In addition to soaking up some extra post-BloodSpell family time over the past few weeks, I’ve also been soaking up some Robert McKee. For those of you out there who are seeking to master the craft of screenplay writing, I highly recommend McKee’s book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting. It is proving to be a fantastic study and perspective on successful storytelling principles. Thank you, Hugh Hancock, for referring me to it… as I recall, right after I’d just poo-poo’d the “structured” approach to storytelling. Ah well, shoe tastes okay once you’re used to it.
Canada, fast becoming the Holy Land for machinimators, recently saw a pilgrimage visit from Michelle and Kheri, allowing them to meet in person for the first time. Pretty neat to meet someone in person whom you’ve known online for a time. I trust they’re having a grand time up there, sounds like they are.
What’s with Canada, anyway? Lately, it’s like Putin snatching up oil fields, Canada’s predeliction for machinima talent. In all seriousness, though, it will be exciting to see what comes of the Thain-Perry-Moller combo, along with whomever else they manage to enlist at the Hall of Justice.
This week I have been digging into Sims 2 modification, using SimPE and some fantastic tutorials over at ModTheSims2.com. I’m amazed at how easy it has been to learn object recoloring; makes me wonder why I waited so long to look into this.
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The next release I have planned is my first music video. I ended up revising the “story” over the holidays, as I wasn’t convinced the prior structure would work to convey what I want. I’m now very happy with the new plan, in which I also decided to get a bit more ambitious with “special effects” shots. There have been so many countless machinima music videos, I really wanted this to be one which would stand out from the pack… and hopefully, show folks some things they haven’t yet seen, or at least don’t see very often. In homage to the roots of machinima tradition, this involves a whole lot of tricking the game engine (or going around its limits) to pull off the effect I want. Shot list is ready, I start real filming today. This article and this one are really going to be helpful in getting a footage quality which goes beyond MRE. So thanks Todd and Tsaxman!
The other project on the immediate horizon, which some of you already know about, is a mini-series. (more…)
Would you permit me to go a bit off-topic here and relieve a bit of post-holiday family frustration?
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Father Frags Best (the full film) is now available in a variety of conventional video formats and sizes. You can even watch it streaming, courtesy of Stage6. Here’s the links:
Watch It (DivX streaming)
The full page for the film (with download mirrors, comment functionality, and a few screenies by way of Flickr). Subtitles (English) are in progress and will be there soon. Edit: Subtitles are now available.
Happy New Year!
