20/03, 16:25 The Mummy in my Basement
Genre: Comedy
Length: 4:27
Size on Disk: 6.63mb
Content: Moderate violence
Plot Summary: A bartender tells a customer a story about the mummy in his basement.
Download: The Mummy in my Basement (Please right-click and save as)
Mummies, skeletons, and zombies in movies have always amused me because they all represent dead people. Despite rigormortis and serious decaying of muscle (except for skeletons, because they have no muscles anymore), these characters in the horror genre are capable of killing many living people. This is the story of a mummy, a mummy kept in the basement owned by a young man. Can the two coexist? There's only one way for you to find out.
Like "A Short Tale of Revenge", this is actually based on a short story. The only difference is that the short story was never written. It had been forming in my mind for a while, and I might get around to writing it some day. This movie was supposed to be based entirely on a certain premise, but I decided to make some significant changes and it's totally different now.
I hope you enjoy watching this as much as I enjoyed making it. I didn't have many problems at all with this short movie, and it was one of my smoothest productions. Look closely and you'll notice that the lips actually move now, because I did do voice acting, but muted the voices. If you request it, I will add my voice to the characters, but my voice acting isn't very good.
15/03, 17:32 A Short Tale of Revenge: Alternate Ending
As promised, I have uploaded the alternate version of A Short Tale of Revenge. There's a reason this isn't the final cut: because it's not as good and it doesn't follow the plot of the short story as well. Actually, it doesn't really follow the plot at all. Only a little bit of the original premise remains in this alternate version.
Genre: Romance/Action
Length: 5:33
Size on disk: 5.51mb
Content: moderate violence, suckiness
Plot Summary: The alternate version of A Short Tale of Revenge
Download: A Short Tale of Revenge: Alternate Ending (Please right-click and save as)
I wonder if directors cringe like I am right now when they have to put deleted scenes and alternate endings on the DVD versions of their films. I get a kick out of seeing them, because usually there's a good reason for certain scenes to be cut completely from the movie. Some of them are so bad that they're funny, while others can give a little more insight into the movie.
The alternate version of A Short Tale of Revenge is still completely intact, meaning that it goes from start to finish, just like the final. Go ahead and fast-forward through the parts you've already seen if you really need those extra three minutes of your life.
This version is actually longer than the final, and that's just awesome. All of the same music is here, and there are even two more characters who wouldn't exist if it weren't for my decision to upload this version.
I hope you enjoy it, and maybe it will give you more insight into the story or something. There's a lot more violence in this version than the final, and maybe you'll like that.
Genre: Romance/Action
Length: 5:33
Size on disk: 5.51mb
Content: moderate violence, suckiness
Plot Summary: The alternate version of A Short Tale of Revenge
Download: A Short Tale of Revenge: Alternate Ending (Please right-click and save as)
I wonder if directors cringe like I am right now when they have to put deleted scenes and alternate endings on the DVD versions of their films. I get a kick out of seeing them, because usually there's a good reason for certain scenes to be cut completely from the movie. Some of them are so bad that they're funny, while others can give a little more insight into the movie.
The alternate version of A Short Tale of Revenge is still completely intact, meaning that it goes from start to finish, just like the final. Go ahead and fast-forward through the parts you've already seen if you really need those extra three minutes of your life.
This version is actually longer than the final, and that's just awesome. All of the same music is here, and there are even two more characters who wouldn't exist if it weren't for my decision to upload this version.
I hope you enjoy it, and maybe it will give you more insight into the story or something. There's a lot more violence in this version than the final, and maybe you'll like that.
13/03, 13:08 A Short Tale of Revenge
Genre: Romance/Action
Length: 4:27
Size on Disk: 6.57 mb
Content: Light violence, suggestive themes
Plot Summary: Betrayal and ten years of prison leads a woman to exact revenge on her ex-lover.
Download: A Short Tale of Revenge (Please right-click and save as)
The Movies&trade Statistics
Total Cost of Production: $1,325,458
Total Profit: $800,000
The Movies&trade Rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Production Time: 61 Months
Here it is, in all of its glory: A Short Tale of Revenge. Spanning two production studios and three actresses as the role of the woman (actually, it's the same actress, but I had to hire her three times), this movie was the biggest pain in the ass ever. I had to reshoot the second half of it (I'll upload that version soon), and I was in the process of moving to another studio in the game, so there might be a few inconsistencies with the lighting. You probably won't notice them, but I do.
In all honesty, the many annoyances that happened throughout the making of this movie were totally worth it. The final product is much better than I was hoping for, and I'm very pleased with it.
The main reason I love this movie so much is because of the last song, called "Closer." It's meant for romance movies, and meant to sound sweet and friendly, but I gave it a whole new context, and it sounds amazing. I have it on my mp3 player and listen to it as much as Sigur Ros. It's very emotional, yet it has an optimistic sound to it, as if everything's going to be all right. Of all the songs that came with the game, it is definitely my favorite.
I really hope you enjoy this movie, as it's the first one I've uploaded that actually has a coherent plot.
06/03, 16:19 HELLPHONE
It's March 7 somewhere on the planet, and Nucleus seems to have a European following (Nucleus users seem to be completely incapable of speaking English, yet they try so hard), so I am releasing HELLPHONE right now.
Genre: Horror (not really)
Length: 3:56
Size on disk: 4.52 mb
Content: Moderate violence
Plot Summary: Cellphones turn people into zombies. A true story.
Download: HELLPHONE (Please-right click and save as)
The Movies&trade Statistics
Total cost of production: $1,499,032
Total profit: $50,000
The Movies&trade rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Production time: 10 years (most movies take less than three)
Yeah... See, here's the thing. I've learned a LOT over the past week, and this movie was made about a week ago. This was the first movie to earn me 5 stars in the game, so I was quite proud of it. But since then, I have released many more films with 5-star ratings. The game calculates these rating based on how happy, talented, and well-fit for their roles the actors are, as well as how well-kept the sets are, and how well the movie was marketed. It has little to do with artistic value, but you can't expect a game to calculate that.
The only thing I ask of you is to watch it all the way through to the end. I'm sure you can spare 4 minutes of your day for it, and hey, you might laugh.
There's actually a character in this movie who wasn't supposed to be in it, and he's featured on the poster on the right, about to punch the crap out of a zombie. The only reason he's there is because I hadn't learned that you can remove roles entirely by switching out the mannequins (I can't explain this well). It was only supposed to be Killbot and the Scientist, which is why you don't see this grey-haired dude in the car in one of the earlier shots.
Everything except the compression and addition of the "Calaquin Productions" logo was done in the in-game editor, if that interests you at all. My next movie has been edited mostly with Movie Maker, so there are some smoother transitions in that one. The only transition offered in the game is fade in and out, which is pretty lame, but I have seen some movies that have used some neat effects to make it seem as if there's a lot more to the editor.
A strange thing happened while I was doing some final touches to this movie. I rendered a scene in the game, and the audio was perfectly synched with the movie. I'm not sure how this happened, but as soon as I figure it out, I can upload movies to the Lionhead website! But that was just one scene, and not an entire movie. I'd really like to get some input from the folks in the machinima community.
Anyway, enjoy HELLPHONE, if you can. Some say I'm too critical of my own work, so I'll let you be the judge.
Genre: Horror (not really)
Length: 3:56
Size on disk: 4.52 mb
Content: Moderate violence
Plot Summary: Cellphones turn people into zombies. A true story.
Download: HELLPHONE (Please-right click and save as)
The Movies&trade Statistics
Total cost of production: $1,499,032
Total profit: $50,000
The Movies&trade rating: 5 stars (out of 5)
Production time: 10 years (most movies take less than three)
Yeah... See, here's the thing. I've learned a LOT over the past week, and this movie was made about a week ago. This was the first movie to earn me 5 stars in the game, so I was quite proud of it. But since then, I have released many more films with 5-star ratings. The game calculates these rating based on how happy, talented, and well-fit for their roles the actors are, as well as how well-kept the sets are, and how well the movie was marketed. It has little to do with artistic value, but you can't expect a game to calculate that.
The only thing I ask of you is to watch it all the way through to the end. I'm sure you can spare 4 minutes of your day for it, and hey, you might laugh.
There's actually a character in this movie who wasn't supposed to be in it, and he's featured on the poster on the right, about to punch the crap out of a zombie. The only reason he's there is because I hadn't learned that you can remove roles entirely by switching out the mannequins (I can't explain this well). It was only supposed to be Killbot and the Scientist, which is why you don't see this grey-haired dude in the car in one of the earlier shots.
Everything except the compression and addition of the "Calaquin Productions" logo was done in the in-game editor, if that interests you at all. My next movie has been edited mostly with Movie Maker, so there are some smoother transitions in that one. The only transition offered in the game is fade in and out, which is pretty lame, but I have seen some movies that have used some neat effects to make it seem as if there's a lot more to the editor.
A strange thing happened while I was doing some final touches to this movie. I rendered a scene in the game, and the audio was perfectly synched with the movie. I'm not sure how this happened, but as soon as I figure it out, I can upload movies to the Lionhead website! But that was just one scene, and not an entire movie. I'd really like to get some input from the folks in the machinima community.
Anyway, enjoy HELLPHONE, if you can. Some say I'm too critical of my own work, so I'll let you be the judge.
04/03, 15:46 Coming Soon: "A Short Tale of Revenge"
Four full days of hard work, and this movie is finally finished and eagerly awaiting a release date. I could release it now, if I wanted, but I'm not going to, because I'm a jerk. "A Short Tale of Revenge" is based on a short story I wrote, but with less profanity (none) and some minor variations. I think the movie is better than the short story, mostly because it explains things a lot more thoroughly.
The movie version actually had a different ending, but after thinking about it for a while, I've decided that the original ending is better. What does this mean? It means that this is going to be my first movie with an ALTERNATE ENDING! Both endings work for the story, but the original just has more impact to it (you'll realize that this is a pun when you see it). Whether anyone likes this movie or not is totally irrelevant, because to me, it's f-ing awesome.
"HELLPHONE" will be released soon, but I need to make some changes to it before it's March 7 release date. I'll give you a brief synopsis: It's about zombies... zombies created by evil cellphones. Or something. It's pretty bad, but there's a kick-ass robot in it.
EDIT: If I can get some friends interested, I'll try to make a movie with voice acting, since The Movies&trade has lip-synching in it. I promise I won't put up a movie with really bad voice acting though.
The movie version actually had a different ending, but after thinking about it for a while, I've decided that the original ending is better. What does this mean? It means that this is going to be my first movie with an ALTERNATE ENDING! Both endings work for the story, but the original just has more impact to it (you'll realize that this is a pun when you see it). Whether anyone likes this movie or not is totally irrelevant, because to me, it's f-ing awesome.
"HELLPHONE" will be released soon, but I need to make some changes to it before it's March 7 release date. I'll give you a brief synopsis: It's about zombies... zombies created by evil cellphones. Or something. It's pretty bad, but there's a kick-ass robot in it.
EDIT: If I can get some friends interested, I'll try to make a movie with voice acting, since The Movies&trade has lip-synching in it. I promise I won't put up a movie with really bad voice acting though.
28/02, 18:04 Drive-by
The first film from Calaquin Productions! Made with The Movies&trade
Genre: Action
Length: 3:02
Size on disk: 3.60 MB
Content: Mild profanity, mild violence
Plot Summary: A sniper and a street racer work together to win a race.
Download: Drive-by (Please right-click and save as)
"Drive-by" was one of my biggest productions in The Movies&trade, and it was actually made out of frustration because my computer locked up just as I was making the final touches on another movie, and I lost the entire thing. It's no big deal though, because this one is much better.
This one took me about half an hour to write (using the script writer that comes with the game), and another half hour to edit. Then about four hours rendering and rerendering before I realized that there was no way I could get the sound to synchronize with the game, so I ended up fixing the sound using the Movie Maker program that comes with Windows XP. It wasn't that big of a deal, but unfortunately, you can't upload externally edited movies onto the Lionhead community website. Until they make a patch or expansion pack to fix this problem, I won't be able to upload movies there for community reviews.
The good thing about doing it this way, however, is that I can render it in the highest quality, and then compress it myself, which ends up looking a lot better. I also get to have a nice-looking copy of it for myself. Maybe I'll put all of my movies onto a DVD and play them in the lounge on campus.
Genre: Action
Length: 3:02
Size on disk: 3.60 MB
Content: Mild profanity, mild violence
Plot Summary: A sniper and a street racer work together to win a race.
Download: Drive-by (Please right-click and save as)
"Drive-by" was one of my biggest productions in The Movies&trade, and it was actually made out of frustration because my computer locked up just as I was making the final touches on another movie, and I lost the entire thing. It's no big deal though, because this one is much better.
This one took me about half an hour to write (using the script writer that comes with the game), and another half hour to edit. Then about four hours rendering and rerendering before I realized that there was no way I could get the sound to synchronize with the game, so I ended up fixing the sound using the Movie Maker program that comes with Windows XP. It wasn't that big of a deal, but unfortunately, you can't upload externally edited movies onto the Lionhead community website. Until they make a patch or expansion pack to fix this problem, I won't be able to upload movies there for community reviews.
The good thing about doing it this way, however, is that I can render it in the highest quality, and then compress it myself, which ends up looking a lot better. I also get to have a nice-looking copy of it for myself. Maybe I'll put all of my movies onto a DVD and play them in the lounge on campus.
