Discussion: Matrix Machinima Contest

heh, I just watched Dark_Respite's newest video and I will be honest, I feel out of my league here.

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heh, I just watched Dark_Respite's newest video and I will be honest, I feel out of my league here.

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She can only take one of the prizes, right?

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heh, I just watched Dark_Respite's newest video and I will be honest, I feel out of my league here.

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She can only take one of the prizes, right?

[/ QUOTE ]Yeah but I have only tried machinima once and I never even finished.

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heh, I just watched Dark_Respite's newest video and I will be honest, I feel out of my league here.

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She can only take one of the prizes, right?

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Aspire to be 3rd. That's my motto.

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heh, I just watched Dark_Respite's newest video and I will be honest, I feel out of my league here.

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She can only take one of the prizes, right?

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Aspire to be 3rd. That's my motto.

[/ QUOTE ]Haha, third would be nice but it won't even cover the cost of all the software I need once I get a nice and powerful Mac Pro to edit on.

Okay, let's set the record straight here - I am neither the best videographer for this game nor the destined winner of the contest. Don't see me as an obstacle - see me as inspiration. Don't look at my stuff and go, "Hell, I can't come near that." Look at it and go, "Hey, how can I incorporate something like that [some element you like] into MY video and do it MY way?"

Second: General notice after getting another email from the folks over at GameTrailers...

Me: "I saw that we're not allowed to have 'logos' in the video. I would just like a quick clarification about how this applies to the following:
1) NCSoft's logo (animated or static)"

Them: YES

Me: "2) The Cryptic logo (animated or static)"

Them: "If this is part of the game, yes"

Me: "3) My studio logo (animated or static)"

Them: "NO"

Me: "And peripherally, if a title appears in the video, if my studio's name (no graphic) is allowed, such as:
"REALLY AWESOME VIDEO TITLE"
by
Samuraiko Productions"

Them: "No"

So word to the entrants - you may have, if you wish, the NCSoft and Cryptic logos, but nothing of your own in there, be it as logo, title, whatever.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

What I meant was that it made me realize that overall, I am out of my league. Wasn't trying to mean it as I don't stand a chance against someone specifically.

Bah, go for it anyway.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Wow, thanks for the clarification on the logos Dark I'll have to pull mine.

On a side note....Cryptic is no longer associated with the game so I'd probably not worry about including them. NCsoft purchased all the rights a while back.

Thanks,
Todd

Except that Cryptic still owns the engine.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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Except that Cryptic still owns the engine.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

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You sure? My guess would be that would definately be part of the purchase. Bah, it doesn't matter.

I'm starting to think the legal rules of this contest are going to be the most challengingi part.

Todd

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Haha, third would be nice but it won't even cover the cost of all the software I need once I get a nice and powerful Mac Pro to edit on.

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Seriously - Most of the hard part is editing the demo files. Once you have your "script", you can do seriously cool stuff using just Windows Movie Maker (on a PC) or iMovie (if on a Mac).

The CoX engine can do wondrous things if you know how to manipulate it.

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Seriously - Most of the hard part is editing the demo files. Once you have your "script", you can do seriously cool stuff using just Windows Movie Maker (on a PC) or iMovie (if on a Mac).

The CoX engine can do wondrous things if you know how to manipulate it.

[/ QUOTE ]And my flaw lies right there. Tried going through and editing the sequence I already recorded and just said forget it because I was getting nowhere. I prefer the approach of setting it up in game and as I record to a demo file and then going through and recording it to video. I try my best to set it up so I can do it that way.

Cryptic still has their logos all over town, too. I don't think they want us to get DQ'ed if one is visible.

Better watch for in-game ads, though.

Here's another question:
Does credit roll time count against your four minutes?

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Better watch for in-game ads, though.

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lol, good point

And to the "credit roll" question. I'd be veeeeery careful about what you list. According to Dark's recent post they're taking the line about "commercial endorsement" in the rules very literally, meaning a big "no" on listing your "production company" anywhere.

I guess people may be ok, but that'd be a great big guess at this point. I just pulled any credit listing from mine just to play it safe.

Doh, and directly to your question. I'm pretty positive that's a "yes" as to does it count toward the length of the video.

