Who Is? .....and The Land Down Under

Im toying with the idea for a future production.  Liked the way this came out.

Furthermore...Sewers?  Good stuff to be seen on the interweb.  Nice lighting eh?

All photos from : http://www.undercity.org/_Prints/aqueducts_undergroundrivers_sewers.html

A look at the 2011 MachinExpo Films - Part 2

Continuing through the screening films, here are two more that I enjoyed profusely:





Pixilated Truth by ArbitDelacroix  - "Pop Art Lab music video contest entry for Giana Factory's Pixelated Truth"


This music video is a perfect example of the of the power of SL as a machinima tool.  The character models are wonderful, the motions are effective, the editing is excellent and the end result is something you might see on a bigger medium than Youtube.  Catchy song.


It strikes me that I have seen more effective and memorable music videos made in second life than any other platform.  And not for lack of trying as Iclone is constantly being used in this genre.  Perhaps there's an inherent glossiness in SL that works well for music videos.  Perhaps its a difference in the way the directors film (and I do believe there are basic general differences in the way programs teach/influence the director to shoot things).  Perhaps its just my bias.  Something to ponder. 





Transmission by Ed Lie - "A lone astronaut, miles from home."


The majority of machinima shorts that I watch lack a defining moment.  I reach the end of the movie and pass judgement upon the productions strengths and weaknesses to determine where it stands among other machinima shorts that I have seen.  There are plenty of good shorts that have no moment.  they are cohesive and perhaps even thought provoking.  But the kind of moment I'm talking about is one that is bigger than the movie itself.


Occasionally there is one with an aha moment, or a moment of genuine humor or sadness that tends to pull me out of the screen for a moment and makes me evaluate what I have just seen.  Transmission has such a moment.  Stylish and mysterious this moment changes the environment that Transmission works within but leaves the definition of the new environment blurry.  Lets call it a "wait.....uh...what?"  moment.  While this may sound like a detriment it actually works incredibly well and makes Transmission truly memorable.  


I would not have been suprised to see Transmission as a jury finalist.  Crazy high production values.  My only qualm involves the music which too often feels like a round peg forced into a square hole.




MachinExpo
November 19-20
http://www.machinima-expo.com/

A look at the 2011 MachinExpo Films - Part 1

I started wading through the screening selections last night. Here are three of my favorites so far:

Scent Memory by Patrick Kendrick - "A fighter pilot regains consciousness next to his wrecked plane, only to find it rusted and aged by decades. As he explores unfamiliar surroundings, he encounters a bizarre cast of characters and confronts decades of layered memories."


Skilled SecondLife machinima tale that is engaging, mysterious and beautiful. The story is a bit floaty (with a seemingly healthy dose of 2001 mixed in) feeling a bit like a dream. Well worth a look.

Sintetic FAITH by Nikolay Rusenov - One of my top 5 favorite Iclone movies. Humanity isnt always human. Excellent work.

What Isn’t Underneath? by Hypatia Pickens - "This short film is an homage to Scottius Polke's eerie art environment called "The Docks," on display through June 30, 2011 at Originalia in Second Life. Since it is due to come down after that, I thought I would try to capture some of its subtle ominousness in a machinima narrative. So Sangreal Arnica and I put our heads together and came up with a story that explained something that really can't be explained. Whenever you do that, you disambiguate something that is ambiguous. I tried to capture all the strange details that Scotty filled his build with."


My favorite viewing of the evening. Dark and poetic secondlife tale that looks a bit like a living painting. Short and wonderful. See it!

Happy Halloween!

Heres a short I put together for the Chris62 HalloweenFest on TMU.

Tan Julius tells a tale wrought with woe, in the end he reeps what he sows.

Paper Theater from myclone.wordpress.com/​

Sounds from freesound.org

Intro piano clip from incomptech.com

Happy Halloween!

Fun Fact + MachinExpo Promo

A flock of crows is called a murder of crows. Huh.



November 19th and 20th 2011.

Sushi Ronin

Here is my latest flick all dudded up using crazytalk animator and Iclone 4. Hope you like!

Soap Box Racing - Brooklyn 2011

This aint machinima but I promise a post soon on some machinima stuff Ive seen lately.

A block party in our hood had some soap box racing going on. There was an excellent crash into the stands that proves that kidfun danger isnt as dead as Ive heard. Yea I feel bad for the guy with bloodied shins and the scared little girl but it was good to see noone called off the race in horror. Of course I woulda sued...hehe. Anywho, heres the pics. and theres Kid MIllions soaking up the fun. A fine summer day.

Ethyl Merman Lies Beneath

More work to add to the Kid Millions Resume.  Just some sillyness and fun.

Nathan Bitner and the Mysterious Tunnel

I ever tell you the story of the Nathan Bitner Expose?  Its a memorable story to me because I myself entered the He-Man character contest back in the 80's.  My character was Hear-O (he had excellent vision...or someting) and I was convinced I was going to win with an idea like that.  Then Bitner came along with his superior drawing skills and his character Photog won the contest.  Years later X-Entertainment writes a little blog about whatever happened to Nathan Bitner and the sordid exploits of his youth and otherwise become public knowledge.  Memorable.

Today I happened upon a little pic on Shorpy,com of a mysterious tunnel from 1924.  Reading through the comments (often almost as fun as seeing the hi-res pics) there were plenty of suggestions of speakeasy tunnels but then someone unearthed the newspaper accounts of a rather extensive tunnel system built by a millionaire entomologist as a hobby.  This was followed information of the man being a bigamist and his failed attempt to get a real divorce of a fake marriage (complicated as bigamy must often be) and then dying 5 years later.  The situation reminded me Bitner (who was understandably horrified when he happened upon the X-Entertainment post with 1000+ comments about his personal life)..  Only it happened in 1925 instead of 1990.  And still people were able to use the ol internet to get to the sordid little details.  

The Sport of Kings (and queens and jacks)

I think I mentioned a while back that I was toying with a Faustian baseball project.  Following a 3 month computer issue wash, I seem to be back in business. Been working the last 3 weeks on this particular scene.  No animation yet; just set and lighting and characters.  But then theres no script for this particular episode.  Most likely a music video type of thing.  And I heard that collective gasp of disappointment.  

Of interest to me, I'm using fog to tamp down a bit of the brightness from the HDR effect (and to give things a hint of smokiness).

The Thomas Beale Cipher

Caught this one as a Vimeo favorite. Much fun and creativity. More info here.

Family Sci Fi Fun

My first CTA short and easing out of a funk.

I am slowly coming out of a 3 month funk due to computer issues.  Heres hoping everything is fixed (though it inspires no hope that I do not know why everything seems to be working correctly).  Expect another little family oriented adventure in the next couple of days.  Until then...


GO Falcons!!!

Yea, Im a big falcon fan.  It doesnt help that MrsBiz is a big Green Bay Packer fan.  Lets hope things stay civil when my team wins.