't get her flowing mane for a few hundred more years.

 

That ending was quite bittersweet. As others have said in this thread, I'd love to see more of Snowdrop's life. How many snowflakes did she make? I wonder if they used to release hundreds to kick off winter every year. But probably after her death, it became tradition to release just one... and maybe they ran out long ago, but Celestia has been saving that original flake for when Luna would return, to remember her old friend.

[Concord 1,982]

Hello!

 

Oh my... I don't know what to say... I never expected it would hit me so much... This was amazing, and the story... The story!!

 

 

i need a hug!

[kain17 88]

i found this video by chance. i didnt know what i was getting into when i watched it and i was impressed. i just love how it displayed the story. the characters were amazingly done. the animation was flawless. i had to watch it twice because the first time i was so drawn into the story that it ended before i realized it. i just love this video and i will be showing it to my friends when i get a chance. amazing job to the creators. this is now one of my favorite videos.

[Night Shine 767]

i need a hug!

<canterlock>

A FRIEND IS IN NEED OF A HUG?! WE SHALT BESTOW THESE NECESSARY HUGGLES UPON THEE, GOOD FELLOW AND FRIEND! :U

</canterlock>

 

 

 

 

Here you go :3

Are you feeling any better? D:

 

 

[RockinRarity 1,605]

I liked it. But I do not feel nearly as emotional about this as most people seem to be. There is good, but there are flaws.

 

The good:

I think that Celestia and Luna were the best parts of this short. Seeing them as they looked in the past versus how they look now was pretty dang cool.

 

I enjoyed the ending as well. Celestia and Luna interacting about Snowdrop 1000 years later and Luna lamenting over the loss of her friend was the one moment in the short that I was really touched by.

 

The animation was fabulous. It looked so much like the show. Very, very impressive.

 

I think that the story itself was cute.

 

The flaws:

Some of the microphones were definitely muffled, particularly the teacher's. Not that I really expect a fan-made work to have 100% professional sound quality, but since I am not a sound quality type person, I think that if I can tell that sound quality is muffled, then she needs to save some money, get a better microphone, and record in a silent place, or someone should invest in a good sound editor (or learn to use Audacity to its fullest capacity) and get the white noise out.

 

The dialogue (or monologue) lasted for way too long a couple of times. One was when the teacher kept asking Snowdrop if she found a partner and the consequences of that (in front of the class!!) and the other time was when Snowdrop presented her gift to the princesses. She kept repeating herself and I felt myself thinking, "Get on with it! We know what you are saying!" I understand that little kids are like that sometimes, but it doesn't make for good screenplay.

 

And I do agree that Snowdrop's cutesy woostey feel sorry for me ways were a bit contrived... if it had been a tad more subtle and not presented so much in the dialogue (I think that if kids in her class make fun of her and never want to be her partner, we get that her life sucks. Snowdrop doesn't have to monologue it) then it would have been better.

 

Maybe that is exactly what this story is lacking. Subtlety. I feel like whenever people are not subtle in stories, the creators are treating the audience like they are stupid and they wouldn't know what was going on unless someone told them what was going on.

 

Oh. Yeah, this story broke the number one rule of creative writing: Show, don't tell.

 

All in all, I think that for a fan animation this was pretty great, and I appreciate the hard work that was put into it. However, I hope that all the praise that they are receiving does not make them believe that they cannot do better.