Discussion: Matrix Machinima Contest

I love some of the humor in these from "Grime", to the "babies" and many others. I'm starting to wonder though if I'm the only one not going for humor with my entry.

Oh crap....the horror of NOT going for humor and it actually being laughed at just hit me!

oh crap...

Is it too late to rewrite?

Todd

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OK, the version with Amanda's voiceover finished uploading:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMkhjQlja6Q

Video is horrible quality, so if you want to take a better look at the video use the previous link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB2tJO_Doaw

I'll try to get Amanda to re-record most of it tonight. Again. Argh!

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OMG - Leo! Get that thing finished, friend!

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I'm trying! The video part has been done for a week already... It's the voiceover that's killing me.

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VERY NICE BTW LEANDRO

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Thanks!

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Very nice work, Leandro!!

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Putting all seriousness aside here, and as an objective third party who's a great fan of all of your's works, allow me to say this:

Kick their butts!

Do *not* let some johnny-come-lately who joined just for this contest take this win away from the game's regulars. You all do awesome work, so don't doubt yourself, don't second guess, and don't give in. Just kick butt!

Now!

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This rant sponsored by Freem cola.

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

So I decided to upload a low res version just to post and get opinions on but I ended up fighting with my computer and Fraps for a while. Kept telling me there was not enough memory for the damn codec so I finally had to set After Effects to purge the memory every 50 frames it rendered and that worked. Those problems though created some gaps where I had cuts when it rendered so I know about those already.

My unfinished video.

There is absolutely no audio at the moment so if you watch it, you will just have to imagine something there. There are also some particles missing from a couple sequences as can be seen from my hero and villain test images. Those sequences might get some camera movement Thursday. Dissolves are planned to go between the time jumps that happen.

What I was going for was that a hero is tired of trying to find something to do so he gets the bright idea to create a way to change abilities completely to something more villainous. In the end he realizes he should stick to what he is good at, i.e. not being a villain.

I wish I knew demo editing cause I just watched it at full speed for the first time.

Well, I've uploaded my entry. No word yet about the performance releases. Hopefully today.

I've also uploaded the vid to YouTube here so y'all can preview it. Video quality seems a little off, even in hi-def mode.

BTW - did you know that you can force YouTube to display in a higher definition mode by adding &fmt=18 to the end of the URL?

So, now I'm done. I hope. Lord, don't make me go all freaky evil on GT's butt because they denied my entry...

Nice one - good work!

Just so that people know how to publish things to GameTrailers.
(As I had to figure this out with trial and error for a day and a half.)

THE FILE TYPE
I had good results rendering out to WMV from Premiere Pro 2.0.

Using - File / Export / Adobe Media Encoder…

Video
Codec - Windows Media Video 9
Frame size - 640 X 480
Frame Rate - 29.97
Video Bitrate - 1500

Audio
Windows Media Audio 9.2
Audio Format: 48 kbps, 44 kHz, Stereo VBR


Once you have that WMV file ready go to GameTrailers.com and make sure you create an account with them. Log in and from the pull down choose My Content/User Movies

Then click upload, fill out the form noting the button and checkbox and the bottom for the Contest.

Now upload your piece and wait a while

It eventually uploads and has to process.

You will eventually see…
Status: #109 Non-fatal error: proceeding
(Ignore this and just wait a bit things are just processing)

Click my movies again

Status: #102 Compressing

Now just wait a bit and your movie will be uploaded to the site.

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

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Nice Star.


So I really hate the fact that I lose a day of work but I guess I will just have to make it up tomorrow. If anyone has any thoughts on my video so far feel free to let me know.

Thanks a ton Mr. Mag....I would have gone....evil...if I would have done all this and seen "error" on the screen. It's good to know how it all works.

Todd

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So, now I'm done. I hope. Lord, don't make me go all freaky evil on GT's butt because they denied my entry...

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But that's what MY entry was going to be! Star Dancer gets in touch with her dark side! You would have signed the release form in the Gametrailer judge's blood. <sigh> Oh well.

By the way folks, don't get too discouraged by other people's entries. The grass is always greener and all that. Plus, you've probably been watching your own video hundreds of times. Of course it's going to get a bit old.

Oh, and for pity's sake, ignore the ratings people give on GT. Many folks will rate you a 1 because they don't like paying monthly fees for games, or because they think this is DC Online and they own an X-Box, or other stupidities. It's the judges that count.

Doc, its kind of hard to judge without any sound yet, but the visuals are good. That transformation/flame thingie is way cool. Looking forward to the finished product.

One suggestion: watch out for excess wasted space at the top of the frame. CoX tends to do that with the camera so you can see over your toon while playing. I remember you said that you don't know much about demoediting, but it is really simple to lower the camera a couple of clicks throughout a clip by using Balshor's Demo Editor. I think I gave a step-by-step back a ways in this topic. It may be a little late in the game to start learning new techniques, but don't be intimidated by it. Demoplayback is also the easiest way to get rid of the HUD stuff.

Keep it up!

UPDATE: My contest submission has been added to the list, so I'm guessing that I got approved. Woohoo!

Say, does anyone kow a command or keybaord shortcut to hide the User Interface in CoH? I feel like shooting my entry in world live as it were. I have seen some entries with that but it looks funny in the upper right hand corner of the screen.

It's a command in the option/general I believe, near the bottom. You have to designate a key to 'Disable UI' and that will toggle it on or off.

To the good people of the forum I present my entry GRIDLOCK for your entertainment pleasure.

As many have noted the statistics of their work, further information can be read at the gametrailer website. These are notes encapsulating what went on after production ended on the 4th.

Have a good one and support the benevolent dictator of the Etoile Islands, Lord Recluse.

Ah, that was you. Very nice, Mag!

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.

Thanks for the input Star. I am going through right now to make sure all of my shots are positioned right in the frame. I did do some demo editing in the form of replacing my guys costume on test with the one that he was supposed to be wearing from something I did on the live servers. Because I had no idea what I was doing and things at time did not want to work for me, I avoided messing with it otherwise.

I am thinking about going in tomorrow and creating a style of some sort for the video, probably will just be me messing around.

I hope to have a final version uploaded tomorrow night sometime.

Edit: I just realized that I had forgotten to reposition most of the frames though out my video when I meant to already have that done.

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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.



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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

Ok, got most of the editing done. Now just need to change some timings, positions (of the video, not demoedting), get some music rolling........then come up with some dialog..........



......can I get an extention?

......1.5 hours of sleep last night (I woke up on the floor) and it's 12 something now....but...I think I'm done. Just rendering now.

I think it may be a while before I tackle my next CoX video....this is like....a lot of work.

Todd

You are an absolute lifesaver Ashcraft! Thank you ever so much I found the setting under the Options and Keymapping section. Now I can hide all that junk!

I have not made anything in CoH yet but I am world famous in there.com!

Check out my junk here!
http://www.youtube.com/user/VirtualVikki

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I think it may be a while before I tackle my next CoX video....this is like....a lot of work.

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I'm done messing with the voice track of Donuts, it still kind of sucks but I don't want to delay it any more.

So I began work in Making "Donuts", the documentary of how it all happened! Hear Fusionette screw up her lines over and over again, mainly, but also interviews with all the actors that made it possible, such as Lee T. Gamir, who was the body double for Statesman!