Todd

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Seriously - Most of the hard part is editing the demo files. Once you have your "script", you can do seriously cool stuff using just Windows Movie Maker (on a PC) or iMovie (if on a Mac).

The CoX engine can do wondrous things if you know how to manipulate it.

[/ QUOTE ]And my flaw lies right there. Tried going through and editing the sequence I already recorded and just said forget it because I was getting nowhere. I prefer the approach of setting it up in game and as I record to a demo file and then going through and recording it to video. I try my best to set it up so I can do it that way.

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That's a good place to start. Next thing I'd do is lower all of the CAM POS Z coordinates (the second argument) a couple of units, so that you're not looking over the toon's head. Balshor's editor has a handy "Translate POS" command that will easily reduce all of the CAM POS Z numbers (filter for just the CAM entries first) so that you don't have to manually adjust all of the entries.

BTW - I use both Balshor's and Zloth's demo editors. Each has cool features and the compliment each other nicely.

Well it would seem only proper to include the names of the people involved in the production and their role (like voices, music, etc). Wouldn't I be safe doing that?
No company logos or organizations mentioned. I guess I won't even mention supergroup plugs to be on the safe side.

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Well it would seem only proper to include the names of the people involved in the production and their role (like voices, music, etc). Wouldn't I be safe doing that?
No company logos or organizations mentioned. I guess I won't even mention supergroup plugs to be on the safe side.

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I agree, but they say no. As many people as you want can contribute to helping you, but in the end, there's ONE person who will be awarded a prize (and yes I know there's three prizes).

Unless they tell me otherwise, however, after I submit my entry, I fully intend to put my entry up on my website WITH my credits to give credit where it's due. And if they have a problem with it, they can notify me directly, rather than having to go through YouTube and telling them to tell me to take it down from there.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

My take on the credits question:

The sponsors of the contest are adamant that all rights to every aspect of the submissions will be assigned to THEM. They don't care who did what, and actually they would prefer that everything was done entirely by the contestant, since that simplifies their claim to rights ownership. Rolling credits with other people's names just may get you disqualified before you can explain that you have obtained signed releases from the persons listed.

Presumably the winning videos will subsequently be used, wholly or in part, to promote the Toyota Matrix. Ever seen credits in a commercial? No.

So, I'll be skipping credits on this project. Not my usual way of doing things, but this contest is a horse of a different color...

I'll include credits where I host it on youtube then. We are allowed to host it elsewhere before the contest ends, right?

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Well it would seem only proper to include the names of the people involved in the production and their role (like voices, music, etc). Wouldn't I be safe doing that?

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I'm hoping that you're not planning to use any music other than the CoX bits or something you wrote yourself. Remember that you have to be legally capable of assigning EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS to everything in the vid that isn't in CoX. Even if some band you know allows you to use their music, I doubt seriously that they will be willing to give away that song forever.

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What I meant was that it made me realize that overall, I am out of my league. Wasn't trying to mean it as I don't stand a chance against someone specifically.

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When Nintendo had a contest a year or so ago, the winner of their video was nice, but the fan favorite was a 'real life' trailer of Punch Out. (Search punch out real life on You-Tube)

The key here is that what fans think and what corporate sponsors think are two different things. Plus, with the diluted pool of movie creators in CoH/V (Compared to behemoths like Nintendo or WoW) you stand even better chances.

As for me, a first time movie creator who is only half heartedly making this more to get off my duff of saying "It'd be cool to make a movie" and actually cobble something together and learn the tools than to win any of the prizes, I look at the big wigs of the CoH movie world and say to myself, "That's really good. My job is to do better than that." If I don't win the grand prize (And I don't really want to, if I'm being honest) but feel I can run with the big girls/boys/robots, I'll make a mark here, HUGE SUCCESS.

General Question(s):

Using FRAPS for the first time:

How do you 'disengage' the camera to roam free and how do you reset it?

Also, how do you 'hide' or remove ALL the navigation windows to input commands, etc. for capture?

Thanks!

Check the keyboard binds in the Options window, there's an option to bind a key to 'hide interface.' Letting the camera roam free is quite a bit more difficult. Check out demo editing on ParagonWiki.