Moviestorm- Machinima Software
via moviestorm.co.uk
If you haven't yet learned about machinima filmmaking, here's a wonderful free tool to get you started.
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Random Fun: Ulduar Movie by Invisusira
I thought this was a well done WoW machinima about the Ulduar raid dungeon.
Ich habe die Zukunft des Spielfilms gesehen
Vor ziemlich genau drei Jahren habe ich mal einen Blogpost getitelt "Ich habe die Zukunft des Spielfilms gesehen ...", nachdem ich mit meinem Sohnemann in Cars (dem Pixar-Film) war. Cars hat mich von der technischen Seite her wahnsinnig beeindruckt. Der Film ist selbstverständlich komplett im Computer entstanden. Trotzdem war Cars war nur noch da, wo die Filmemacher es wollten, zu erkennen, dass es sich nicht um Realaufnahmen handelte. Der Realismus ist an einigen Stellen extrem hoch. Ob Elemente realistisch oder cartoonig aussehen, ist in Cars keine Frage des "Könnens" mehr sondern eine rein gestalterische Entscheidung des Regisseurs. Das hat mir zu denken gegeben. Mein Fazit war:
Es mag blasphemisch klingen, aber nach Cars frage ich mich ernsthaft, wie lange man sich noch die Mühe machen - oder sich den Stress antun - wird, Filme in realer Umgebung zu drehen. Heute mag ein abendfüllender Film dieser Güte noch zig Millionen an technischen Produktionskosten verschlingen. Aber wenn das - nach Moores Law - in 10 Jahren jeder auf einem besseren Heim-PC rendern kann?
Heute bin ich über Spiegel Online, auf die aktuellen Beiträge zu Bitfilm-Festival gestoßen. Besonders beeindruckt hat mich Shelf Life, eine Art SF-Thriller aus der nahen Zukunft, ziemlich düster gemacht, wirklich spannend und vieler Hinsicht handwerklich sehr, sehr gut. Shelf Life ist ein 15-Minutenfilm, der komplett mit der HalfLife-Engine "gedreht" wurde - eine Technologie, die sich jeder für nicht mal 2.000 EUR auf den Schreibtisch stellen kann. Und was damit geht ... ist schon ziemlich cool. Nein, ich würde nicht behaupten, dass das nur annähernd in einer Liga mit Cars spielt (oder auch nur 3. Liga wäre, wenn Pixar in der 1. spielt.) Aber ... was ist in 10 Jahren, wenn ich die 30fache Rechenleistung für dieses Geld bekomme? Was ich dann immer noch brauchen werde, sind gute Ideen, ein Drehbuch, Talent im Umgang mit der (virtuellen) Kamera etc. Aber ich werde kein Budget von mehreren Millionen mehr auftreiben müssen, um so einen Film Kino-Qualität zu produzieren zu können. "Richtige Filme" wird man dann im Keller oder Arbeitszimmer produzieren können. Wie heute schon Musik ... Spannende Zeiten, die da auf Hollywood zukommen (oder auf Babelsberg).
● I Hate This Part Right Here ● [WoW]
via youtube.com
Imaginative interpretation of the song and video....
Interview with Napster Creator Shawn Fanning
Napster founder Shawn Fanning's newest brainshild by Alex Pham, LATimes.com
Mention the name Shawn Fanning, and most people still picture a kid in his dorm room at Northeastern University in Boston, cooking up Napster, a file-sharing website that let users trade songs for free and triggered a financial tsunami in the music industry.
Fanning, now 28 and living in San Francisco, is not only long out of college, but he's also moved on to his third company, Rupture. His second one, music licensing company Snocap, was sold in April 2008 to Imeem Inc., a social networking site. This third venture is related to one of Fanning's personal passions: games.
Pick any year between 2009 and 1989, when he played his first game, the Legend of Zelda on the Nintendo Entertainment System console, and Fanning will tick off a list of hot titles for that year. Most people mark their lives by major events; Fanning marks his by the releases of new games.
He started Rupture in 2006 to help gamers find out what their friends are playing and connect. He sold Rupture in June to video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. for $30 million. But Fanning remained at the San Francisco start-up to see his newest brainchild through to launch, which is expected this summer.
Fanning this week gave The Los Angeles Times a sneak peek into the service, as well as shared his thoughts on games and, of course, music.
What is Rupture?
It's Twitter for gamers. Our focus is to build a platform to automatically track your game accomplishments on all the different platforms, including consoles and PCs. But being able to track what your friends are playing is the beginning. It's also the social interactions between gamers. We're trying to create a framework around these interactions, like a metagame.
Sounds like what several sites are attempting to do, including GGL.com in Culver City. How is Rupture going to be different?
It's definitely a space that's heating up. We feel we have a unique and compelling approach. The key challenge is creating engagement. News feeds of what your friends are doing are interesting. But most of the time, it's just overwhelming. We need to make sure that the service we're building is focused on maximizing engagement. Just aggregating game data is not enough to create an engaging social experience.
What about pulling in user-generated content like Machinima, where players stitch together an original movie using game-play footage?
Machinima focuses on entertainment. It's remarkable how much time and energy people put into making those. But there's tons of other content out there too. Game guides that have tips and tricks on playing a game can provide value. There are YouTube videos that help players go through levels in games. And getting credit for producing the stuff is very interesting.
Do you use Facebook?
We're on just about all the big social networks.
How many Facebook "friends" do you have?
Let me check. I have 1,603 friends. That's the problem with Facebook. The nature of a friend on Facebook is dubious at best.
Do you approve every single friend request?
