Lego Vs Combine

Strange and wonderful, changes of focus really interesting, tilt-shift head mangling, made me smile.

Curling up with Moviestorm, and Reading a few Blogs

After the mind expanding intense experience of co-organising the Expo last year, I've found it refreshing to curl back into a single engine ball, and focus on one thing at a time..well movie makers never have ONE thing to think of, but the parameters feel more defined at least.

So I've been spending my time at Moviestorm, and viewing the Machinima world from a creator's point of view again.
All machinima engines have their advantages, and disadvantages, and Moviestorm, with its lipsynch and easy character direction system, feels focused towards writers of drama.

Another thing I appreciate about Moviestorm is its purpose built nature, no Sims wrangling..no you can't go to the toilet we're filming!..and the level of support given by staff and other users.
This support extends beyond endless 'where do I put my oojah when my thingummy goes purple' queries, and moves into the territory of educating and motivating users to create better films.

This year I have been particularly enjoying Matt Kelland's series of articles, posted both on the moviestorm Blog site, and on Facebook. At least half the posts are relevant to machinima, and filmmaking in general. The easiest way to follow the posts is just to click 'Like' on the Moviestorm Facebook page, and then follow up any links in your newsfeed which interest you.
If you'd like to look back at the archive check out the side bar on this page.
..and while you have your reading specs on, I mentioned Hugh Hancock's Guerilla Showrunner http://guerillashowrunner.com/ blog in a previous post, this week's post is pure gold How to kill those time Vampires.. it inspired me to start a list.

I'll leave you with my first ever encounter with those secret second life shadows, yeah to the new pc & up to date graphic card!

Needs some fiddling around with light settings to get best effect, but still smiling in delight to see them at all!

A Movie Studio in your Backpack

After a long period of downsizing and reconsidering lifestyles, I am once again attempting to return to Machinima in a more simple form. My wife and I are also preparing for a lengthy road trip (at least 6 months, possibly more) around North America. My downsizing, via digital packing, has made me wonder if it is possible to just chuck the entire house and endless stuff in it. Finally live a Gypsy dream. A Happy Wanderer with a backpack on my back. With the advances in technology, there is no reason a person can't work and stay in touch with others and never have to be at home or in an office.

That brings me to Machinima in a bag. I have now downsized my tools to an iTouch 4, Asus UL30V laptop, two 1.5GB external hard drives and a Mifi device to connect to the Internet anywhere cell phone service is available. So far I have not found a program or service that can't work under these conditions. The implications for doing and creating work from the open road are endless. The real problem is not letting all the juicy alternative choices for things to do derail attempts in filmmaking. Time will tell.

Want Some Advice & Inspiration From Experienced Machinimators?

What do you need to get you going with a moviestorm project? Check out Moviestorm CoPilot and post your requests on their Facebook Wall. This new project was created by the multi-talented duo of Phil Rice, and DL Watson, both well known within the machinima community for their film making and innovative approach to web communication.
Submit your feedback now and your issue might be tackled by the team.If your topic is chosen expect a meticulous and thoughtful response, these guys are good!


Not sure where to start publicising your web series? Check out Machinima for Dummies author Hugh Hancock's new blog. Guerilla Showrunner
He's asking for your input for future topics, and his enthusiastic approach is infectious.

Stuck for ideas, want to see what's possible with some dedication and commitment to machinima story telling, why not kick back and watch Decorgal's ground breaking Adventures in Dating series?
The complete set of episodes is now available on Vimeo . If you are unfamiliar with sims movie making, you will probably miss the amount of modding and adaption that went into making this series look so smooth running, it's an amazing achievement. If you like what you see, why not download the full HD set of episodes from http://www.decorgal.com/

Have Ipad Will Travel - the large and the small

Mike is gearing up for his long trip around the states, and plans to test many gadgets and ways of communicating as he goes. We've been testing, and his Ipad has proved very capable of holding video skype conversations, and of many other useful tasks.

My new PC should arrive tomorrow, amongst great rejoicing! It's a thumping great thing and the males in my family are currently in dispute about who will be sawing the extra lumps out of the pc wardrobe in order to accommodate it's largess and heat emissions.
As Mike miniaturises I seem to be expanding. He hasn't abandoned processing power, just rearranged how he does things, and made everything possible portable.

I think he is on trend though, when we surveyed what was on offer at Dell pc-wise it was obvious that there was much less choice in desktops than a few years ago. Unless you really need a behemoth then most folks seem to be heading either to laptop country, or smaller, and you can do most things on a smaller unit.

Maybe by the time I come to replace the new arrival, technology will have reduced in size for all machines. For now, I'm moving in the opposite direction. Someone had better find that saw soon!

Up Yours Miss Hawaii, and Machinima.com

I hope she doesn't take it personally, but when Miss Ashley Layfield fluttered down from the top of the wardrobe and accused me of not following through on my 2010 goal of 'learning the ukulele' she found me in unreceptive mood.
In fact, the phrase 'massively grumpy' could have easily flowed from her cardboard lips, and been thought accurate.
There's something about the accumulated weight of a month's worth of snow which sharpens the complainitve powers, despite the recent thaw.
I am motivated to change those parts of the world which, though fairly trivial in some respects, irritate me most, the world views which are clearly insane, or at least make no sense from here.
For instance, Marks and Spencer believe that all women over a certain size have the same length of leg, or at least they seem, as a corporate entity to think that 'medium' will do, whereas slimmer consumers are allowed more variance in stature.
I would like them to believe otherwise.
Our Internet provider thinks that it is perfectly acceptable for customers to pay for 50mbs of bandwidth, whilst supplying 0.5. I'm seeking to disillusion them.
My grocery store is happy that, having ordered a selection of festive fayre 3 weeks in advance, it is then perfectly OK to run out of everything on the list, leaving us with a Christmas menu which lacked a certain seasonal flavour. I disagree.
Our local GPs surgery appointments system is working towards the standard of patients planning their illnesses three weeks in advance, in order to maximise efficiency. I am at odds with this outlook.
Meanwhile, our local council maintain the error of judgement that it is more important to conserve grit stocks than to keep roads open during inclement weather. I find myself unable to fall in with this casual stance.
So when it became clear that machinima.com have the notion that it is quite ok to allow sexual insults and derogatory remarks to be left unmoderated on featured videos they found me in a non-conciliatory mood.
This isn't my video.
..but it has been made by a member of the Moviestorm community, of which I feel a part.
For some reason the 'youtube is full of fourteen year olds there's nothing you can do' statements bandied about by many seemed no longer to apply.
Maybe I am seeing things differently, or maybe the recent cold front has knocked some sense into me.
There will always be those who look for unmoderated venues to show off, to post their hateful comment graffiti and to generally behave in a manner which lies outside accepted social behaviour.
These are angry wee people with more venom than sense.
Each generation kicks up a new batch, and eventually, if they are lucky, life finds a way to set boundaries, or knock some sense of respect into the lost souls.
The endless supply means that dealing with each individual isn't practical, and they will always find some venue to express their self-centred world view.
For some unknown reason this assault and battery has somehow been thought inevitable by Machinima directors.
The truth is that it only flourishes where it is allowed to do so, and enough is enough.
Machinima directors are not punch bags, obliged to take vile insults in order to have their work seen by a wider audience.
If machinima.com wish to derive income from the hard work and creative endeavour of essentially amateur filmmakers then they have a duty of care to provide a an environment which is safe from verbal violence.
This is easy to manage, and non negotiable.
It's time for a change of attitude.