The Monad
Zach from Lit Fuse Films tipped me to this film yesterday with the following line: “prepare yourself, for the flooring of a lifetime.” Being that Zach has himself floored me a number of times, I strapped on my crash helmet and headed over to the FacePunch Studios forums to the thread he indicated.
What I found was The Monad, described by its creator as “a paranoid vision of our future in the face of The Network.” It’s a very timely social commentary wrapped in an intriguing - if at times a little confusing - story and setting, and told via some astonishingly good Faceposer work with good VO performances to back it up. I’m not ready to gush and say it’s the Best Faceposer Movie Evar!!!, because it’s not without its weaknesses (sound mix in particular). But where it’s good, it’s mighty darn good and certainly raises the bar of character expression in machinima. The lipsync is flawless, the facial expressions are magnificent… but where this film really shines is in use of body language. Some amazing moments in that regard.
(If you hear of any other download / streaming mirrors becoming available, let me know and I’ll link to them here.)
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This is, without any doubt in my mind, best HL2 movie I ever saw, and one of the best Machinima’s there is. Quite next to my favourite of all times “The Day After”.
This guy knows a lot; how to work with actors, how to move camera, how to plan sequence, where to cut and why.
I am seriously impressed and thanks god that from time to time somebodies movie quest isn’t to mimic “real” movie, but to make something with awareness of media and form he use.
Thank you Phil, very pleasant surprise.
Comment by Tom — April 1, 2008 @ 11:24 am
Yes, the character animations and facial expressions are truly wonderful. Remarkable, in fact. I’m also partial to the voice performers as well. Some really great work there. Sam, the director, did a superb job of creating a unique style to fit the story. The shot where the the camera pans off into the sky and it becomes a video game is beautiful. Reminded me of a Wong Kar Wai film. When you see work this good, it is an inspiration.
Comment by Ricky Grove — April 1, 2008 @ 12:53 pm
Wow! That was very impressive. The cinematography and virtual performances were some of the best I’ve ever seen in a machinima. Truly shows the power of FacePoser. The voice acting was also very good.
Comment by Nefarious Guy — April 1, 2008 @ 1:04 pm
@Tom: “Thank you Phil, very pleasant surprise.”
You’re welcome, my friend. I hope this helps make up for our rough April 1 last year.
Comment by Overman — April 1, 2008 @ 1:25 pm
That was truly magnificent. What really did it for me was the film’s aesthetic and overall grittiness. The world just looked dark and dank and in need of reform. The look he chose and the way it was juxtaposed with the theme really made the visuals speak as much as the characters. Excellent cinematography too – there are just too many great shots to mention. The one from about 11:28-11:33 was my favorite. It was beautiful. Dark and grimy and then through the door and it’s suddenly bright – an epiphany and another example where the visuals are a metaphor to the plot. It would have required a lot of equipment, time, and forethought to duplicate with an actual camera in real life and it’s interesting to see it featured in a movie with this kind of theme. Kind of a bitter sweet sort of thing; the condemnation of society’s obsession with the virtual but a shot that embraced what the virtual can accomplish that “RL” can’t in a way that is comparably effortless. I don’t know where I’m going with this… I just thought it was an awesome shot.
Shame about the audio and the noise with the voiceovers, but I thought the acting was terrific. The lip syncing was right on too, and that’s why it was a shame to see that brief amount of clipping at about 4:27. In any other movie I likely wouldn’t have noticed it, but this movie was so damn perfect all the way around that that little bit seemed to stand out. The music was great as well. Damn. This is one I need to watch a few more times to take in all of it!
Comment by kradproductions — April 2, 2008 @ 10:53 pm