Looking for the Truth

I've been working on a machinima project using Moviestorm 1.2. It's the most ambitious piece of machinima I've made to date, involving voice actors and a proper script. The finished piece has a running time of fourteen minutes. I'll be submitting it as an entry for the 2010 MachinExpo, as well as entering a subtitled version in the Stars and Storm competition on TheMovies.fr.

Here's the teaser text interspersed with some production stills:

Harris wakes up naked, scratched and bruised in an abandoned house.

He tells Bengie, his flatmate, that he can't remember much about the night before.

Meanwhile, Amber's friend Jessica appears to be missing.

Is there a connection?

Bengie and Amber want to know what happened.

They're all looking for the truth ...

 

The film can be viewed on Vimeo: http://vimeo.com/14088489
Here's a link to the version with subtitles: http://vimeo.com/14221744

It contains nudity and strong language.

Machinima Expo 2009 - Map and Schedule

A map of the site is available on the expo site at machiniplex.net/expo, along with a schedule of screening times. Click the image above for a larger version. Click the image below to open the schedule as a PDF.

Machinima Expo 2009

Click on the image to open a link to the Facebook group associated with the event. More information about the Machinima Expo is available here: http://machiniplex.net/expo

Alternatively, you can click on the following SLurl to go to the Second Life location if you have Second Life installed: http://slurl.com/secondlife/ucsville/141/124/25

Second Life can be downloaded (for free) from http://secondlife.com/support/downloads.php

Machinima Expo 2009 - Student Showreel

Nicole Small created a great promo piece for the Machinima Expo that's taking place at UCSville in Second Life on 22nd November 2009. Another of Nicole’s machinima pieces will be showing at the festival, as part of the UCS student showreel. The showreel includes the following works:

Ben Deakin, When Mr Deff Comes Calling

Alexandra Burnell, The Tell-Tale Heart

Mark McLaughlin and David Hunter, S.P.A.Z.

Aaron Giles, American Beauty

Alan Salmon, Soldiers of War: Tribute

Aaron Bridgeforth, Dante Vein Interview

Nicole Small, Carmilla

It’s great that these pieces will be seen by an international audience along with some of the most exciting and cutting-edge machinima around. A full list of the films in the running for prizes can be seen here:

http://machiniplex.net/expo/films-screening-at-the-expo/

As well as the film festival itself, and the associated awards to be given by a panel of judges, there’ll be other things going on too, such as discussion panels, Q&A sessions with machinima directors, presentations and various exhibits and stands (it’ll be a bit like the Latitude festival, except it won’t be in a field).

Of particular note is a presentation called “Which Machinima Engine For You?”, which will be of interest to those who want to get started in machinima and who might be wondering which game to use (did I mention machinima is the art of making films using games technology?)

Another highpoint will be an installation featuring the work of machinimator Lainy Voom. Her wesbite is here: http://www.voom-machine.com/

Meanwhile, if you have two minutes to spare, spend them watching her recent film, Push, which was screened at the Cambridge Film Festival.

Where Worlds Collide - Machinima Expo 2009

Nicole Small, currently in the final year of her BA (Hons) degree in Film and Media Studies at UCS, created a marvelous short promo for the forthcoming Machinima Expo 2009. There's Sims 2, Second Life, and what looks like a bit of Quake III Arena/Machinimation 1 and World of Warcraft all in a glorious green-screened melange of machinima. I particularly like the way a poster advertising the event is just in the background in one of the shots.

Where Worlds Collide:

machinima, Nicole Small, Second Life, ucs, UCSville

Machinima Expo 2009

I was in Second Life last week for a meeting with various people involved with the upcoming Machinima Expo. Toward the end of the meeting my avatar started to move around oddly and I ended up having to fly around in order to try and regain control. Before things got odd, I took a few snaps of the assembly and post them here. Clicking on one of the small images will open a bigger version on Flickr.