Sava Zivkovic

Projects Update (Jan 2023)

Tracy Harwood Blog January 23, 2023 Leave a reply

This week, we have some more interesting project updates to share with you.

Recognition

We were thrilled to hear that Sam Crane’s GTA Online version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been recognized, being shortlisted for an award for innovation at the The Stage Awards 2023 – we love that they spelled Auto incorrectly too (Audio)! Awards are announced on 30 January and hopefully Sam (aka Rustic Mascara) will keep us posted on his Twitter feed during the event. All the best, Sam! You can still find the performance on YouTube, link here –

Unreal

Using Unreal Engine, this short is another example of how beautiful this toolset is. This short by The Blender Bender team (Thomas Thielemann and Alexander Korabelnikov), released 26 Sept 2022, was inspired by David Attenborough’s Our Planet series, and with an even more stark message than the original series –

Also using Unreal Engine, we were interested to see that Sava Zivkovic, who’s film Irradiation we reviewed back in October 2021, is working on a new project, this one called Beckoning. He’s also just been awarded an Epic Megagrant to support development of the project – well deserved for sure. Here’s the link to the trailer for the new project – must say, very much looking forward to seeing the finished work.

Not Unreal but seriously unreal, this is an ‘insane battle’ scene demonstrating the astonishing simulation capability of the Epic Battle Simulator 2 engine. This one, SPECIAL FORCES ARE LANDING ON THE ISLAND OCCUPIED BY SAURON, was released 5 November 2022, by the Battle Simulator Center team –

Virtual Production

A short film, called Goliath by DonBittersil (screencap is our featured image for this post), has showcased virtual production tools using Unreal Engine, having been shot at LA’s Orbital Virtual Studios. For those advancing from purely screen based production techniques, this is an interesting insight into scaled-up processes – check out the film and the ‘making of’ videos here –

You may remember we shared Jackson Wang’s beautifully choreographed music video called Cruel a few weeks back, well this is another one from his Magic Man album, using virtual production techniques. Its also a stunning example of his creative work and the usefulness of the VP process –

Avant Garde?

An interesting article appeared on MUBI’s website about a cutscene collective, called Total Refusal. This team of gamers do what machinima creators have done for 25+ years, that is, use the game for some other creative purpose. Its nice to see that MUBI is keeping up with the times of course, and they would certainly do well to follow our friends at the Milan Machinima Film Festival to keep up to date with this particular ‘Avant Garde’ scene format. In the meantime, this is an example of Total’s Refusal’s creative works, a trailer for Hardly Working (RDR2) –

S3 E53 Film Reviews: The Remnants & So Palpatine Needs Padme Dead… (Nov 2022)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes November 17, 2022 Leave a reply

This week we have two great films to share with you courtesy of Damien. Our main film is The Remnants by Stan Petruk, a disturbing tale of the aftermath of some global disaster created as part of Reallusion’s Pitch and Produce programme. Our bonus film is a Mobile Short treat, So Palpatine Needs Padme Dead…[LEGO Edition] by Cinematic Series Gaming. Its astonishing what can be packed into 60 seconds!



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

The Remnants by Stan Petruk (released 7 June 2022)

This film has all the hallmarks of an Eastern European style that we’ve talked about before – remember Irradiation by Sava Zivkovic (S1 E22, October 2021) and The Ship by Mednios (S1 E2, March 2021)?

There’s a nice description of Stan’s pipeline to create the film and the tools he’s used on 80.lv here and his comments about using Character Creator are on Reallusion’s website here. Below is also a nice video explainer by Stan.

So Palpatine Needs Padme Dead…[LEGO Edition] by Cinematic Gaming Series (released 29 Sept 2022)

Enjoy, and as ever, feedback and suggestions welcome!

Credits –
Speakers: Ricky Grove, Damien Valentine,Tracy Harwood, Phil Rice
Editor/Producer: Damien Valentine
Music: Scott Buckley – www.scottbuckley.com.au CC 00

Completely Machinima S1 Ep 22 Films (October 2021)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes October 21, 2021 2 Comments

In this episode, Ricky, Phil, Tracy and Damien discuss horror and Halloween themed films, with some older and more contemporary content in games including Half Life 2, GTA4, Unreal Engine, Half Life Alyx, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead.



Show Notes & Links

Civil Protection: The Tunnel

Civil Protection: The Tunnel by Accursed Farms, released 19 March 2011

Burgeur Shotte

Burgeur Shotte by Zachariah Scott, released 11 January 2009

Irradiation

Irradiation by Sava Zivkovic, released 11 August 2021

Scout Vs Witch

Scout Vs Witch by Randall Glass, released 31 August 2012

Half Life Alyx, The Movie (Ep 2)

Half Life Alyx, The Movie (Ep 1) by Half Peeps, released 7 July 2021