Really well done Half-Life 2 machinima work by Pixel Eyes Productions. This is the kind of stuff I imagine Lit Fuse Films doing nowadays if they were still at it as indies. This isn't the same storytelling style as Ian Chisholm or Sam Goldwater so a direct comparison is difficult. But this is right at that same level of production, for sure. Even better in some ways; amazing what a good Post (After Effects) person can add to a film. And the level of expression they get from these characters is second to none.
Not perfect, but some exceptional filmmaking going on here. Why is it the crews with outrageously good Faceposers, editors, cinematographers, voice actors, (even musicians!), etc. rarely seem to hook up with outrageously good sound engineers? I can't help but think what this film would be with a Ricky Grove on board. I mean, there are FAR FAR worse sound mixes out there in narrative machinima... but other than a few less-than-ideal edit choices and overdoing it just a bit on the shakycam, sound is the one area where this film is merely above average. Some very nice choices in sounds, but the mix could be so much more.
Still, it's one of the best machinima pieces I've seen. Like, maybe ever. Enjoy. I'm embedding here, but if your PC can handle YouTube's HD, I strongly recommend clicking through to experience it that way.
NOTE: Contains adult language, violence.
See Also:
I'll say. Sound could have been better, but it takes time to get good at sound and with all the other technical problems to be solved, I think it was probably low on the list. As you say, it's average and there are no real problems (one of the actors should get a pop-filter though). The voice acting was good and I enjoyed the opening titles very much.
Really excellent work. This is a new machinima team worth watching.
[...] Stor takk til Nils Magnus som gjorde meg oppmerksom på den via Overman’s Blog. [...]
Thanks so much for posting our film Overman!
And thank you to everybody who watched it and gave us valuable feedback, we really appreciate it.
This was our first film and we did all the parts from mapping to skinning to sound, editing, lighting etc. It was a non-stop learning process and we definitely learned a lot! Since it is just the two of us we had to stretch to cover all the areas we wanted to cover. We hope to only improve on all aspects as we continue and the best way for us to do that is to receive great feedback from the community so thanks again for that!
We are excited that the community is posting and discussing Shelf Life. We appreciate people taking time to share and discuss our work. We read all comments and really consider how we can work on suggested areas.
We will only try to improve as we go. Thank you!
[...] yesterday’s impossible-to-top Source machinima work, here’s yet another example of the expressive power of that engine brought to you by World of [...]
@James - Thanks for coming by and commenting! Shelf Life is a stunning achievement for a two-person team, truly. And to have a lot of it be learn as you go, really amazing, you'd never know that from watching. Keep up the good work, we all look forward to seeing what you do with this particular story, and as filmmakers in general.
Fantastic work, very professional. I'm definitely looking forward to future episodes! Films like this constantly inspire me to push harder in my own work.
great stuff for sure! but alas, we've been down this road... ;)
I think the main reason why this is impressive is because they succeeded in telling a good STORY. And they did it with style, but that's only icing on the cake.
nice movie. glad to see them make HL2 look a little more contemporary. they really made garry's mod work well for them. loved the shot under the water, the rack focus and the editing of the fight scene during the dream sequence. even the shot of the doc limping up the ladder. looks like all the animation was achieved by dragging around the ragdoll. only thing that was out of place was the Wilhelm scream. they should have picked something less comical.
as for not hooking up with some sound masters.... well, i think that while the net and machinima makes for a great collaborative environment, i love the fact that machinima is mostly a DIY kind of art form. part of the joy of creating machinima, for me anyway, is learning all of the different disciplines and the sense of satisfaction you get when you finally post your vision on the net.
sometimes you gotta build a name for yourself before people will want to work with you. i think they just did.
thanks for the find Overman.
-r
Post new comment