Podcast Episodes Archives - Page 13 of 40

S4 E99 Elite Dangerous Odyssey: The Personal Odyssey 1 (Oct 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes October 18, 2023 Leave a reply

This week our film selection is an Elite Dangerous Odyssey ‘Captain’s Log’ style machinima, heavily influenced by Douglas Adams and John Carpenter with shades of Gerry Anderson. The film is The Personal Odyssey 1 by Cmdr Fortytwo. We discuss the use of AI generated voices in this (its a 2021 film) and in particular how well its use can convey emotion – our debate is a deliberation on the choice to create a monotonic dialogue. Damien’s overview of the Thargoids is a fascinating insight into the hidden game lore of Elite Dangerous.

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

The Personal Odyssey 1 | Cinematic Exploration | Elite Dangerous Odyssey by Cmdr. Fortytwo, released 24 October 2021 –

Gerry Anderson’s Space:1999 opening –

S4 E98 World of Warcraft/Cyberpunk 2077: Neo Stormwind

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes October 11, 2023 Leave a reply

WOW! Our collective adjective for this World of Warcraft / Cyberpunk 2077 mashup. This is a stunningly edited urban observational film, set in a strange new world the like of which we have never seen before – a cacophany in a good way. Shades of Blade Runner, Robocop and Mad Max run through the film, with a soundscape and accompanying music that are a perfect fit. We also loved that @DurenMachinima has cited his inspiration, mentioning the late, great @Phixor2000 among others.

YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

Neo Stormwind (WoW Machinima) by Duren, released 4 Aug 2023 –

Olibith series called Never Stay Tuned, an hilarious commentary on popular culture within the World of Warcraft –

IK edit, Secrets of Ulduar, which is a cinematic of Wow that has been remastered –

S4 E97 Elden Ring: Monty Python (Oct 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes October 4, 2023 Leave a reply

Kicking off Season 4 of the podcast, we review a Monty Python inspired film, integrating one of their greatest films with Elden Ring – Holy Grail. The film has been made by The Escapist in collaboration with eli_handle_b.wav and is a brilliantly edited and composited mashup. It is also a very appropriate pick for this episode since Monty Python were the inspiration for this podcast in the first place, so we reflect in the show that we’ve now been working on this podcast longer than the original Star Trek series ran + another 20 years collaborating on top of that too!

We also discuss news items: the launch of Starfield; Nexus Mods; Unity’s faux pas with the community of creators; Ricky’s attempt to install an AMD 7800T graphics card; and, the Sims Machinima & Animation Convention.

YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes and Links

Monty Python & the Elden Ring | Multiverse by The Escapist, released 8 August 2023

The Escapist is a website by gamers, for gamers, about gamers, releasing new videos every day at its website: http://www.escapistmagazine.com

A ‘how to’ using AI with largely free tools including Adobe Express to remove the background of images and put anything generated by AI back into the image, by Guy Parsons – https://twitter.com/GuyP/status/1704886297649631324

Starfield promotion –

Unity blog posts –

Original news post

Retraction post

Interview by Jason Weimann with Marc Whitten, Unity’s general manager –

Sims Machinima & Animation Convention 2023 website here and event recordings here –

S3 E96 Unreal Engine: Backrooms medley (Sept 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes September 27, 2023 1 Comment

In this week’s episode, we discuss the phenomenal Backrooms meme that has emerged ever since @kanepixels original film (and the much awaited Netflix version was announced). We review three examples of the works being created, variously using levels of the rapidly evolving game: Chaos in the Hub by @BackroomsMerchant is probably the most close to the original horror vibe; Endless Escalators by @ReturnToRender is an example of great comedic timing; and Crab Rave – Backrooms Edition by @Madlykeanu is just pure fun, and an example of a meme upon a meme. As Phil suggests, however, has it gone too far, a la Poltergeist and Alien, and what does this astonishing level of response to the original film mean for the success of the Netflex release? We have mixed views and yet geniusly, somehow, Ricky manages to invoke Kafka into the discussion!

YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes and Links

Film selection – Chaos in the Hub by Backrooms Merchant, released 1 August 2022 –

Endless Escalators, by Return to Render, released 24 October 2022 –

Crab Rave – Backrooms Edition by Madkeanu, released 2 June 2022 –

and here’s the meme this was based on too, Crab Rave by Noisestorm, 2015 –

And, our original review of The Backrooms, released on the channel in Feb –

S3 E95 UE: Terra & ED: Into Black (Sept 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes September 20, 2023 Leave a reply

This week Damien has picked two space exploration shorts for us to review: one is made in UE called Terra by @j.thomaswilson3543 and the other is an ED film called Into Black by @indigointoblack . The film sequencing of the craft in flight in Into Black shows the competence of the creator whereas the human element encapsulated by the robot in Terra is particularly engaging and adds a different dimension to the storytelling. We discuss the similarities and differences of these approaches to space operas in general, and also how it contrasts to the Pixar approach of building in cuteness and sentimentality. In the end, however, we agree (with the exception of Tracy’s perspective) that these are great cinematic examples of machinima… but maybe you settle on Tracy’s side of the discussion?

YouTube Version of This Episode