Saturday 25 December 2010

Captain's Festive Blog: Merry Christmas to All!

Brief drop in whilst my venison is percolating to wish all the readers of Captain's Blog a Happy and Fun Festive season and a prosperous and inventive New Year!  May 2011 bring all that you desire!


Until the festivities are done for another year, fare thee well and have a safe and joyous holiday season!

Thursday 9 December 2010

Captain's Blog: Odyssey Season Two

Yes; I finally sat down tonight and had some time to start blocking out scenes for Odyssey Season Two!

A year after Season One wrapped (in which I've done a ton of things I never imagined doing this time last year; writing my own stuff, a coupla scripts for others, advising on a couple more, voice-acting, being honoured to be a part of Team WarTechnica in the 48hr Machinima contest, presenting at MachinimaExpo (thanks to Kate and Ricky for approaching me on that one!) and even singing (yes, you read that right!  Let's just say a certain someone talked me into a couple of renditions for a certain movie that's being worked on right now; not saying any more til the time is right, or it might scare people away from watching it!); I'd have never thought I'd have done half that lot this time last year!

So, at last, with a little free time not being taken up with either work (mad time with the state of play with the economy in the UK and the recently announced government cut-backs), working on eventually moving the family back to the "Old Stompin' Grounds" where I originally hail from, trying to keep my social life afloat (actually, make that trying to HAVE a social life!) and odds and ends for others, I actually fired up TM "in anger" for the first time in ages and blocked out the first page of Episode One.

A little rusty from not looking at it for a while (other than the presentation for the Expo), it took me a while to remember the controls for one thing!  A good hour's work netted me about a minute of footage, so I guess that means Odyssey Season Two is GO for launch at long last!

More dribble when I get some more time to sit down and type it!

Saturday 6 November 2010

Captain's Blog: Enigma Season Three Finale and Thoughts on Writing for Others


A fan of sci-fi?  Not seen Enigma previously?  Have you been living in a hole for the last 3 years?!? :)

The season finale of Enigma is now available for viewing on TMUnderground and Vimeo; I heartily suggest you go and watch it.

And ignore the fact that I may have had a finger or two in the writing of the script...

It seems soo long ago that Uber and I spoke about the script, bashing ideas about and firing drafts back and forth.

Writing for others is something that some scriptwriters (especially in the 3d animation field) are sometimes reticent about doing; very few seem to really do it.  Whether this is due to the fact that people aren't confident in their own writing abilities, are overly sensitive to suggestions and comments from others on their written work or just too parochial about their "babies", I don't know.


But I find it refreshing.

Why?

Because it forces you to work within a different set of constraints; it's not so easy to churn out a tale using characters or a universe that someone else has created and knows more about than you do.  It's not simple to get inside the heads of characters created (and having had life breathed into) by others, and cause them to issue dialogue that is different to the way you write.  And it's certainly strange to change how you construct or work on a script to fit a different set of criteria.

But it's highly enjoyable, challenging and ultimately a lot of fun to do so.

I've been lucky enough to work as a collaborator on several scripts, and to write a few now where the ultimate directorship of the finished movie lies in the hands of another.  I won't lie; it's not simple to begin with (Chris62 will tell you that in regard to our War of the Worlds project! :)), but it's an immensely useful learning experience to see how to change your approach to work in a different way.

And, the biggest learning experience of the whole thing?  Learning to let go and let the director do it ultimately how THEY are going to shoot it.  In the case of Enigma, Uber has been doing this for 3-4 years now, and knows how he's going to structure and shoot the scenes; I'm not going to be so stupid as to try and tell him how to shoot certain things he KNOWS how to do in the right way to make it "Enigma".  I might write a scene with some overall "snapshot" notes to show what I'm trying to achieve with the sequence, but once that script goes to the director, it's in his or her hands how they want to "get it done".

