Almost Done

Well, I think I am almost done with my final project. It's changed so much over the past week and a half. I've added more to the opening and more to the ending. It is interesting to look and chart the development of this project.

Here's hopefully the final product. (May have to tweak a few things, but who knows)

Latest Machinima

Ok, so here is pretty much how I envision my final project. I don't think I'll be changing much. Maybe tweaking a few things here and there. But here's what I've changed.

1. Reworded story
2. New music from game AVI files, "Lament of the Highbourne" from the in-game quest, and "Road to Dystopia" by Oathless from the Prelinger Archives. The music sets a different tone.
3. Increased hue/sat, bright/contrast
4. Decreased sat in some places to heighten dark mood
5. Trimmed/extended some clips

Final video Project

I've created a new intro/title sequence that also tells more of the narrative

I've also redone the music. I've decided to replace the lyrical music with music from WoW itself, and a clip from the Prelinger Archives (The Road to Dystopia, by Oathless)

These changes totally change and enhance the mood/tone of the video

I'm happy with the results so far. I'll post a segment later today.

Follow Up

Tried setting the video to some other non-lyrical music. Not sure I like the video with any song other than the one that is already there.

Also tried using 14-day trial version of Voice Changer 7.0. It works well, but the trial version is missing some crucial functions.

I'm not sure I want to tell a story using dialogue or voice over.

I did manually improve the brightness/contrast and hue/saturation.

I guess I'll have to keep on experimenting before I finally decide on what to do

Update

I've been thinking about how I'm going to specifically expand my project. I've come up with a short list that could be possible:

1. definitely include some dialogue, even if it's just a voice over of the basic story

2. include some new footage, edit trim some existing

3. experiment with some more things in After Effects such as hue masks and speed (this will take quite a bit of time for the segments to render)

4. try to influence the tone and mood of the film more through colouring/hue.

5. possibly picking a different song, or compose a completely original piece using freesound, or by using the track by Oathless titled "The Road to Dystopia". I think that track may add to the mood I'm trying to create and also mirror some of the hopelessness felt by the main characters.

Final Project

Okay, the midterm presentation went well. People really liked it. For the final I've decided to expand on it--add some dialogue maybe, edit some scenes, and manipulate more things like hue etc. It will take lots of processing power, so this part will take a bit of time. I'll probably have to let it render at night while I'm sleeping.

I've been looking up some free voice-alteration software so I'll be trying that out.

Notable Machinima

Direction

Now that my machinima video is finished, I’ve had a little trouble deciding on what direction I want to take to build on it. I’ve thought a lot about it and I’ve realized that video games play an increasingly important and visible role in our culture today.

Video games are a part of digital culture and their popularity has brought them to the forefront of culture in general. I think that in many ways culture today is a digital culture. There are video game conventions, and movies based on video games and vice versa.

There are even subcultures in video game culture. Certain games are extremely popular and each has developed its own culture. This includes fan sites, fan art, machnima, and comics. With the advent of easily accessible digital tools, much of this art is done entirely digitally.

I’ve decided to use World of Warcraft as an example to show how gaming and specific games have their own subcultures. I can’t decide whether I want to do a 2nd video, extend/modify the one I have, or pair it with a graphic/image project.

Drafts 4 & 5

I don't like the degraded quality of the videos if I upload them here. I've decided to embed them from youtube instead. These two drafts are similar. The 5th has extended footage though. I may work on it more over the weekend, but this may be the version I show for the midterm project. Not sure yet.

Draft 5:




Draft 4:

Draft 4

I replaced some scenes in this draft and also added credits and some more footage at the end. Still need some more footage, but the project is coming along nicely. I've also noticed that the videos embedded here are of highly degraded quality, but that is ok as they are just for reference.

Draft 3

Draft 3. Just adding more After Effects rendered segments

Machinima Draft 2

Ok, so this second version is an entirely reworked piece. I didn't like how the colours were coming out in the original. In the original I used Windows Movie Maker, which has basic functions and doesn't allow for a lot of editing or adding of effects. I decided to try Adobe After Effects to see if I could make the colours more vibrant. I downloaded a 30 day free trial. It's nice to be able to adjust the colour and contrast etc. However, I've found that my laptop is too sluggish to process huge files in After Effects. As a result, I'm having to rely on a makeshift method. I'm probably losing some video resolution, but there isn't a way around it. I wish I had a high powered computer so I could do all the editing and rendoring on one machine. I've gotten a few error messages where there wasn't enough memory to render. So I've had to improvise.

