My first forays in things 'machinima' were slideshow stories made using the Sims, like this example. Just your general everyday transexual detective captures fairy kidnappers tale. (what was I thinking?)
http://www.thesimsresource.com/stories/details/id/263
Anyhoo. I keep getting the urge to go back to this format, and every now and then try to work out how to do it.
How to make 'slideshow' stories which are easily shared.
I keep finding myself back at the Renpy website.
Renpy is an open source, free to use program, develped so that users could create and share visual novels and games.
At its simplest level you can make slideshow stories, but there are many more features available which allow for effects, sound tracks and with a bit of coding extensive customisation.
A great benefit of renpy over some other free games creators is that the players / readers don't need the Renpy program to interact with the stories and games. Finished works are self contained.
So long as your content has no copyright issues you can sell, or freely distribute your game or story in any way you please. Renpy games and stories can be viewed and played on Windows, Mac, linux..and as far as I understand it Android for phones.
There's a huge community with a lively forum and plenty of support.
You need a litle tech knowledge to use, but it passes the Kate test of being 'possible' and maybe 'gets easier as I go' with 'lots of possibilities to muck about with later'.
The program is currently in development with the latest version just released. This version gives greater support to adding video (cut scenes) to novels and games.
I have made some simple test try outs. One as a multiple ending type quiz, and the latest as a very simple slideshow poem.
The biggest issue (apart from lining up the code in the right column) is thinking in still shots after being immersed in movie making....though Renpy gives the possibility of mixing the two formats.
After playing Syberia I am really inspired how much you can do with simple interactions and slightly animated backgrounds. The story is the key thing.
This is still a thought in process. I will let you know how it goes.
Kate
edit: as I got quite a bit of post when FIP was released you might be reassured to know that the Fairy was in fact safe. The actual rescue scenes were lost in a hideous 'how much custom stuff can I pile into my sims game' type crash.
Renpy and the Fairies in Peril
Syberia - a story within a game
I'm just about coming to the end of this game. A puzzle adventure with an intriguing story.
I'm not sure why it took me so long to realise that games existed which I not only like, but find inspiring.
This one is a little old fashioned now. It was released in 2002 and nine years is a lifetime in the world of computer games.
It is slow to play, and made to look beautiful. Though the 'actors' seem primitively constructed these days. Sometimes the dialogue drags, but that's the extent of my critisism.
The characters are quirky, grown up (mostly) and as far from conventional shoot 'em up bots as is imaginable. Not only that, but the story is unusual, the themes are not often visited..in game or conventional film.
I'm impressed. Impressed enough to do a little research on the game history and its writer Benoit Sokal http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beno%C3%AEt_Sokal a Belgian comic artist turned video game designer.
I don't want to say too much in case, like me, you have never come across this game. Not knowing what to expect has been part of the charm.
The game is avilable for a pleasing £5.39 at Big Fish games and worked fine on windows 7.
http://www.bigfishgames.com/download-games/4665/syberia/index.html
The empty net....
I had a funny thought yesterday.
What if there are a lot less people actively using the internet than is generally assumed?
You are a geek right? Or married to a geek or at least hunkering down on the rim of the geeksphere. So most of the people you know are at least moderately techy, and what if that creates a distorted view?
You see someone in the street using an ipod...music had to be downloaded from the net, so he or she is a regular internet user, obvious innit.
However, what if the only web use that person partakes of is 'download music'? What if the only reason that person can download music is because someone in his or her circle of friends knows a geek who knows how to do it, and the knowledge was passed on painstakingly. Our theoretical ipod listener knows how to get a tune from itunes, and that's as far as they go.
How is this person going to watch your hand crafted video?
They go on youtube don't they? They know how to search don't they?
Ever wondered why idiotic videos get so many hits when perfectly good ones maybe don't? What if specimen B, lolcatz viewer, has never visited youtube in their life. What if the only net activity they can manage is opening their email, and oh look, their cousin's wife's boss's nephew's aunt in australia's son's boyfriend sent them the embedded video in a mail (and it was forwarded on..a few times)
What if there are actually very people who are capable of finding new content, in the same way that there are not that many people who can map read, or follow a knitting pattern, and still fewer who could make a map, or design a jumper.
Thought in process.....
Journal of Visual Culture Machinima Edition - free for a month
http://vcu.sagepub.com/content/current
I was very pleased to be asked to contribute to this edition.
Reading Henry Lowood's introduction I was surprised to realise that this year's machinima expo shares the theme of 'diversity' the journal's Stanford led project.