Equally, from Uber's perspective, he's written an Odyssey episode by referring closely to previously established characters and situations (and come up with a corking episode that I'm itching to get stuck into, incidentally, but that's another story!) but the actual structure of the script he's left to me to figure out as far as possible, allowing me to shoot it how I want without trying to bog me down in specifics.

In the case of The Nobbit (which I had a hand in along with Gabe and Biggstrek), I advised on lines here and there and some various bits and pieces but once again, it's Gabe's job as director to structure it how and where he's going to shoot it.  Trying to get all anal about the process is losing sight of what a collaboration is all about.

After the learning experience of WotW (where I freely admit I got very picky to begin with about how certain things were to be done, and Chris (bless his cottons) kindly slapped me into place and told me (in the best possible way) to get off his back and let him get on with it!), I learned the biggest thing about writing for others:-

You have to trust that the director you're writing for will do the best job they can to get the script shot.

It might not look exactly how you imagined it (but let's be honest, here; how often does that happen, even with your OWN scripts??), but they will do it justice (or, in a lot of cases, make it even better than you thought possible!)

My advice?  If you're going to work with someone as a scriptwriter, don't give your script to the first bod to turn up and ask for it; go with your gut, or work specifically with people you KNOW will do a good job of turning your "baby" into a visual feast.

To do it any other way is doing a MAJOR disservice to your creative abilities.

Friday 29 October 2010

Captain's Blog: Odyssey Season Two Episode One script finally mailed out!

Yes, I know... it's taken me months to get it done, but it's winged its way out to the cast at loooooong last, so maybe I can finally get started on Season Two :)

Wednesday 20 October 2010

Captain's Blog: The 2010 Ollies Award Show Download

Thanks to Mr Ken White, proprietor and all-round master of TMOA, the 2010 Ollies Show download is now available here for those who missed the live version.

Enjoy and once again, massive thanks to Reallusion, Moviestorm, CeltX and the independant iClone developers who supported the awards this year with their prize donations.

Sunday 17 October 2010

Captain's Blog: The 2010 Ollies Film & Community Award Winners

The 2010 Ollies Film and Community Award Winners



BEST PICTURE DEATH IN VENICE (by ChatNoir Studios)  

BEST MOVIE or SERIES DIRECTOR CHAT NOIR STUDIOS (KateLee and SherwinLiu)

BEST ACTOR in a LEADING ROLE K4OWNZALL

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOVIE OR SERIES K4OWNZALL

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MOVIE OR SERIES VICTORIA ELECTA

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOVIE OR SERIES SISCH  

MOST OUTSTANDING TMU NEWCOMER KV  

MOST OUTSTANDING SCREENWRITER KATE LEE
 
BEST COMPOSER FOR A MOVIE OR SERIES SHERWIN LIU

BEST DRAMA MOVIE OR SERIES TRIBUTE (by RIK VARGARD)  

BEST COMEDY MOVIE OR SERIES THE EX FILES (by BIGGSTREK)  

BEST WESTERN MOVIE OR SERIES DEADLY BULLET (by MACWEMYSS)

BEST ROMANCE MOVIE OR SERIES DENIAL (by MACWEMYSS)

BEST SCI-FI MOVIE OR SERIES SOLAR FREYR (by ALLPOINT)

BEST ACTION MOVIE OR SERIES Voyages of the Sojourner: Parts 1-3 (by ANIMATECHNICA)

BEST ARTHOUSE MOVIE OR SERIES INCUBUS (by CHAT NOIR STUDIOS)

BEST FANTASY MOVIE OR SERIES THE BARD: ACTS 1&2 (by ANIMATECHNICA)

BEST HORROR MOVIE OR SERIES A NIGHTMARE IN HELL (by LAVIV42)  

BEST MUSICAL MOVIE OR SERIES J-HARD'S CHRISTMAS ALBUM (by ACT3SCENE24)

BEST WAR MOVIE OR SERIES SHADOWS OF THE PAST (by HARB40)  

BEST MYSTERY MOVIE OR SERIES DEATH IN VENICE (by CHAT NOIR STUDIOS) 

