Half Life

Projects Update 1 (Apr 2023)

Tracy Harwood Blog April 17, 2023 Leave a reply

This week, we highlight more creative talent than we can ever hope to include in our weekly film review discussions.

Interloper Ep 4 LIVE

You may recall we reviewed the Interloper series a couple of months ago, convincing Phil that this was ‘for real’! Well, maybe it is, as in this episode, which was streamed live on 22 March in a very interesting approach to storytelling on a ‘grand scale’, Anomidae continues the saga. We certainly concur with comments on the video that suggest this transcends into the paranormal. I’m sure it will enthrall just as much as the first episodes did –

Hired Steel Ep 3

The Hired Steel team are producing some outstanding work, and this is another episode from the TMC team that we first reviewed back in July last year, released on 10 Feb. These guys are going from strength to strength and what’s really great viewing is the way that character empathy is built through the storytelling. Nice work, do check it out –

Little Nightmares Rap Song

JT Music (formerly JT Machinima) released a video to ‘Hungry for Another One’ in SFM, working with Harry101UK, released on 21 Jan. This is a real treat both aurally and visually. These guys are top of the pops for machinima music vids. Enjoy –

Death Train [S2FM]

A great short by Vladislav Zharkov released on 27 May last year, this is actually a scaled back version of a project for which the creator originally had a much bigger vision. Its a great concept and one we would definitely encourage the creator to continue to develop. In the meantime, he’s focussing on the music –

SL The Tragedy

Finally this week, we present a wild west story not from the world of Red Dead Redemption but from Second Life. In this film/music video set to Lady Gaga’s 911, Godiva SL has created a fun and fast-paced story, released on 24 Jan (its also the feature image for this blog post). Its well edited, the horse and hounds even gallop to the beat of the music, and takes you on a real journey –

S3 E64 Film Review: Half Life 3 (Honest Game Trailers) by Fandom Games (Feb 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes February 9, 2023 Leave a reply

This week’s episode reviews a film by Fandom Games called Half Life 3: Honest Game Trailers, released 31 March 2015. The film is a throwback style of satire and even if you’ve not been following Valve’s Half Life developments, you’ll enjoy this. For those less in the know, HL3 is a game that never made it beyond the hype, despite its avid fan base waiting patiently (or impatiently) to play it for 20 years! We reflect on Fandom Games origins in Jimmy Wale’s Wiki technology. We also discuss our approach to ‘healthy criticism’ on the podcast.



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

The film –

The Fandom wiki site link here

Video Game Leak’s commentary on the expectation for HL3 –

Article by Eurogamer on the recent leak of Valve’s video game assets

Completely Machinima S2 Ep 33 Films (March 2022)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes March 10, 2022 Leave a reply

This month, Ricky, Phil, Tracy and Damien discuss machinima and real-time productions made in Second Life including documentaries illustrating life on the ‘grid’, events and experiences such as an art collector’s paradise, a potted history of the environment, a sci-fi convention, extraordinary examples of films that show the unique qualities of the Second Life creative community, a tutorial and a new cyberpunk drama series.  The co-hosts also discuss their perspectives on the importance of Second Life as a creative platform for machinima.



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

1.17 Plask.ai, free webcam-based motion capture tool

2.45 Second Life discussion

  • where does the inspiration come from for creating SL machinima films?
  • how has SL improved over the years for content creators?

22.24 Portrait of a Virtual Art Collector: Joseph K by Preben Wolff, film made by Glasz DeCuir, released 16 November 2018 (original film made in September 2015)

screencap: Portrait of a Virtual Art Collector: Joseph K

33.29 Pryda Parx’s Future Shock documentary series, discussed as part of Second Life’s Movies Made in Second Life series, released 2 March 2020

36.15 Draxter Depres’s social channels

36.56 Half Life 2 Apartments UNIGINE Real-Time demo REMAKE by Ostap Gordon, released 25 February 2021

screencap: Half Life 2 Apartments UNIGINE Real-Time demo REMAKE

38.12 Scifi Convention, video advert released by SL4Live-TV on 21 May 2020, convention website and date for 2022 event ‘Brave New Future’ 18-29 May.

46.41 Push by Lainy Voom (TraceChops), released 11 July 2009

screencap: Push

55.30 Soul Chambers by Chantel Harvey, released 1 February 2022 (film made in 2011)

1.06.47 The History of Second Life 1999-2021 by Bollycoco, released 12 February 2021

1.16.15 Digital Rain 2021 by Mac’n Tease Tomato, released 13 January 2022 and series website

1.24.40 Honorable mention: Tree of Life of Avatar by Tizzy Canucci, released 2 July 2021

Announcements

Second Life website, free download

Machinima Mondays meetup group, run by Chantal Harvey (join support group on Facebook)

Completely Machinima premieres weekly on Thursdays on our YouTube channel

Next month: Reallusion’s iClone

Completely Machinima S1 Ep 17 News (September 2021)

Ricky Grove Podcast Episodes September 2, 2021 Leave a reply

Tracy, Ricky, and Damien are back (Phil is still out) with fun coverage of recent machinima and machinima-related news. From the Reallusion Lip-Sync contest to a bizarre indie game called “Heal Hitler”, the three of us share news that is inspired and often quite weird.



Links & Show Notes

Reallusion Lip-Sync Contest. Deadline Sept 30th, 2021
iClone Lip-Sync Animation Contest 2021 | Reallusion

Half Life: A Larger Puzzle by Leadhead
https://youtu.be/-iI05uJgBA8

Heal Hitler Steam Indie Game
Heal Hitler on Steam (steampowered.com)

Max Payne 20th Anniversary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DsQVD5ttpog

12 Weeks with Nightmare Puppeteer at Renderosity Magazine
Episode 1: Introduction – Renderosity Magazine

Diablo 2: Resurrected. Release Sept 23, 2021
Diablo® II: Resurrected (blizzard.com)

Cascadeur
https://cascadeur.com/

Quake re-release, 25th anniversary
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2310/QUAKE/

Film Festivals and Contests –

Cinematic Captures Star Wars fanfilm contest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtoB7K3L1HA

Milan Machinima Festival
https://filmfreeway.com/MILANMACHINIMAFESTIVAL

New Media Film Festival
https://filmfreeway.com/NewMediaFilmFestival

Sci Fi and Fantasy Genre Lab
https://filmfreeway.com/SciFiandFantasyGenreLab

Indie Suspense, Horror, Sci Fi Film Festival
https://filmfreeway.com/IndieSuspenseHorrorSciFiFilmFestival

YouTube Shorts update
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/youtube-will-pay-100m-to-creators-on-its-new-shorts-platform-205156.html https://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/youtube-exec-gives-details-on-new-shorts-platform-and-100m-fund-for-creators-207708.html
https://www.theverge.com/22606296/youtube-shorts-fund-neal-mohan-decoder-interview

Valve’s Steamdeck release
https://www.steamdeck.com/en/hardware