I am still reading through the contributions of the other writers, and as I do so wonder how someone unfamiliar with Machinima would understand the art form, using these essays as a guide.
There is something important about creating these snapshots in time, and I'm very glad Henry and Susan at Stanford took it upon themselves to work in an innovative way, and include non academic viewpoints.
The whole will take some absorbing, and the time limit of a month seems short, so get reading!
Moviestorm Featured Movie Criteria
Matt Kelland, one of Moviestorm's founders, was asked what criteria the team uses to choose the movies which are featured, both on site and in various other locations online, and within the program load up splash screen itself.
I thought the answer was worth sharing before it was buried in the forum.
We choose movies that in our opinion showcase what Moviestorm can do, embody the Moviestorm ethos, and inspire people. The criteria I use (and it's not a hard and fast scoring system, or anything like that) are:
1. Quality. I'm looking for movies that are well-made in as many aspects as possible, both technically and artistically. Great stories, great acting, well shot, good sound, good editing, good mod design, and so on. We want people to look at those movies and think wow, you can do that with Moviestorm?
2. Innovation. I'm always looking out for novel uses for Moviestorm. When I see someone using it in a way that hasn't been done before, I like to feature that. School science project? TV Commercial? Explaining how insurance works? Political debate? All likely to attract my attention. Sometimes these can be a bit rough, but that's often the case when people are breaking new ground.
3. Determination. One of the things we stand for is that we enable people to make movies who wouldn't otherwise do so. I like to find the stories behind the movies, and feature work by people in interesting or difficult circumstances. I like to feature work that punches way above its weight, where people have been hugely ambitious, great debut pieces, or impressive work by younger movie-makers. They may not always be the best work, but they encourage people to try and push themselves.
4. Just because. And yes, I sometimes pick things simply because I like them. Sometimes, after a day of watching "and then he shot him" movies, something makes me smile, and I'll feature it, just because I want to share that smile with people.
Some weeks they are just too busy to pick up on great movies that are uploaded, and other times user's movies are posted in less usual locations, and are missed for that reason.
If you see an unusual use of Moviestorm it's always worth sending a link to Staff. I've sent a couple of obscure finds over time, and there have a been a few which has escaped the team's attention so it's worth doing.
Machinima, Opensim, Second Life – Oh My?
For the past several months I have been working on an idea that if all “my stuff” could be downsized into a backpack and a computer bag, can life become a little less complicated. With the advances of technology, I can say for myself, that I have nearly reached a Nirvana state of Life. With the exception of digitizing all my books and periodicals (still working on that), I have been able to reduce my wardrobe into a backpack. My computer backup (a couple of 1.5 terabyte external hard drives) contain all my files, cd’s, dvd’s and pictures. Family furniture and collected art pieces are in our home, but considering the ever present potential for earthquakes and brush fires at home, these items would be missed, but not the end of the world if “loss to a disaster”.
Having been able to get my “stuff” under control, I have begun to look again film making and the potential of making visual stories anywhere in the world. Feeling very cocky that I can basically function with my computer, internet and battery power sources, I figured that Machinima would be an easy fit to someone like myself (a reluctant disabled gimp).
I am not a gamer. I have even less aptitude at programming anything. What I want to do is just get the images down. My style of modding is just changing textures and sizes of things. The Opensim and Second Life allow me to do just that. Of course you can mod all sorts of things in those programs, but then doing Machinima becomes a brain twisting challenge for me. Too many Rube Goldberg methods to film a scene.
My preferred Machinima software is Moviestorm. iClone is great, but again to techy for my simple brain. What I like about Moviestorm is the simple point and click interface for making my “actors” and cameras go through their paces. What I don’t enjoy in Moviestorm (for that matter iClone, Second Life and the Opensim) is that when I want an item for the film, like a prop or piece of clothing and I can not just buy it, I have to try to decipher how to use some other piece of software like Blender, Milkshape or Daz to make it. All I’m sure is very easy to use for Natalie Portman or Hedy Lamarr, but not for me.
NY Times article – “Natalie Portman, Oscar Winner, Was Also a Precocious Scientist”
It is my hope that in the near future, my Machinima software will be not only be easy to use to film a scene, but also allow my imagination a manageable method to mod my sets, props, costumes and avatars instead of feeling I’m reinventing the wheel.
In a final note:
Many thanks to all of you who have brought Machinima to this point. Visual storytelling is truly nearly within the grasp of all.
- Mike
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