BEST TRAILER FOR A SERIES OR MOVIE THE NOBBIT TRAILER (by ANIMATECHNICA)

BEST SOUNDTRACK FOR A MOVIE OR SERIES DEATH IN VENICE (by ChatNoir)  

BEST SOUND EDITING IN A MOVIE OR SERIES CQ: Blackstar Rising (by K4OWNZALL)

BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A MOVIE OR SERIES CQ:Blackstar Rising (by K4OWNZALL)

BEST SET USE IN A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES Hybris (by SamyHouse) 

BEST COSTUME OR MAKEUP IN A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES Voyages of the Sojourner (by Animatechnica)  

MOST OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS IN A MOVIE OR SERIES The Calling (by JosephKW)  

MOST OUTSTANDING MODDER FOR A MACHINIMA ENGINE MikeDBoing  

BEST MACHINIMATOGRAPHY IN A MOVIE OR SERIES The Bard (by AnimaTechnica)

BEST SHORT FORM FILM OR EPISODE Family Values (by Macwemyss)  

BEST LONG FORM FILM OR EPISODE Death in Venice (by Chat Noir Studios)  

BEST "THE MOVIES" FILM OR SERIES Tribute (by RikVargard)  

BEST "MOVIESTORM" FILM OR SERIES Incubus (by ChatNoir)

BEST "ICLONE" FILM OR SERIES The Bard (by AnimaTechnica) 

BEST "ANYMATION" FILM OR SERIES Incubus (by ChatNoir)

BEST SINGLE SCREENPLAY FOR A FILM OR SERIES Tribute (by JosephKW)  

BEST SUBTITLED FILM OR SERIES Clout: Part 1 (by Tumac)  

BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OR SERIES A Nightmare in Hell (by Laviv42)

BEST LIVE ACTION FILM OR SERIES Cinderblock Dreams (by Nick Blacketer)

BEST PR CAMPAIGN FOR A FILM OR SERIES CQ: Blackstar Rising (by K4OWNZALL)

BEST MOVIE/EPISODE POSTER CQ: Blackstar Rising (by K4OWNZALL)

MOST HELPFUL COMMUNITY MEMBER Chris62  

MOST ENTERTAINING GUEST ON A TMOA RADIO SHOW K4Ownzall (The Ken and Roger Show)  

THE "THONG DE ROGER" AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO TMU 2010 Ken

Saturday 16 October 2010

Captain's Blog: The 2010 Ollies Technical Award Winners

1: BEST SOUNDTRACK FOR A MOVIE OR SERIES
Death in Venice (ChatNoir)
Tribute (RikVargard)
Incubus (ChatNoir)

WINNER: DEATH IN VENICE (by ChatNoir)

2: BEST SOUND EDITING IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
Incubus (ChatNoir)
CQ: Blackstar Rising (K4)
The Calling (JosephKW)

WINNER: CQ: Blackstar Rising (by K4OWNZALL)

3: BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
CQ:Blackstar Rising (K4)
A Nightmare in Hell (Laviv42)
Voyages of the Sojourner (Ricky Grove)

WINNER: CQ:Blackstar Rising (by K4OWNZALL)

4: BEST CUSTOM MOD FOR A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES
CLEAR WINNER: Castle Greyskull by BudBundysMullet

5: BEST MOD/SET USE IN A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES
Hybris (SamyHouse)
Solar Freyr (allpoint)

WINNER: Hybris (by SamyHouse)

6: BEST COSTUME OR MAKEUP IN A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES
Hybris (Samyhouse)
Voyages of the Sojourner (Animatechnica)
Grayskull (Rage)

WINNER: Voyages of the Sojourner (by Animatechnica)

7: MOST OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
A Nightmare in Hell (Laviv42)
The Calling (JosephKW)
Voyages of the Sojourner (Animatechnica)

WINNER: The Calling (by JosephKW)

8: MOST OUTSTANDING MODDER FOR A MACHINIMA ENGINE
MikeDBoing
Warlord
SexyMaria

WINNER: MikeDBoing

9: BEST MACHINIMATOGRAPHY IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
Elegy to the Mind (Reepicheep)
Denial (Macwemyss)
The Bard (AnimaTechnica)

WINNER: The Bard (by AnimaTechnica)

The Film and Community Awards will be announced on the 2010 Ollies Special tomorrow night (in the place of the Roger and Ken Show).

