Peter Rasmussen (Nanoflix Productions) and I have decided to host a monthly audio conference for machinima directors. The intention is to create a casual environment where like minds can kick around ideas and share their experiences.
The audio conference will be held on the last Saturday of every month at midnight Greenwich Mean Time (London time). That’s 9am Saturday on the East Coast of Australia, 4pm Friday Pacific Time, and 7pm Friday on the Eastern Time Zone. I know it’s late for those of you in Europe, and absurdly early for much of Asia, but it’s the best solution we could come up with to truly span the globe with this thing.
Daylight Saving Time can sometimes create confusion, so when in doubt, Greenwich Mean Time will be our anchor point. Check the World Time Server to determine the precise time in your area.
The first audio conference will be Saturday 29th September Midnight London time. All machinima creators are welcome.
For this first meeting, we will be using Skype, and the conference will span a conference call as well as a text chat - so even if you don’t yet have a headset for Skype, feel free to come join in the chat.
In the future, we’ll be looking at some other options which enable larger groups to participate in the voice side of thing. Second Life is an obvious one to consider, and some other options out there. We’ll keep you posted as the venue evolves in the future.
I remember the first time I watched The Ill Clan’s Apartment Huntin’, and laughed out loud at the conversation between the real estate agent and Larry. If the mention of Dukakis wasn’t enough, the obscure philosophical references put it over the top. That whole conversation and sequence, up through “… but I can dance!” remains one of the most effective comedy scenes I’ve ever seen in machinima. That was probably my key moment when I realized the potential of this thing called machinima (before it was called that, of course).
I remember the first time I watched Todd Stallkamp’s The Fixer, remarking in an episode of the overcast that I liked it so much, and felt it raised the bar of expectations so much, that in a way it ruined my enjoyment of most machinima thereafter. In the same way that seeing the mastery of a David Fincher makes it harder to sit through a Blake Edwards film. The Fixer was just so fresh, so modern, so sexy. It quite literally gave me goosebumps.
I remember the first time I watched The Tyrant. It was the first time a machinima film actually made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It was a genuinely creepy experience. And, as such, a wonderful gift from its director.
This week came another defining moment in my machinima viewing experience… (more…)
The new artist pages feature at Renderosity is inspirational, as is their thriving community. I would love to see the machinima community one day come together in this kind of way, in meaningful discussion and sharing which transcend the boundaries we’ve constructed (or allowed to persist) between subcommunities around specific games. Renderosity is a great example of what a united community can do. I’m sure they’ve got their share of trolls/griefers to deal with, and I’m not saying they’re perfect, because they’re not. But immersed in diversity, awash in 1001 reasons to fragment… they thrive. There’s commerce, there are tutorials out the wazoo, a colossal array of fora, it’s really amazing.
These R&C posts are my “link purge” posts, where I deliver bullet-style info for items which I don’t intend to cover as individual articles. Previous Ralph & Chuck: Number 1.
PubFilms Screenplay Competition Now Open. Entrants accepted from any country. $35 per screenplay entry fee; Grand Prize: $25,000 plus your script is produced into a full-length feature film. (Found out via SecondLife)
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