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Indie filmmaking doesn't have any steaM

Weeks after meaning to install Source Filmmaker I finally installed it and Steam and messed around with it a bit tonight and I must say HOLY SHEEEIT to both Steam and Source Filmmaker...

Source Filmmaker is amazing! As I was using it I kept looking back at my lovely assistant as I was messing with it going OMG THIS IS AMAZING?! DID YOU SEE THAT?! The workflow is definitely the future of animated filmmaking... it is POSSIBLE to import all original content I guess - but its not really designed to do that BUT there will be a tool in the near future that will use a similar workflow and be friendlier with original assets I reckon... the ability to record multiple takes of an animated actor and the camera and everything else in a LIVE edit is DOPE... don't know what I'm talking about? Go install it watch the tutorial vids in the help menu and screw around with it.

I hadn't installed or used Steam until tonight either and I was blown away by it as well... So easy to find, checkout and buy indie games... I know there is a screening process to get an indie title into the Steam store but the possibility of getting a game in there is 9001x better than anything that can be found for indie film.... what do we have? Itunes? Netflix? 0_o From what I've seen people have much more open minds when it comes to weird shit in games compared to film... as well as to non traditional narratives or no narrative at all... 

I had a long discussion with Endika yesterday about the future of our collaborations... before HSM was finished we were planning a live performance version of the film... with live music of course and a "live edit" of the film that would scale up to include dancers and puppets and the like.... that's the sort of thing we will be pursuing together into the future... We will push to create a "live" version of Heart String Marionette and after that live multimedia projects... 

I also had a discussion with James Id last night for the podcast about games vs. film moving into the future-  his argument that films have lost their lustre and have become archaic forms of art/entertainment has begun to make more and more sense to me... The episode will be up this week so you can check it out...

Something we didn't talk about was how Indie Gaming has an awesome community...tons of developers collaborating/networking/cross-promoting/helping each other out in true geek spirit ^_^ Meanwhile perhaps because of its ties to Hollywood or "being famous" there is next to NO community in indie filmmaking... no one really helping anyone out...

I know that creating games is no trivial thing... its serious business that should not be taken lightly unless your goal is to as my friend Aaron says "to create Tiger Electronics 2.0 games" 

A game programmer contacted me a few months ago and reached out to me about working together... I've had a few ideas for games floating around my head... So I've switched my next big film idea over to being a game idea... and once I did...my imagination sort of froze up for a little bit then the ideas just started to flow... new ideas I couldn't implement in a film started to rush out and they are exciting to me... so I ordered a few game design books... so imma read those...read more... do some tutorials... start talking to the game programmer guy and see what I can do ^_^

If I get stuck or lose steam trying to get into this game stuff I'm sure I'll cry and start making a film haha I'm a N00b when it comes to making games and its fun to feel like that... I feel like I don't have any pressure or baggage..its like a clean start... I still get to make up stories, characters, sets, model, animate and make music, sound fx and all that... so hopefully my current skillset helps me out a bit.

In other news- We sent off Heart String Marionette DVD 1 and 2 to be made so those should be available soon- Disc one is the original version + the Silent version and Disc two is the "Uberectors Cut" with alternate cut + original soundtrack by me... here's a track from that soundtrack...

Comments

  1. i honestly think that games are one of the hardest artforms to do and i give major props to the guys working on 'em, even the crappy ones. (but i did study it at a crappy game design school). i haven't used it myself but i hear that game maker is a good starting point. Unity's really cool but it takes a bit of programming knowledge yet to make it do things, plus it imports c4d files directly.

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  2. I heard Steam is going to expand to things more than just games, so who knows they might start selling movies too!

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  3. I have mixed feelings on the whole game thing. I'd love to see another movie from you but in the end if you have more BURNING PASSION to make a game that's what you should do I reckon.

    but YO MDOT YOUR SOUNDTRACK TO HSM IS FUCKING AWESOME. I am so excited to experience HSM in a new way. I was searching for the touching music for the ending but it was like NO WHERE TO BE FOUND MOTHAFUCKA. Maybe the end of track 26? This version sounds like its gonna be a lot more GRIM and FUCKED. Just listening to the difference between Endika's The Body music and this version is like.. O_O;


    Also please give us a heads up as to where/when the live HSM performance will be so I have time to walk to San Jose from Massachusetts haha.. but seriously

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  4. that track reminds me alot of old rpg type games like golden axe and the legend of dragoon. its awesome!

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  5. Source Filmmaker is amazing. So glad you like it, too. At present, it's still in beta so the ability to import things will improve. Steam, as others have pointed out, is on the verge of big changes one of which might be a film distribution network.

    Man, you start working on developing a game or doing a film via SF, call me immediately. I'm there.

    Sounds like you and Endika have some great plans. Very cool!

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  6. hey M Dot! your are totally RAD! So at the end of this article you said you sent Heart String Marionette to get transferred to DVD...so when is it going to be available to purchase? I will buy the download on youwilldieinside as well if you benefit more from that but the collector in me wants a copy that has the packaging and what not

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  7. I thought I was in love with creating short films until I discovered how easy it is for anyone to start creating games using tools like Unity...and ever since I started working on Zombox I've never looked back.

    I'm interested to see what you come up with! I'd love to see a game set in the WATS universe!

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