Friday 15 October 2010

Captain's Blog: The 2010 Ollies: Technical Awards on The Weekly Look this Saturday!

On this Saturday's The Weekly Look (October 16), the 2010 Technical Ollies will be announced.  Tune in to find out who has won the following awards!

1: BEST SOUNDTRACK FOR A MOVIE OR SERIES

2: BEST SOUND EDITING IN A MOVIE OR SERIES

3: BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A MOVIE OR SERIES

4: BEST CUSTOM MOD FOR A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES

5: BEST MOD/SET USE IN A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES

6: BEST COSTUME OR MAKEUP IN A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES

7: MOST OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS IN A MOVIE OR SERIES

8: MOST OUTSTANDING MODDER FOR A MACHINIMA ENGINE

9: BEST MACHINIMATOGRAPHY IN A MOVIE OR SERIES

Thanks to Chris62 and Smokstir for donating half their show to allow us to do this; cheers, chaps!

Sunday 10 October 2010

Captain's Blog: The 2010 TMUnderground Ollie Awards

This year, we are splitting the awards into two seperate categories:-

On Saturday 16 October, we will be announcing the Technical Awards (sound, vision, etc) on The Weekly Look TMOA Radio Show (thanks to Chris62 for allowing us to displace the second half of his show!).

On Sunday 17 October is the full Film and Community Awards, on the Roger & Ken Show on TMOA Radio.

Who will win?  Be there for the machinima event of the year to find out!

Thursday 30 September 2010

Captain's Blog: Countdown to the End of the Ollies Voting Phase



Yup, the time is nearly over to get your votes in for the 2010 Ollie Awards!

14 hours and 30 minutes from now (at midnight, UK time 30 September), the Voting Phase ends for this year, so make sure you get your votes in in time!

Friday 24 September 2010

Captain's Blog: The 48hr Machinima Contest


48 Hour Filmmaker: Machinima 2010 

Team WarTechnica (Gabe, Mike, Cathy, Mel, Per, Alley and myself) won Best Editing and Best Sound Effects for SB1070 (see below), which is pretty damned good going for iClone's inaugral outing at the 48hr!
Team Insomaniacs' entry ("Beyond Sundown") is a brilliant piece of MS work (as is to be expected with Jorge, Groucho and Goofparade in the team!)
A great turn out for this year and some excellent movies were turned in; another good year for Machinima, it appears!

Thursday 26 August 2010

Captain's Blog 26.08.10

The Voting Phase has commenced!




THE 2010 TMU OLLIE AWARD FINALISTS

BEST PICTURE OR SERIES
Tribute – Rik Vargard
Death in Venice – Chatnoir Studios
Family Values – Macwemyss


BEST MOVIE OR SERIES DIRECTOR
JosephKW
Macwemyss
Chatnoir Studios (Kate Lee/Sherwin Liu)


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
AnotherNewDawn - Death in Venice
K4 - Family Values
GoofParade - Incubus


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
GoofParade - Grayskull
K4 - Incubus
MikeDBoing – SINS (Remake)


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
Victoria Electa (Incubus)
Sonya (Denial)
Bella (The Only Alien on the Planet)


BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
Sisch (Incubus)
Sonya (Shadows of the Past)
Bella (Grayskull)


MOST OUTSTANDING TMU NEWCOMER
Luxaeternam
Seabiscuit
KV


MOST OUTSTANDING SCREENWRITER
Macwemyss
Kate Lee
JosephKW


BEST COMPOSER FOR A MOVIE OR SERIES
SherwinLiu (Death in Venice)
GoofParade (The Tom Wopat Christmas Spectacular)
Nukester (SINS)