I've worked out a system where I edit in After Effects and combine 3-5 original clips the way I want them to be. This way I can alter the color and contrast etc. Then I render that collection to produce a smaller clip with more vibrant colours. Then I've been putting these pieces back into Windows Movie Maker to fuse them all together. I know it all sounds very time-consuming and inefficient, but it is the best way I've found around my lack of power in the computer processing department. So far I'm satisfied with the result. Here's draft 2.

WOW Machnima Project (DRAFT 1)

I figured I'd document the progress of my project!

Freesound

So I've always pictured composing and mixing music as an extremely complicated, and time consuming endeavor reliant on expensive studio equipment. However, I've learned otherwise. The site Freesound.org is a site that features a large searchable library of sounds and sound clips covered by creative commons licenses. An interesting thing is that one can search for clips they want and open them in another tab in Firefox. They can repeat the process with as many clips as they want. By ensuring each of the clips in each tab is playing continuously, it is possible to create layers of sound. For example, I could open a track playing a summer thunderstorm in one tab and then open a tab playing a monastary chant and another one with a flute playing. With all playing simultaneously, it would create an eerie composition.

It is possible to record straight from the tabbed browser using the free recording software Audacity. I have been very excited now that I have at least a basic ability to produce some original music for free! The link below is one of my attempts at composition.

http://plaza.ufl.edu/npoling/Weird%20(2).mp3

Machinima

According to Wikipedia:

Machinima (pronounced /məˈʃiːnɨmə/ or /məˈʃɪnɨmə/) is the use of real-time three-dimensional (3-D) graphics rendering engines to generate computer animation. The term also refers to works that incorporate this animation technique. Machinima-based artists, sometimes called machinimists or machinimators, often use graphics engines from video games.

I'm a big World of Warcraft fan. For anyone who is unfamiliar with this hugely popular MMO, it has developed its own culture. As a result, machinima using WoW is extremely popular and prevalent. Many are extremely high quality works that incorporate visuals, music, theme, mood, tone, and emotion to create engrossing and interesting stories.

I've decided to list a few of my favourites:


This is probably my all-time favorite. It's really well done and conveys a great sense of emotion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fb5LIo6HE6Y

This one is just lighthearted and fun.
http://myndflame.gameriot.com/videos/Cloud-9-WoW-Music-Video-1

Machinima can also be darker more ominous. This one uses WoW characters and places them in the gritter environment of another game.
http://myndflame.gameriot.com/videos/ESC4PE

This example uses scenes from multiple games and they are seamlessly incorporated to form an interesting composition.
http://www.wow.com/2007/03/30/wow-moviewatch-unlimited-escapism/

And in this last example, the animation goes perfectly with the music and even matches the tempo and pace.
http://www.wow.com/2008/12/15/wow-moviewatch-the-bells-of-northrend/

Second Life Learning Curve

I play World of Warcraft and am very comfortable in that virtual world. I can tell you how to get from Nethergarde Keep to Crystalsong Forest. I can tell you the difference between Night Elves and Blood Elves. It's very easy for me because I've spent so much time immersed in that world. It is extremely user-friendly and after some experience, easy to play. I've dabbled in SL before, but today was the first time I've really sat down to scratch a little more of the surface. I'm going to list a few of my first impressions.

1. The graphics are rather boring and drab compared to the rich surroundings of WoW.
2. The character and camera controls are extremely annoying, whereas in WoW they are quite intuitive.
3. The inventory consists of a series of menus. In WoW, you can open bags.
4. The movement was choppy and it took a long time to render graphics and the environment. In WoW other than lag spikes, the environemnt is seamless and renders quickly.
5. I found the communication options cumbersome, whereas in WoW it is easy to chat with individuals or groups of people.

I realize that SL and WoW are very different. However, I found it interesting that on the loading screen, it would give the total # of people online at that particular time. I think when I was logging in it was 83,000 people or so. Now that sounds like a lot, but it is dwarfed by the several million WoW players that are on at any given time. I realize SL can be much more complex in some ways than WoW, but I think that if they simplified the user interface and made the experience more user-friendly, it would have a much wider audience.

I get the feeling that SL is a more "serious" thing than MMOs. But I can't help but wonder if this "seriousness" is what's holding it back and if it is something that will eventually doom it?

This is pure opinion, but I think that game-based virtual worlds will always have something that worlds like Second Life don't have--a higher "fun" factor. I think that it will be interesting to see how virtual worlds develop from here. Will they continue down the SL path or will they blend the current SL model with other elements of MMOs?