Discussion: Matrix Machinima Contest

I uploaded the revised version to YouTube. My voice is not so good today so it is not a perfect match for the voice I was attempting to do the other day, but it no longer mentions the Matrix or Toyota now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axqdlbVWaMA

On the other hand it is still processing on that web site. I hope this gets through.

While I don't do vids, I've enjoyed looking at them all. I am a lover of Sony Acid though, DR as well. I've played around with it for years.

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I uploaded the revised version to YouTube. My voice is not so good today so it is not a perfect match for the voice I was attempting to do the other day, but it no longer mentions the Matrix or Toyota now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axqdlbVWaMA

On the other hand it is still processing on that web site. I hope this gets through.

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I lol'd at the "Wonder who can give me a new car" bit. Nice work Solyent.


And great work DR, too.

Heh - nice vid, Soylent!

-cries a bit on the inside- Everyone has much more camera cuts/pans than me, giving a more active feeling. To save time, it's a lot of 'put camera here for the next 20 seconds' while people MOV and the voice over will go over it.

-repeats to self, 'Journey, not Destination, Journey, not Destination'- Yeah, I'm intending on a slow paced opening, yeah, that's it...

Demo editing is getting easier now, but still have to voice record and lay everything together. Last hard scene to demoedit is next, the rest after that are long camera shots and simple moving stuff.

Good luck to the rest of you last minute-ers! Will take any extra movie making mojo laying around from you peeps who are done. Pity the newb...

Gotta love Game Trailers, still marked as compressing after 20 hours.

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-cries a bit on the inside- Everyone has much more camera cuts/pans than me, giving a more active feeling. To save time, it's a lot of 'put camera here for the next 20 seconds' while people MOV and the voice over will go over it.



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I wouldn't worry about that, Pez. Everyone has a different style that they like to do. Not every Academy Award winning film was from the same director....

Ok, here's what I got sofar. Just need to tweak a few sound levels and add in voice.......

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Gotta love Game Trailers, still marked as compressing after 20 hours.

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I just wrote to them raising a fuss about that myself - if this keeps up, I will be sending them the following:

a) a screenshot of my computer at the time of upload completion
b) a screenshot of my computer some stupid amount of time later that compression is still going on
c) and a link to my video on my server

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Unfortunately, their "rules" reach the zenith of their retardedness with respect to this subject:

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Time of receipt of the Video portion of an entry shall be the time when all elements of the Eligible Entry (as defined in Paragraph 3 below) are actually received by the Website, as recorded or documented by the Website’s operating systems. Proof that you uploaded, or otherwise submitted an entry does not constitute proof or evidence that all or any portion of your entry was actually received by Sponsor within the Entry Period.

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Sooooo... Their server logs are the last word as to whether you uploaded before the deadline. Even if you can PROVE that they received the upload in time, if their server logs (which are the logs of a server that is CLEARLY [censored]'d) are what really counts. Uh huh.

But my real question is this. Given that they aren't working this weekend (as evidenced by the lack of response to emails, and the absence of any new contest entries being approved since Friday), then...

WHY THE HELL DID THEY SET THE DEADLINE FOR A SUNDAY?????

I'm gonna kick their butts. I was going to build a machine to kick their butts, but I was afraid that the rule against "scripting" would get me disqualified from the butt-kicking contest.

Don't get me started.

If it makes you feel any better, star, your butt-kicking machine would kick my butt in a butt kicking contest.

Are we allowed to upload it to other sites when we finish? (like youtube)

Hehe i was able to squeak past and do it all today! hope its uploaded on the main site in time!

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Are we allowed to upload it to other sites when we finish? (like youtube)

Hehe i was able to squeak past and do it all today! hope its uploaded on the main site in time!

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Yes, you can put it anywhere you want, but it only COUNTS toward the contest if it's logged by their servers.

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Star.....hehehe.....you're funny.

Well, David Meuhl did write back to me earlier this morning, but with not-very-helpful answers.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I say we turn that chainsaw battle over the car into a chainsaw battle with them over all these issues now.

Okay, NOW I am starting to panic - have attempted to upload this for the third time (after taking down the resolution a bit from BEST to GOOD), and it's still sitting in "Compressing".

What really worries me is this email response I got back from David Muehl. when I asked him if there was anything else I could try.

"No try reuploading as a general user movie we can take care of monday morning if u can't get it up"

What worries me is that the tone of this email was not nearly as professional as his previous emails to me. I'm wondering if either a) he was rushed, or b) someone else was answering his email for him.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

or he understands and has been emailed a bunch so is going to just bend the rules a little bit because of server problems.

I think compressing means its in their servers? so the know when it was uploaded?

Well I am uploading a version that is only 25 mb verses the 150 that the first one is and I am just uploading it as a general movie to see if it goes through.

That is a very good idea Dr! I had not thought of that.

I noticed PsychoPez was mentioning the lack of pans in a previous mesage and such. Looking back my movie has ... none of those! I knew I forget something!

My film is still sitting there with that compression message going on... I am going to try to upload it to tget general section thing to see if it will upload at all. I sent a not einto help on this site this morning, but have not gotten an answer back.

What I enjoyed most about the films was the variety of humor displayed in them. Each and every one that had humor has a different style of humor! They were all great and so far I found something I really liked in each one of them!

Honestly, what res you upload doesn't seem to matter. Nothing is getting through. Don't substitute an inferior product for your best effort in an attempt to (unsuccessfully) work around their back-end processing problems.

BTW - This "perma-compression" problem isn't new. The very first submission, by GrandConjurer, encountered the same problems. THEY (GT.com) had to fix it before it went through.

Oh, and the compression delay has NOTHING to do with the contest approval process. Don't let them confuse the two. If it hangs as a contest submission, it will also hang as a general submission.

Well, I got another answer from David that I very much appreciated. While he recommended I try uploading it in a different format (which I did - I tried an AVI file and still no luck), I also got the following:

"If that doesn't work, send us a link to where we can download it."

So I am going to try one more time to upload/compress the original high quality version I'd attempted yesterday, and I will be sending both David and the GameTrailers.com folks a link to the video on my server.

Those of you who are encountering the same problem may wish to do the same. While this probably isn't necessary, I encourage everyone to be polite and thank him for at least trying to make an effort to help us. (Of course, I'd have been fricking THRILLED if the damn site WORKED, but oh well.)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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Well, I got another answer from David that I very much appreciated. While he recommended I try uploading it in a different format (which I did - I tried an AVI file and still no luck), I also got the following:

"If that doesn't work, send us a link to where we can download it."

So I am going to try one more time to upload/compress the original high quality version I'd attempted yesterday, and I will be sending both David and the GameTrailers.com folks a link to the video on my server.

Those of you who are encountering the same problem may wish to do the same. While this probably isn't necessary, I encourage everyone to be polite and thank him for at least trying to make an effort to help us. (Of course, I'd have been fricking THRILLED if the damn site WORKED, but oh well.)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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Too lazy to search, but what would his email be, since I just uploaded my vid

Bingo, it still hangs as a general submission.

I just compared the quality of the 150 mb and the 25 mb one in After Effects. They both came from a full quality 800+ mb file and I think the one that went through Windows Media Encoder is a little better as it has a bit more contrast than the other one.

ok my video was submitted friday morning here is the link but i still dont see it in submissions i wrote then prob ten times .oh well go check it out http://www.gametrailers.com/player/u...es/250494.html
i had a hard time trying to fit a 20 min video in 4 minutes lol enjoy heehee

I'm *REALLY* hating the sound of my voice.

But I just may make the deadline. Barring any uploading issues...