BEST DRAMA MOVIE OR SERIES
Incubus (ChatNoir)
Tribute (RikVargard)
Death in Venice (ChatNoir)


BEST COMEDY MOVIE OR SERIES
The Ex Files (Biggstrek)
The Tom Wopat Christmas Spectacular (BudBundysMullet)
Farce of the Zombies (BenTuttle90)


BEST WESTERN MOVIE OR SERIES
Deadly Bullet (Macwemyss)
El hilo de Láquesis (Reepicheep)
The Merciless Sun (Mericc)


BEST ROMANCE MOVIE OR SERIES
Denial (Macwemyss)
Complication (Dulci)
Incubus (ChatNoir)


BEST SCI-FI MOVIE OR SERIES
Family Values (Macwemyss)
Solar Freyr (Allpoint)


BEST ACTION MOVIE OR SERIES
Indiana Jones and the Gray Ghost (MrPoe)
Sting of the Scorpion Part One- WXIVAN
Voyages of the Sojourner - animatechnica


BEST ARTHOUSE MOVIE OR SERIES
Elegy to the Mind (Reepicheep)
The Biz’s House of Horror (The Biz)
Incubus (ChatNoir)


BEST FANTASY MOVIE
Hybris (Samyhouse)
The Bard (AnimaTechnica)
Grayskull Series (Rage)


BEST HORROR MOVIE OR SERIES
The Calling (JosephKW)
A Nightmare in Hell (Laviv42)
Entity (KV)


BEST MUSICAL MOVIE OR SERIES
Jesus Christ Superstar: Gethsemane (Jase180)
J-Hard's Christmas Album (act3scene24)
The Ultimate Showdown of TMO History (Guppi)


BEST WAR MOVIE OR SERIES
Shadows of the Past (Harb40)
Sandstorm (HardyCapo)
The Dragon Slain (LewisQ)


BEST MYSTERY MOVIE
Death in Venice (ChatNoir)
Hard Requitals (MefuneAkira)
Denial (Macwemyss)


BEST TRAILER FOR MOVIE OR SERIES
Gerbil Man (Pookashells)
The Nobbit Trailer (AnimaTechnica)
Tribute Trailer (RikVargard)


BEST SOUNDTRACK FOR MOVIE OR SERIES
Death in Venice (ChatNoir)
Tribute (RikVargard)
Incubus (ChatNoir)


BEST SOUND EDITING IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
Incubus (ChatNoir)
CQ: Blackstar Rising (K4)
The Calling (JosephKW)


BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
CQ:Blackstar Rising (K4)
A Nightmare in Hell (Laviv42)
Voyages of the Sojourner (Ricky Grove)


BEST MOD/SET USE IN A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES
Hybris (SamyHouse)
Solar Freyr (allpoint)


BEST COSTUME OR MAKEUP IN A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES
Hybris (Samyhouse)
Voyages of the Sojourner (Animatechnica)
Grayskull (Rage)


MOST OUTSTANDING SPECIAL EFFECTS IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
A Nightmare in Hell (Laviv42)
The Calling (JosephKW)
Voyages of the Sojourner (Animatechnica)


MOST OUTSTANDING MODDER FOR A MACHINIMA ENGINE
MikeDBoing
Warlord
SexyMaria


BEST CUSTOM MOD FOR A MACHINIMA MOVIE OR SERIES
CLEAR WINNER ALREADY PICKED BY NOMINATION!


