DIGIPENDENCE - declare yours!

Thanks to Matt Kelland for pointing me towards this film and telling me that it was a “superb introduction to machinima”…

Half-Life is a popular video game series from Valve. A science fiction first-person shooter, it consists of two full games, two episodic games, and three third-party made expansions, as well as a number of demos featuring exclusive content. Dr. Gordon Freeman, a theoretical physicist and employee of the Black Mesa Research Facility, is the main protagonist.

According to Wikipedia:

The series has been ongoing since 1998. Most games and expansions in the series were developed by Valve Corporation and published by Sierra Studios, although some expansions were produced by Gearbox Software. Electronic Arts also took over distribution of the games in the series from Sierra from 2005 onwards. The series was initially released for the PC, but console ports of most installments have also been released. All expansion packs for the original game feature playable characters other than Freeman.

Ross Scott of Accused Films has created an on-going machinima series in Half-Life called Freeman’s Mind:

Freeman’s Mind is a science-fiction comedy series that follows the thoughts of Dr. Gordon Freeman, a 27 year old physicist and protagonist of the game Half-Life. The setting starts off in Black Mesa, a government research facility in New Mexico. In the game Half-Life, Freeman is entirely silent and has no actual personality. In Freeman’s Mind, he is a highly vocal and neurotic individual with paranoid and delusional tendencies. All episodes are filmed in a first-person perspective as he gives a monologue of his thoughts. Episodes are sequential and should be watched in order to make the most sense of the series.

Episode 15: Freeman braves radioactive waste, finds a new route, and encounters something much bigger than him.

Director’s Note: Due to an error in processing, the Youtube version is much darker than it should be. I recommend watching one of the other versions for best viewing.

Release Date: 2009-09-21
Runtime: 8m13s

Thanks to Phil Rice for pointing me towards this film.

On August 24th, I interviewed Moviestorm’s Matt Kelland (who recently got married!). I even managed to squeeze a few secrets out of ‘the tight-lipped-one’.

Upon reviewing the audio file, I discovered that it had some technical problems, and not being highly skilled in audio stuffs, I turned to Phil Rice and Ricky Grove to see what could be done to fix the problem. They were able to help by explaining what had gone wrong and also gave some suggestions and advice and finally, by doing some voodoo to improve the quality.

And yes, this is digipendence.com’s FIRST podcast!

Listen to Digicast 001:

Right-click to download: Digicast #001 - Matt Kelland (mp3)

Animator David T. Krupicz is the rarest of the rare, a one-man film studio.

He writes, he produces, he directs, does all his own graphics & artwork as well as all his own sound design and effects. Previously he created the four-part Rocketmen vs. Robots series.

With that exacting experience under his belt, David decided to create a feature-length film. Over the last 3 years, he held down a full-time job at a call center and came home every night and used second-hand computers and obsolete production software to produce a visually-stunning 3D movie.

Completely original, and 66 minutes in length, it’s called Archon Defender; here’s the detailed production blog.

Archon Defender follows the path of a young woman, Colette, as she seeks her way through adversity to redemption, as the world she once knew is torn apart by war and tyranny. The Empress Lucia has risen to power in Echelon, and is systematically persecuting the Shard Sensitive, and all who oppose her power.

Orphaned while fleeing from Lucia’s Regime, Colette seeks refuge in the nation of Archon. Having Awakened to the Shard, her abilities become fully manifest under the guidance of the Archon Council. Joining the Archon Defense Wing, she must confront her own feelings of isolation and despair, to stand against Lucia.

Archon Defender 2009 Trailer

Originally, he was going to create Archon Defender in 2D and did the first shots in July of 2006, but he realized that 3D was the way to go, and did the first 3D shots in October of 2006. The final shot was finished March 28, 2009.

In April, he began the voiceovers and sound effects editing and design. At the end of July, he began to work on both DVD authoring and film festival submissions.

Archon Defender was just awarded first place in Animation Category at the SkyFest Film and Script Festival in Asheville NC, and will have its World Premiere theatrical debut on October 7, 2009 at Toronto’s famed Revue Cinema.

First shot:

Last shot:

According to David:

The only way to actually finish a project like this is to hold an image of the final project in your mind. It forces you to learn new skills and improve your abilities as you go along. The only difference between a feature and a short is simply the number of shots that need to be done. Making a feature forces you to learn how to streamline your workflow, forces you to improve your skills. I managed to get the film done in 3 years in my ’spare time’ averaging about 4 seconds of new shots per day.

David’s solo work on this project included, but was not limited to: Director, Script Writer, Storyboard Artist, Concept Artist, Set Designer, Character Designer, Costume Designer, 3D Modeler, 3D Rigging, Texturing, Lighting, Art Director, Animator, Renderer, Compositor, Effects Artist, Editor, Musician, Sound Effects, DVD layout, Website Designer and Promotion

Archon Defender 2008 Trailer

David is very supportive other other independent filmmakers and people to go ahead and make their own feature:

Making a animated film is easy. All you have to do is write the script, storyboard it, create the concept art, design the characters and environments, build the 3d sets, props, models, characters, texture and light, rig the models, animate, lip sync, render, comp, fx, edit, sync audio, music, final comp, and done! The only difference between a short and a feature is the number of shots you have to do.

Okay, that’s a bit tongue-in-cheek, BUT, it’s a good explanation of what needs to be done. And on his blog, he explains his workflow and process which is a helpful guide. And he also shares some of his tools and methods.

One thing that this director is really clear about is copyright and trademark issues, something he learned about when making his Rocketmen vs. Robots series. While the story was original, he didn’t own the rights to the Lego style minifig characters he used. He thinks that it’s important for filmmakers to tell their own stories and explains why in some detail, including:

Why make half a film, that you don’t own the rights to and beg all over your website to not be sued because you’re not doing it for money etc… Go the whole way, come up with something original, and if it’s epic enough it just might take off. The independent filmmaker revolution can’t overtake the money studios if we keep riding on their coattails.

Screenshots