Yeah. My Facebook usage has deteriorated to just accepting friend requests. It's just not that significant anymore. For me, it underscored why niche networks are interesting. In some cases, like with your girlfriend, you're interested in everything that person does.
What is Rupture?
It's Twitter for gamers. Our focus is to build a platform to automatically track your game accomplishments on all the different platforms, including consoles and PCs. But being able to track what your friends are playing is the beginning. It's also the social interactions between gamers. We're trying to create a framework around these interactions, like a metagame.
Sounds like what several sites are attempting to do, including GGL.com in Culver City. How is Rupture going to be different?
It's definitely a space that's heating up. We feel we have a unique and compelling approach. The key challenge is creating engagement. News feeds of what your friends are doing are interesting. But most of the time, it's just overwhelming. We need to make sure that the service we're building is focused on maximizing engagement. Just aggregating game data is not enough to create an engaging social experience.
What about pulling in user-generated content like Machinima, where players stitch together an original movie using game-play footage?
Machinima focuses on entertainment. It's remarkable how much time and energy people put into making those. But there's tons of other content out there too. Game guides that have tips and tricks on playing a game can provide value. There are YouTube videos that help players go through levels in games. And getting credit for producing the stuff is very interesting.
Do you use Facebook?
We're on just about all the big social networks.
How many Facebook "friends" do you have?
Let me check. I have 1,603 friends. That's the problem with Facebook. The nature of a friend on Facebook is dubious at best.
Do you approve every single friend request?
Yeah. My Facebook usage has deteriorated to just accepting friend requests. It's just not that significant anymore. For me, it underscored why niche networks are interesting. In some cases, like with your girlfriend, you're interested in everything that person does.
In a lot of cases, you're only interested in a person in one or two areas. It would be great to define that connection and control what information surfaces to me. Services should do a better job of understanding the nature of relationships.
Take gaming. It's about the people, but only in the context of games. That creates a level of focus, which makes the interactions more relevant and valuable. You can challenge your friends or collaborate with them to create content.
I hear you like to play World of Warcraft. What do you like about that game?
When I first started playing, I wasn't taken in until I got into the player-versus-player aspect [where players do combat with each other]. It was the strategy and teamwork involved. Network gaming creates these bonds that keep you playing. Despite the fact that I've never met these people I play with, I think of them as good friends because we've been through so much together in the game.
Since Napster came out in 1999, the music industry has undergone a seismic shift. How do you think that industry is doing now?
I definitely think it's in rough shape. The margins for digital music are awful for everyone other than the record companies. You can't do anything innovative because of all the [licensing] permissions involved. Ultimately, the industry doesn't look at technology as an opportunity.
I hear you like to play World of Warcraft. What do you like about that game?
When I first started playing, I wasn't taken in until I got into the player-versus-player aspect [where players do combat with each other]. It was the strategy and teamwork involved. Network gaming creates these bonds that keep you playing. Despite the fact that I've never met these people I play with, I think of them as good friends because we've been through so much together in the game.
Since Napster came out in 1999, the music industry has undergone a seismic shift. How do you think that industry is doing now?
I definitely think it's in rough shape. The margins for digital music are awful for everyone other than the record companies. You can't do anything innovative because of all the [licensing] permissions involved. Ultimately, the industry doesn't look at technology as an opportunity.
One of my biggest personal disappointments is that the ability for people to discover interesting and obscure music has faded. That was one of the reasons I made Napster.
Do you think the same thing will happen to the game industry?
No. Where the music business saw technology as a threat, the gaming industry embraces it. Games are built on new technology.
Do you think the same thing will happen to the game industry?
No. Where the music business saw technology as a threat, the gaming industry embraces it. Games are built on new technology.
I think games are moving toward a subscription model or a service-based model where it's less about the upfront purchase than about the monthly fees or the micro-transactions people make to buy virtual goods. The gaming industry has handled the transition to online a lot more gracefully than the music industry.
Do people react better to Sims than to Keira Knightley?
This YouTube film starring Kiera Knightley highlighting domestic violence as an issue is shocking and upsetting. But more depressing are the comments that accompany the video from the YouTube 'community'.
Comments include:
'oh tenderheart please!' no wonder he punched her... (Thank you for that Koorbeel )
Moving the debate on we encounter the thoughts of brockal
WAKE THE FUCK UP FOLKS! The is a WAR GOING ON IN YOUR STREETS! Your "public servants" are performing TREASON to subjegate you and your neighbors to A GLOBAL ECONOMIC ORDER! WAKE UP! STAND UP AND BE COUNTED! SPEAK AND BE HEARD! FIGHT! THIS IS WAR!!!!!
Thank god somebody cut through and got to the real issues. Thanks Brockal...
To be fair, there's a more informed debate that continues later (earlier?) in the 44 video comments present at the time of writing, concerning the nature of Woman's Aid as a campaigning organisation - its methods / messages; and comments regards the absence of depictions of woman on man domestic violence and the real problems existing there.
But essentially, it's YouTube - what did I expect? It's all about the PWNing and the Lulz ,right? I should get over it.
This video has reminded me of a machinima piece on Domestic Violence I saw at a conference on interactive media a while ago:
Now, despite this using a gaming platform Sims , where some prejudices might expect the LOLTwats to gather around to leave dumb-ass messages at the scene, the comments that appear here are altogether more considered and informed: mainly decrying the one-sided nature of the depiction of gender violence.
One video's had nearly the same number of views as the other - circa 35K as of today. So why all the stupid hate on the Woman's Aid film and not the Sims? Maybe people just don't respect Keira Knightley as much as they do Sims?
I'm not sure that leaves me any more comforted about the YouTube community...
Keep th' faith,
Article Dan