BEST MACHINIMATOGRAPHY IN A MOVIE OR SERIES
Elegy to the Mind (Reepicheep)
Denial (Macwemyss)
The Bard (AnimaTechnica)


BEST SHORT FORM FILM OR EPISODE (<15 MINS)
Ad Hominem Attack (act3scene24)
The Calling (JosephKW)
Family Values (Macwemyss)


BEST LONG FORM FILM OR EPISODE (>15 MINS)
Tribute (RikVargard)
Hybris (Samyhouse)
Death in Venice (ChatNoir)


BEST "THE MOVIES" FILM OR SERIES 2010
Tribute (RikVargard)
Elegy to the Mind (Reepicheep)
Family Values (Macwemyss)


BEST "MOVIESTORM" FILM OR SERIES 2010
Incubus (ChatNoir)
Hard Requitals (MefuneAkira)
Embers (IceAxe)


BEST "ICLONE" FILM OR SERIES 2010
The Bard (AnimaTechnica)
Grayskull: Rise of Hordak Parts 1 - Finale (Rage)
Voyages of the Sojourner (AnimaTechnica)


BEST OTHER MACHINIMA FILM OR SERIES 2010
CLEAR WINNER ALREADY PICKED BY NOMINATION!


BEST "ANYMATION" FILM OR SERIES 2010
The Duleks (SatscapeFilms)
Incubus (ChatNoir)
DiVAS (Phaylen)
The EX Files (Biggstrek)
(yes, there are 4, but it was a dead-heat, so we're letting YOU decide!)


BEST SINGLE SCREENPLAY FOR A FILM OR SERIES 2010
Tribute (JosephKW)
Death in Venice (KateLee)
Incubus (KateLee)


BEST SUBTITLED FILM OR SERIES 2010
Clout (Tumac)
American Hero (Smokstir13)



BEST NON-ENGLISH LANGUAGE FILM OR SERIES 2010
A Nightmare in Hell (Laviv42)
Garel's Invention (Gilga)
Hybris (samyhouse)


BEST LIVE ACTION FILM OR SERIES 2010
Cinderblock Dreams (Nick Blacketer)
The Nose Collectors (Timothy Richmond 3)
The Console (JosephKW)


BEST PR CAMPAIGN FOR A FILM OR SERIES 2010
CQ: Blackstar Rising (K4)
Tales from the People Zoo (thebiz)


BEST MOVIE/EPISODE POSTER 2010
CQ: Blackstar Rising (K4)
Enigma III, Episode 6: Et Tu Kwong (Burkey1993)
The Calling (Burkey1993)


MOST HELPFUL COMMUNITY MEMBER 2010
Macwemyss
Chris62
K4


MOST ENTERTAINING GUEST ON A TMOA RADIO SHOW 2010
MefuneAkira (The Ken and Roger Show)
K4 (The Ken and Roger Show)
Act3Scene24 (The Ken and Roger Show)


THE "THONG DE ROGER" AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO TMU 2010
Ken
K4
Dulci

So, there we have it; the finalist list for the 2010 Ollies!

The Voting Form can be found via the TMU Forums (for some reason I can't get a link to work tonight ;(); this form is slightly different from the previous one, as it e-mails a copy of itself to me as well as storing the database.

RULES
1) ALL categories must be voted on; no abstentions in Phase Two!

2) As ever, you cannot vote for yourself or you will be disqualified!

3) Again, no canvassing for votes or you will be disqualified.

4) If you make a cock-up on the submission, PM me or Tom on here and we will sort it out for you.


And there we have it!


You have until midnight, UK time on 30th September 2010 to complete your form and get it in.

Saturday 21 August 2010

Captain's Blog 22.08.10

DONG!

That's it, folks.  If you didn't get them in by now, tough titty.

Nominations Phase is CLOSED.

We'll now away and tot everything up, then get back to you with Phase Two: The Voting, in a few days!

Thank you to everyone who made the effort to nominate entries for this year; without your efforts, there would BE no Ollies.

Thursday 19 August 2010

Captain's Blog 19.08.10

You have slightly over 2 days to get your nominations in for The 2010 Ollie Awards!

Only YOUR vote counts, so make it count!

Monday 16 August 2010

Captain's Blog 16.08.10

Get your Ollies Nominations In!
You only have until midnight UK time on 21 August to submit your nominations for this year's TMU Ollie Awards; nominations so far have been very few in number and unless we get enough, it will make a mockery of the purpose of having a free vote for the first round.


