Dark_Respite

Dark_Respite adds another to her roster!

The Etiquette of Assassination (music video)

The link goes to the YouTube version - as always, the high rez version is on the Samuraiko Productions site.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Hooray, Dark_Respite's video is DONE! Not uploaded to GameTrailers.com yet, because of how long that's going to take. It's already a quarter to two in the morning, so I'll upload it there tomorrow/today/whatever after I've gotten some sleep.

But the low-quality version (YouTube) and the high quality version (the Samuraiko Productions website) are available!

Who wants to start taking bets that I get disqualified?

God, I just hope people like how this came out...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
....dude.

[/ QUOTE ]

Is that a good "...dude" or a bad "...dude"?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Almost done! I have one uber-scene left to code, two mid-sized scenes to code, and one small scene for the introduction. And I will be done tonight! YAY!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

*hugs Leandro*

Video rival you may be, but you are awesome.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I could SCREAM!

Got home at a reasonable hour today, was all set to start pounding out the last of the stuff on my video, when...

THE POWER GOES OUT.
FOR FOUR AND A HALF HOURS.
BECAUSE IT'S MONSOON SEASON HERE IN PHOENIX.
AND MY COMPUTER WAS ON!!!

Four and a half solid hours of me freaking out that the storm seals on two of the apartment windows are leaking, being unable to open the fridge or freezer to get anything to eat, worrying that something happened to the computers, having no way to call John at work to warn him that the power's out...

So now it's half past midnight, it JUST came back on, and while thank God my computer works and my files are still here, I lost FOUR SOLID HOURS of planned video recording time. I could just cry. So now tonight (Friday) I have to race to make sure I get finished.

BTW, Leandro, repeat after me:

"Nobody ever raised a statue to a critic."

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Make sure that the Flier has the following for it (assuming the number before its name is 275):

275 NEW "Arachnos Flier"
275 NPC V_Arachnos_Flyer_Critter
275 POS (whatever the numbers were for your reference)
275 PYR (whatever the numbers were for your reference)
275 MOV PREFLYREADY 0


Replace 275 with whatever number was assigned to your reference character.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
Starting to see some of the hard work we've been talking about here get posted. Still waiting for the rest of the entries that have been talked about here. I HOPE that those of you here that submit your entries there will clue us in as to which is yours. Some will be easy, since previews were posted here. Others (*cough*Michelle*cough) will be obvious because of a quantum leap in *style*. But the rest of you - tell us when you submit so we can support one another.

So.... Did anyone catch from my video's credits that I'm a guy? Just curious as to whether that came as a surprise to anyone.



[/ QUOTE ]

Like I said, I haven't watched any of them yet save "Grime" and that's coz there was much debate as to whether it was even going to make it into the contest in the first place. I'd intended to finish mine tonight, but my parents offered to take me out to dinner after a hellish day at work, so I took them up on it.

However, depending on how long I can stay awake... might finish tonight, might finish tomorrow.

EDIT: Now that I have to pick John up from work, I'll be up late. May as well get cracking on this video!

And why are you assuming that mine is going to be a quantum jump in 'style' from everyone else's?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Good point, Lady_Sadako - there hasn't been much (if anything) mentioned about the Carnival up until now. Personally I think it'd be neat as all-get-out to be able to flash back to (what was it) 16th century Venice and try to stop the chaos back then. The map ALONE would be awesome...

Another group whose origins I'd really like to see more is the Legacy Chain... not much out there on them.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Nice one, Mr_Magnanimous, thanks for the heads-up!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Don't worry, 8baller, mine is completely serious. Probably to the point of disqualification. And mine SHOULD be done tomorrow night, if I'm lucky.

I am very deliberately NOT looking at anyone's entries because otherwise I will become horrendously discouraged and not bother finishing.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Dueling chainsaws at twenty paces. I'll see the rest of you on the field at dawn.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
Here is what my entry was going to be.

Thanks to Hertz, Jester, Mindscythe, Dark_Respite, Mysidia and Trixi Hill for being voice and player actors.

Prime Time Grime

Good luck to the rest of you!

[/ QUOTE ]

Hilarious - and God, I sound like an idiot on there.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Hooray, three rednames on my thread!

Hmmm... an underwater realm for the Coralax, that could be cool...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I got an answer from the Powers That Be about where you can and can't upload your video... (and within four hours - I don't know why, but I've NEVER had a problem getting an answer from these folks):

My initial email:
An isssue that is NOT currently addressed in the rules at the moment is that at present, our entries to the contest must be uploaded through your website (for initial and final judging). However, I'd like some clarification for the following:

1) In the (hopefully non-applicable) event that a video is disqualified for whatever reason, are we still allowed to post the videos on a) sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, or whatever, and b) our own personally hosted websites, for others to see? (For example, "Hey, this was my entry, but it was disqualified, but I still am proud of it and want to share it!")


