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Cinemassively: Azerothian Super Villains, Episode 6
In January, we introduced you to a World of Warcraft machinima series, Azerothian Super Villains, by featuring the five episodes that had been produced at the time. Ian Beckman is back with the sixth episode, "The Virgin Kael'thas," a humorous video about Illidan's plot to take over the isle of Theramore by distracting the leader, Proudmoore. When he realizes that there are no other options, he enlists Kael'thas, the village idiot of the group, to complete the job, but as always, there are some complications ...[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Happy 4th of July
On this 232nd day marking Independence in the United States, we wanted to feature some of the patriotic videos created in MMOs. They range from quick videos showing off fireworks in platforms such as Second Life, Everquest, and World of Warcraft, to artistic videos set to Bruce Springsteen, all the way to silly safety tips from the Red vs. Blue boys. As you're planning your real life festivities this year, considering taking some time to pop into your favorite game to get in on some of the action. Happy 4th of July!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.Check out more videos after the jump!
Cinemassively: Tauren Pool Party
With the 4th of July, America's Independance Day, coming up tomorrow, we want to remind everyone that even your virtual personas can celebrate! Several months ago, a group of level one Tauren warriors gathered in Undercity to let loose and go for a swim. While The Infinite Fish Crisis chose to splash around in toxic sludge, there are many ways to relax on this holiday, such as setting off fireworks in your chosen platform, or checking out the Midsummer Fire Festival, which ends soon, in World of Warcraft!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Stimme
The Vendetta Clan, of Lord of the Rings Online, has a machinima project in the works. Since it's in German, we're not sure what it's about yet, but it looks like it will be full length. Their editor, Tirethiel, has already released two trailers and a music video for it. Most short clips involving this game include PvE, or a musical instrument, but he made a huge effort to give it a polished feel, which is no easy feat. This clip from Stimme, or Voice, is one of the best LotRO scenes that we've seen come out of the MMO!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: The Orange Island 100
(In order to avoid confusion created by the comments below, we would like to note that there were two fan-made videos of the event, and the one we chose to feature has music created by Orb Gettarr and Spiraling Cycling.)If you've never been to a popular Second Life event, you wouldn't have experienced the pain of a packed sim. The number of avatars in a single sim usually gets to around 70 or 80 before people start crying of lag, ruths, and missing images. However, those wacky Metaversatility kids took to Orange Island in an attempt to set a record for most avatars in a single snapshot. Jade Lily was shooting for 100 -- and it wasn't easy. As documented by Daneel Ariantho and Natty Foggarty in pictures, and Osprey Therian in this video, people wouldn't rez properly, floated away, and lost connection. After many minutes, they were able to reach their goal, but it took about two hours without SL before this blogger's computer felt right again!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them. Please note that due to the high volume of Second Life submissions, we would prefer submissions from other platforms.
Cinemassively: This American Hero
We're subbing in for our regular machinima blogger, Moo Money, who is AFK for the next little while. Today for Cinemassively, we're bringing you a video we stumbled across recently and really enjoyed. For those who are fans of the Chicago Public Radio show This American Life, this machinima made by SuperZuck took elements from both TAL and City of Heroes and presented (the beginning of) a day in the life of an old-school hero turned filmmaker. Tasty shades of meta. While this is only part one of the work, we are definitely interested in seeing more machinima of this nature! Paragon City holds many heroes, each with a different story, and reasons all their own. Excellent work, SuperZuck, and congrats on your first-place win in Molotov Alva's "Your Virtual Life" machinima contest! We look forward to the rest of this "episode."
Cinemassively: Virtual Africa
Lifefactory Writer, a Second Life machinimator, has been working on a docu-narrative, Life on Life, about the virtual world. It will contain multiple vignettes, including today's Cinemassively, Virtual Africa. Little is known about the rest of the project, which will hopefully be released soon.Lifefactory takes us on an African safari, where she befriends a meerkat and tours the non-profit sim. It appears as if she is narrating it from the point of a public speaking engagement where she tells a story. If you would like to find out more about the sim she visits in this machinima, you can visit the Africa in Virtual Worlds website![Via the Machinimatographers group in SL]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them. Please note that due to the high volume of Second Life submissions, we would prefer submissions from other platforms.