There are a ton of prizes, submitted by the very kind folks at Moviestorm, Reallusion, CeltX and some of the wonderfully generous iClone content creation community, so don't sit on your laurels (or any other part of your anatomy, come to that!).  Make sure that you visit the forums, check the rules and get those nominations submitted!

Oh... and tell your friends!

Thursday 29 July 2010

Prizes galore from the lovely fellows at Moviestorm!

...and there's more!

Those lovely folk over at Moviestorm have ponied up some treats for the winners!

The winner of the Best Moviestorm Film or Series will receive a year's subscription as a prize!

The winners of the following categories will each receive 2000 Moviestorm Points (irrespective of whether the winning movies were made with MS or not; talk about a generous offer!).

1. BEST PICTURE OR SERIES 2010
2. BEST MOVIE OR SERIES DIRECTOR 2010
3. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
4. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
5. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
6. BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
7. MOST OUTSTANDING TMU NEWCOMER 2010
8. MOST OUTSTANDING SCREENWRITER 2010
9. BEST COMPOSER FOR A MOVIE OR SERIES
29. MOST OUTSTANDING MODDER FOR A MACHINIMA ENGINE

Major thanks to Matt and the guys over at Moviestorm for their generosity and support for this year's Ollie Awards!

Thursday 22 July 2010

The TMU Ollie Awards 2010

The Second Annual Ollies

Yes, folks! It’s that time again! Ollie time! (Cue bad MCHammer impression).

TMU’s premiere awards are back for their second year; after such a great reception last time, we’re gonna try to go bigger and better this year!

For those who weren’t around last year, the process is simple; we are looking for everyone (for indeed YOU, as the viewing public, will be the "members of the Academy" in these awards) to place their votes for the award categories below; everyone gets a vote and the winners will be chosen based on the total number of votes tallied for each category. This way, the community speaks, and the winners will be those voted for BY the community as a whole.

You can Nominate those films, series, actors, modders, directors, writers, musicians, etc, that qualify in the Nomination Phase. This phase will give us our shortlist of candidates for the Voting Phase which will determine the final winners of the coveted 2010 Ollies!

Go here to see the full post, including how to nominate YOUR choices for this year's awards!

Sunday 13 June 2010

Captain's Blog 13.06.10

I thought I'd dip my toe in the water this year and throw my hat into the ring for this year's Roger Thong competition, with a follow up (of sorts) to the Strange Worlds movie I did for the Weekly Look Short Film contest.

Dr Foster Gloucester returns with the sordid tale of the Beast of Eastbourne, featuring the vocal talents of Ken, Monk, Chris and Mac (and my bad regional accents to boot :)). Fun putting it together as the last "minor movie" before work starts full tilt on Odyssey Season Two.

Hopefully, it'll be out sometime this week...

Sunday 9 May 2010

Captain's Blog 09.05.10

The Roger and Ken Show 9 May 2010

The Old Git and I will be on air tonight, discussing Conquest: Blackstar Rising (amongst other stuff, as we usually do, no doubt ;)) at the usual place.

In the first guest lot, our pal Uber will be on, so it's a sci-fi special tonight :)

How the process of "long distance collaboration" worked; the making of the movie, and all the usual associated chatter.

So, come along and join the fun :)

Thursday 6 May 2010

Captain's Blog 06.04.10

Conquest: Blackstar Rising


Thanks to all those who made the premiere last night; hopefully a good time was had by all.

DL did a good job with the stream; very little in the way of problems for such a long movie.

The download link is available from the Production Thread on TMU; due to the size, I'm having to send the movie to hosting as two seperate files (the full movie won't convert to enable embedding).

It is available on BlipTV at the moment, but isn't embeddable; once I have the two pieces uploaded, I'll post them to TMU.

EDIT: Thanks to Ken, it's now available on TMU for your viewing pleasure!

