- Machinima.com: Faceposer Video Tutorials - An ongoing series, taking it from the beginning.
- Carlos Baena: Amazing list of animation resources - Thanks, Spline Doctors.
- NextGen: The Value of a Good Writer - Talked about in the context of video games, but has great machinima relevance.
- BoingBoing: Reviewing the Real World as if it were a MMO - Funny stuff. For some reason makes me think of one of the essays in Eco’s Misreadings, the one with the publisher’s rejection letters for works of classic literature.
- Pineapple Chunks: Machinima and a Second Life - Seems like filmmaker who gives a serious look to SL (i.e. beyond the red light districts) comes to this kind of conclusion.
- VFX World: The Digital Eye: Gaming as the Driving Technological Force - My friends at Bioware will love this one.
- Cinemassively: Avatar Puppeteering possibly coming to Second Life in 2008 - A dream come true for those who prefer a hermit approach. Interested in this digital puppetry topic? Check out Andrew’s Machin-X blog devoted to just that.
- Motionographer: Lo-Fi Tron - Nice mix of stop motion with live action.
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If you didn’t catch it when it was on last Fall, FX Network premiered one of the most engaging television series I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching. Damages, starring Glenn Close (and a startlingly good villain performance by Ted Danson), is masterful storytelling at its best.
I’m really hesitant to talk much about it for fear of spoiling the joy of the ride. If you enjoy a good suspense / drama, I think you’ll really like this series. And you’ll know if you like it or not after watching the first 30 minutes. Myself, I was hooked from that point forward, and made sure my DVR never missed an episode.
Engaging modern cinematographic style, and a hauntingly effective soundtrack, bolstered by some really great on screen performances… yet even so, story - and the manner in which they chose to reveal that story - was still king.
You can find the DVD on Amazon (and they even offer a video download version too), or you can already rent it via Netflix. I can’t recommend it enough.
If you intend to watch this, I really suggest avoiding any and all spoilers for the best possible experience. If you’re unafraid of SPOILERS, feel free to peruse the Wikipedia article for the series, or (SPOILER HEAVY) this review at The Critical Lass.
If you see it (or saw it), let me know what you think. Am I right about how good this is?
I first met Ron via my website logs a year or so ago, strange as that may sound. I’d been perusing the list of referring sites by which people were coming to the overcast, and I noticed a site I didn’t recognize. What I found was Griddlecakes Radio, Ron’s well-produced family-friendly podcast. His theme? Storytelling in an audio medium. Once I heard his description of an encounter with a Homeowners’ Association, which hit very close to home at the time, I was hooked. I tune in to Griddlecakes now whenever I can. It’s a very different style than I do on my show - a lot more polish and professionalism, and a bit of a more formal structure and feel - but I enjoy listening to someone who is good at what they do, and obviously takes so much pride in his work.
I first met Ron (in any kind of interactive way) on Facebook just a few weeks ago, where we were pleasantly surprised to discover ourselves to be mutual fans of each others’ podcasts and each others’ blogs. (Ron’s blog is called Ron Amok, where he delves into the issues related to new media’s impact on business, marketing, and life.) His interest in machinima is very much an extension of his interest in democratized storytelling.
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The online animated series, Afterworld (which I first wrote about here) has now reached the halfway point in it’s 130-episode post-apocalyptic journey. After what was perceived as a shaky start while distribution issues were sorted out, which had some fans bristling, the creators of Afterworld stated at the end of August that they would be releasing daily (5 days a week) episodes until the series completion. It’s a big commitment, and one which I’d never seen made by an online series of any kind, much less honored. But apart from a few minor hiccups (again related to distribution challenges) they have kept their word, and the only major hiatus in that release schedule came this week - at the fans’ request. People wanted an opportunity to catch up on the story so far, so the producers decided to take one week off to let them do so.
The secret to being able to perform this kind of release schedule? It’s no big secret, actually; it’s something television has been doing for decades. Your production is being completed WAY before it’s time to release. In Afterworld’s case, they were scheduled to finish production on episodes 121-130 yesterday, though the release date for those is months away.
I am happy to report that the strong storytelling I observed in the early episodes has continued throughout the series to-date. We follow the travels of Russell Shoemaker, a man who wakes up one day in New York to find 99% of the human population has disappeared, and all modern technology has been rendered useless by some kind of inexplicable worldwide event. He sets about on a journey from New York to Seattle, Washington - on foot - in hopes of reuniting with his family… if they, too, survived.
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