Cinemassively: A revolutionary tool for WoW machinima
(The tool that we are featuring today is a hack for machinima only. Using it could get your account banned by Blizzard. When it is released, use it at your own risk.)One of the highlights of being part of the machinima community is being surrounded by all of these brilliant minds, scripting, creating, and figuring out ways around obstacles in their chosen platform. Mads Lund, better known as Malu05, is currently developing a tool that will literally change the way World of Warcraft machinima is produced.While it is still in alpha testing, it can already zoom, auto-pan in multiple directions, change the size of your avatar, adjust the speed of your movement, time of day, and speed up how the day progresses, detach your camera in spectator mode, and set camera motions that you can go back to. If you're anxious to speed up the production, he is calling for participation in the AutoIt forum. We're not sure how Blizzard will react to this program, but we're jumping for joy![Via #machinima on Quakenet IRC]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Epic Raids
Oxhorn has always produced a steady flow of machinima, but ever since he took on his job at WeGame, he's been on fire! This time, he created a parody of the old TV show, Happy Days, called Epic Raids. While noticably shorter than most of his body of work, it definitely has the comedy factor going as it spoofs the opening credits of the show. He even shows the extensive cast of bosses, including Illidan Stormrage, Kael'thas Sunstrider, and Kil'Jaeden. If only raiding were actually this festive!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: A new appreciation for sound design
Next time that you watch a machinima, or even a real movie, think about all of the different elements that go into making the film. Most of the time, we see the video and hear the music, but there are also sound effects that enhance the production. Caruu, the sound designer for Acolyte 1.5, has posted a version of the video without music or dialogue, so that the sound effects stand out. The result is a surprising amount of work that you probably didn't even realize went into the machinima. When you're done viewing and listening, watch Acolyte 1.5 again, and you'll gain a whole new appreciation!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Draxtor Despres wishes Second Life a Happy Fifth Birthday
Draxtor Despres takes us on a sentimental journey through the last year of Second Life. His take on the past year includes making friends and revisiting old ones, being happy that all of the shady real world businesses finally abandoned us instead of pushing their products on us, and hoping that the parents, Linden Lab, will take care of their growing child. Our very own Tateru Nino recently did the same thing on the SL side of Massively with her ten-part Year in Review. Be sure to check both out!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: The Interrogation
Over on our sister site, WoW Insider, Gnomechewer is a crowd favorite. He is known for releasing outstanding, funny, creative World of Warcraft machinimas in increasing frequency. However, we never thought that we'd post two new releases over two sites on the same day because we couldn't keep up with his production schedule!The Interrogation focuses on an undead scout that is captured by the Scarlet Crusade, and then debriefed. The events in this WoW video take place in the kidnapped Horde's mind while the interrogation is taking place. While Gnomechewer doesn't necessarily think that this particular short film stands up to the rest of his work, we'd have to disagree!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: HypoHeretic
Second Life has proven to be an extremely popular platform for machinima production. However, sometimes it's just used to complement videos made in engines that don't involve human interaction at all. Such is the case with HypoHeretic, created by The Martin Brothers in iClone.When John Martin III spoke on the machinima track of the 2007 Second Life Community Convention, he met a musician there, Kirsty Hawkshaw. Kirsty is a popular artist, with a dance track that is currently charting in the UK, and a long history of working with some very famous DJs! Together, they collaborated on a music video about a cyborg obsessed with meeting a virtual celebrity.[Thanks, John!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Making a WoW machinima
ChrisT has created a tutorial on how to edit World of Warcraft footage into a machinima. While he skips the step where you would capture the gameplay with a program like Fraps, he does show how to do certain things in Sony Vegas. This video is suited towards the beginner to intermediate levels of video editing, with tips on velocity, editing on beats, panning, and masking. You may need to pause or skip backwards in order to follow along, as this how-to is quite fast-paced. However, if you're interested in getting started in WoW machinima, it's worth checking out![Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: World of Workcraft
Lagspikefilm is back with another painfully real parody machinima. Last time, he spoofed MTV Cribs, but this time, he's taken on a much tougher topic -- the workplace. World of Workcraft is about a group of dragon slayers that log in to an office simulation game in their spare time.Workcraft serves as proof that not all World of Warcraft videos need to be about PvP, PvE, etc. We hope that there's a sequel in the works, because we couldn't stop laughing at this brilliant video![Thanks, Tumnus!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Animating avatars with CrazyTalk
Reallusion, the company that creates the animated facial expression software, CrazyTalk, embraced Second Life machinima quite some time ago. First, they appeared at real life festivals, then they developed their own plot of land in the virtual world, and now they've created a page on their website that features the works of SL machinimators, as well as a tutorial. In the instructional video, they explain how to use their software to lipsync pictures of avatars, as well as give some tips and tricks.[Thanks, John!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: For the Living
DeafeningTheDaisies did a great job with a game not particularly known for machinima, Hellgate: London. Deafening has an entire series planned out, with most of the first episode almost done. While there isn't a plot in this video, it's certainly heavy on the scare factor! The biggest problem with For the Living is the aspect ratio, which jumps back and forth between text and gameplay. However, that's easy to fix. We look forward to seeing the full series!If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Real Biz in SL chats with Millions of Us
Christian Lassonde, of Millions of Us, appeared on the Real Biz in SL show to discuss their work in Second Life. They recently announced that they would be bringing celebrity likenesses into virtual worlds, including SL. Cybergrrl Oh grilled Chris on the important questions, including their investment in the platform, their return on the investment, what kind of metrics they employ, whether it's worth being there, and if MoU will continue to stay. While most of the answers sounded prepared, it was still informative! To check out the full half hour program, visit the show page on SLCN.tv.If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Turpster's Dingstravaganza
Every Saturday, our sister site, WoW Insider, holds a podcast on WoW Radio. Last Saturday was special, though, as their station co-host, Turpster, also of Turpstervision, was about to hit level 70. He invited everyone to join him on the Sporeggar EU server as he challenged newbie gnomes and dwarves to take him down in their starting area.According to one attendee, Regis of Sunstrider, about 200 "newbs" showed up to take Turpster down. He kindly provided a video of the event, as well as a play-by-play of the action. Unfortunately, he was walking back from the graveyard when Turpster was defeated, so there are no screenshots or footage of that moment. Was anyone there that managed to capture the final battle?[Thanks, Regis of Sunstrider!]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
Cinemassively: Slim Jim
For some videographers, machinima can be a lucrative business. Myndflame, the creators of the Illegal Danish series, have made a full time living for over a year now producing machinima for clients. Using World of Warcraft, they've recently released a commercial for Slim Jim, the beef jerky stick. In the ad, they focus on a knight that has problems rescuing a fair maiden until the product is introduced.While WoW is a popular machinima platform, Blizzard has imposed a Fair Use Guide that restricts how machinimators can profit from their work. In the case of this specific video, Slim Jim most likely received a content use license from Blizzard.[Via Warcraftmovies.com]If you have machinima or movie suggestions from any MMO, please send them to machinima AT massively DOT com, along with any information you might have about them.