Monday 3 May 2010

Captain's Blog 03.05.10

EDITED: SECOND SHOWING TIME BROUGHT FORWARD DUE TO REAL-LIFE COMMITMENTS

Conquest: Blackstar Rising will premiere this Weds (5 May) at TMUTheater.

There will be two premiere showings (to allow both the US and European communities to attend); the first will be:-

Wednesday May 5th, 2010 at  

12:00pm PDT/ 3:00pm EDT/ 8:00pm GMT

and again at  


5:10pm PDT/ 8:10pm EDT/ 1:10am GMT

Either me or K4 (or both) hope to be there obviously, but in case we can't, we've planned a special little something for the evening...

So, hopefully we'll see you at TMUTheater on Wednesday evening!

Sunday 2 May 2010

Captain's Blog 02.05.10

4 months in the making and last night Conquest: Blackstar Rising was finally rendered!

A mammoth task, fraught with difficulties (not least both K4 and I developing ear infections at roughly the same time, and me injuring my elbow and having to struggle with a sling for 2 weeks right in the middle of the project) but it came out rather well; all that's left to do now is for The Daddy to sign off on the finished product and sort out a premiere date.

All of which means I can now turn my attentions back to Odyssey Season Two and start work on that at last; sheesh, is there no end to it all? :P

Friday 5 March 2010

Captain's Blog 06.03.10

Been so busy IRL and with putting BSR together I haven't posted a lot recently (well, at all here, anyway :))

Visual work well underway; two scenes rendered for sound editing which have winged (wung?) their merry way off to K4 for him to work his magic (or at least they will once he's recovered from the galloping lurgy he's currently suffering; must be awful being that ancient and having a cold :P)

So, work continuing apace on this; am pretty much waiting for the principal cast to get their lines in now before continuing, so I can structure the other scenes based off their performances.

And then Odyssey Season Two to start, Eldritch to finish... and who knows what else is on the cards?

Laters, phantom reader dudes!

Saturday 16 January 2010

Captain's Blog 16.01.10

Well, it's 2010 and I suppose I'd better make an effort to update this, being as it's well into the new decade now! :)

So, Odyssey Season One is complete and put to bed; glad the series seemed to be well received (which is just as well with 3 more years of scripts to complete the story!!). 

ConQuest (I ought to stop writing it that way; it gives me bad memories of SeaQuest... shudder...) Blackstar Rising on the desk and underway; about 1/3 to 1/2 way through it on the initial run (trying to keep it under control or it'll end up being well over an hour long otherwise!!), my first foray into the Conquest universe.  Quite excited by this, as it's an area of the CQ universe K4's quite wired about (which also means the Old Git will be going over this with a fine toothed comb, so it's gotta be right!)

Kinda wierd writing for someone else's universe; with Odyssey (being mine) I can write what the hell I want and damn the torpedoes, but with this I much narrower field to play in.  K4's really flexible when it comes to adding stuff, but with more CQ coming out (currently, there's only the Enigma Season Two episode, Artifact and Beginnings as full-length (or episode length)), there's going to be less room for maneuver.

Still, it's a script I've wanted to do for some time, showing a distinctly darker edge to the upto now mostly clean CQ universe (with the exception of Artifact to a certain degree).  It's slated to fit into the "next generation" timeframe of CQ, towards the end of the Coalition and the momentous events that will be making an appearance on your screens later this year or early next year in a sneaky way (stay tuned for that when it blasts onto your screens; it'll be a doozy!); backstabbing, political manuevering, treachery, sneakiness and some dark actions by the eponymous "heroes" of the piece, I'm looking forward to getting this done.

But, of course, it'll mean getting the damned script finished first!  I'd better get back to it, or I'll end up like K4 ;)

Toodle pipski (as a certain Arnold Rimmer would say...); til the next time...

Captain's Blog: TMU has resurfaced!

Happened to notice the dial on my browser suddenly showing the TMU site thumbnail again today, so tried going onto tmunderground and... it w...