2) In the event that a video is NOT disqualified, and/or even goes on to win/place/show, are we still allowed to post the videos on a) sites such as YouTube, Vimeo, etc, and b) our own personally hosted sites? While the rules DO state that the content (if it WINS) belongs to Spike GTTV etc etc etc, it doesn't state what happens to qualified entries that don't win.

Their response:
Michelle,

When you submit a video for entry, we have rights to display the video where we please. However, these rights are nonexclusive so you are welcome to show off your video where you like as well if it is or is not disqualified.

Thanks,
David

So yes. You can YouTube it, Vimeo, w00tstudios, my website, whatever.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I've wondered the same thing myself. However, as I've actually had good luck in getting answers from these guys, I'll send them an email and ask what their policy is on the cross-posting of entries both before and after the contest.

Answer to follow as soon as I get it.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

PS - Update - email has been sent.

It's nice to see my thread's become so popular. And the suggestions just keep on coming from the obscure to the obvious - the variety is fantastic.

BTW, Freem, I love the idea of turning the Megamech into a Lusca-like GM - what would really kick tail is if it were clomping through a city zone and the heroes had to do the fire-and-fall-back maneuver in the process.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Hooray, I finally managed to figure out how to kickstart my video work! I edited the music down to 2:32 and boy does my video flow much better. Didn't realize how much drag-out time there was in there until I fine-tuned it, and now it just zooms along!

Still have footage to shoot, but now I don't need nearly as much! This is good!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

For info on demoediting, point them to the article in the City of Heroes wiki at paragonwiki.com. And leave it at that.

And I don't care at this point if I've done something that's going to disqualify me (most likely they're going to get me on content). Screw them. I'm submitting it.

If I win, great. If I get disqualified, I am going to have them spell out EXACTLY why, and then I am going to tell them that should they do this next year, I will be posting a page on my website of EVERYTHING we CAN and CAN'T do.

And in the meantime, I am going to finish this frikking video.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

WOW!

Okay, tallied up the suggestions up until this point, and the results are in!!!

THE TOP TEN STORY ARCS PEOPLE WANT TO SEE:

#1 - the Battle for Dark Astoria (neck and neck with #2!)
#2 - WWII, 5th Column vs Atlas
#3 - the History of Rularuu and the Shadow Shard
#4 - Brass Monday
#6 - Heroes of the Past
#7 - the Mu/Oranbega War
#8 - the First Rikti War
#9 - the History of Arachnos and its Patrons
#10 (four way tie) - the Heroes of Vanguard
#10 (four way tie) - the Reichsman
#10 (four way tie) - the Freedom Phalanx Heroes
#10 (four way tie) - the Battle for Boomtown

Please do keep these coming, and I'm glad to see Hero 1 put in an appearance, too!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Good points!

And strictly from a computer/troubleshooting POV, when's the last time you ran Scandisk/Defrag? Might help speed things up a tad (without having to shell out for more memory or video card)...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
Shoot! Must have been away when this was first released but I'll just join in the chorus of praise anyway and say what an amazing video! This one truly just blew me away. It's almost a pity that NCsoft has people who do fantastic movies too or they'd be simply foolish not to hire you guys. Good luck in that competition.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks very much for the compliments - I loved making this video and was HUGELY gratified at the response it got. Thanks also for the well-wishes for the competition, there are some great people entering this thing and I can't wait to see what they come up with!

(And as for NCSoft hiring me, well, I keep trying!)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Wow, did my little thread take off, and then BAB shows up in it! (Or did it take off BECAUSE BAB showed up in it? Who knows?)

I really am glad to see that folks besides me are actually into the backhistory of this game (and kudos to U_S_C_I for the 'history' of Dark Astoria, I will be reading that later today), and there have been some fricking awesome suggestions!

I agree, though, the villains need more love - redside is lacking in content as it is, let's not make it worse by completely outstripping them with hordes of awesome heroside stuff. Not that hordes of awesome heroside stuff is bad, by any means.

I will be amusing myself today by tallying up all the suggestions so far and posting it as one big list so the latecomers to the thread can see what's been suggested.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Dr_Mayhem, you might want to try the 30-day version of Sony Vegas Movie Studio. It is just a darn cool program, and has yet to give me problems (and I've done some fairly intense work in it). Just a suggestion.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

My ego and self-confidence are constantly racing back and forth between the polar opposites of "Damn, I'm good," and "OMG I suck".

Of course, it'd be tempting to do a social experiment on the correlation of lack of confidence and final rankings. Leandro and me and Ashcraft all operate under the assumption that we're awful... and yet we're the ones who took first, second, and third place in the PERC contest.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite