These are exciting times

[goofparade]

Just thinking about how far it's come along in a mere three years. Pre-stunts and FX and then post stunts, the way that opened up the free-cam and those possibilities that came with that...
all the way to where to where it is now with amazing new options like Moviestorm, IClone, post production editing and the added magic that all that good crap brings to our flicks.
Don't get me started on how cool the music composers have been in all of this.

It's been a hell of a ride and one hell of a run-on sentence.

phew...

[Chris62]

I agree totally goofparade from doing hundreds of overlays in my movies with the movies software to using fx pro lab to outside editing and green screening to iclone.
And the music composers are the best also.
As well as the vo actors.

[Benjamin Tuttle]

Definitely agree Goofparade.

I finished a 11 second scene with my finest editing. It would have been close to impossible with TM editor, but it was simple with the Magix editor. I can't make a film without chroma keying anymore and the music composers are just superb and the voice actors and actresses are too.

Definitely a great time...definitely.

[Kit06]

I have noticed this too. Not that long ago I looked at an old TMO movie that everyone thought was good, for it's time it was good, but now it is terrible. I think someone will look on this in a few years and think how primative our movies were as they will have even more tools to make their movies superb.

[Dulci]

Just thinking about how far it's come along in a mere three years. Pre-stunts and FX and then post stunts, the way that opened up the free-cam and those possibilities that came with that...
all the way to where to where it is now with amazing new options like Moviestorm, IClone, post production editing and the added magic that all that good crap brings to our flicks.
Don't get me started on how cool the music composers have been in all of this.

It's been a hell of a ride and one hell of a run-on sentence.

phew...


:60:

[Orky]

Totally agree with ya.

- Orky

[sisch]

I absolutely agree with you, GP - I hate to say it, but the death of TM online was the best thing that happened to us - it has brought out so much creativity!

I'm glad that we're here, NOW - who knows which great things are still to come! :001_smile:

[afterThought]

Exciting times, indeed! :)

[Dulci]

Alright, now that it's Friday night and I'm getting into mellow happy mode, I'll expound....

What really impresses/amazes/invigorates me about this community is the never-ending stream of creativity....I don't know exactly how all these talented people ended up finding each other, but I sure am glad they did!

[Fospherous]

Of all we should thank Biggs for throwing TMO down the stairs, oh yeah and thank the Ken guy :p

Great Success, I agree with you Goof!

[animatechnica]

and special thanks to dulci - for introducing our little iclone community over at coolclones to the world of TMU and the wealth of talent available here


Alright, now that it's Friday night and I'm getting into mellow happy mode, I'll expound....

What really impresses/amazes/invigorates me about this community is the never-ending stream of creativity....I don't know exactly how all these talented people ended up finding each other, but I sure am glad they did!

[Killian]

As usual, Mr GP hits the nail on the head here; some great work being achieved these days, from many different software packages.

Makes you think what calibre of movies will be appearing this time next year!

[JazzX]

I absolutely agree with you, GP - I hate to say it, but the death of TM online was the best thing that happened to us - it has brought out so much creativity!

I'm glad that we're here, NOW - who knows which great things are still to come! :001_smile:

Nah -

The creativity was always there - and for most of us (I think - it won't hopefully always be the case as many new people join) "The Movies" was our chosen method.

We had a program - a game that was designed to make crappy 2 minute movies as an entertaining side-feature to Tycoon Mode.

Quickly, most ignored the main game and focused on the side-feature - using the website to promote and show their productions and have them reviewed or shamelessly 5-starred by their peers! Without that website, none of us would be here.

In less than one month, truly outstanding films like Steven Kreg's "King Kong" were being made (arguably better paced than Peter Jackson's epic which came out the same month!)


Then came the likes of "Survival Game" and "Blackbird" and "The Lounge Singer" and "FEAR" and "Chaplins Tribute" (which they wrongly banned for copyright).

All of those and many other classics were made before even the freecam was introduced.

Then it was an endless string of great films which made - for most of us here - the likes of postmodernchuck, sisch, sidy, Josephkw and Nukester into household names; the Steven Spielbergs of "The Movies". Even if they occasionally missed the mark, the production quality was quite simply outstanding. You knew it was going to be worth watching.

And we got so much enjoyment out of their films even though they were in mono and in "online" quality (a technical word for "shite quality"). So why did we watch them and rightly revere them? Because we knew the hardship. Because we knew that they had the same tools we did, and were in awe of what they achieved that we never could. Why would anyone watch them twice? Because they were superb pieces of visual entertainment!

We were in awe of their creativity with such limited means; even if we had some skill ourselves with this bug-filled programmer-neglected creative tool.

That creativity was not just in the story lines and acting, the pacing of scenes, the choice of animations - it was also in overcoming the many difficulties and bugs that this amazing, yet extremely flawed program had.

And yet - as Kit alludes - is it really true that all the films I've mentioned were "good at the time" but now completely worthless? Is it true "real" creativity only started when TMO folded?

Of course not.

I have over 900 pieces of evidence that prove it on my computer - some of the very best made by the person to whom I am replying (those being "Stolen Death" and "Dark Obsession").

Sisch, I know you'll deny it (lol, sarcasm) - but when you made "Stolen Death" and "Dark Obsession", I don't think you considered yourself to be "uncreative"!

Like me, you may have been extremely frustrated at how a simple task took ages, and much banging of head on wall - but you were determined to realise your vision and succeeded using time-consuming workarounds and sound advice.

The tools are better now - the output is much better, even if one only sticks to The Movies program coupled with basic Windows Movie Maker - but let no-one say that creativity was born of the demise of The Movies Online.

That's where it started! Against all the odds - a game that wasn't supposed to be a movie-making tool - poorly marketed - poorly sold - and in the end subject to a poorly maintained website with unnecessary and unfathomable censorship - and yet ...

Someone made "Stolen Death" and "Dark Obsession" ... and they weren't the only ones to achieve so much with so little. There were many. Many good films and filmmakers - some brilliant films and filmmakers. Arguably the most creative collection of machinima filmmakers, by number, on the internet, on a single site, using a single program.

Funnily enough, that takes creativity! - I believe there was a collective spirit of creativity on TMO which inspired the person I'm replying to as well as the original poster and everyone else who was on TMO and has chosen to be here or was invited. I believe it was special.


I've had enough of Lionhead - they're not a worthwhile software company these days. They couldn't run a bath let alone a forum. Their games are full of bugs and it's clear they are out of their depth in such a competitive industry.

Worse still, they can't properly follow through or recognise a good idea when they have one.

"The Movies" was a great idea, easily their most original, - 4 years later, people still turn up to the forum going "why does Vista not let me install my new game, The Movies? I'm a newbie - please help!"

They could have run with this and made it into the ultimate machinima tool, cornering what is now a massive market.

Their shortsightedness is accentuated by all the great films I have witnessed over 4 years - the latest The Movies-based film to get my highest award is the brilliant feature-length "Temporary Night" by Nukester.

Despite their geeky game-programmers' lack of imagination and attitude, many of us here bought their product and allowed it to inspire us. We had the imagination they failed to possess - and the best of us (by "us" I mean the likes of sisch and Josephkw etc.) at translating that imagination into a worthwhile viewing experience produced wonders.

It's a triumph over adversity - and a collective one at that - which gave birth to this site.

The Movies Online was a VERY creative place indeed and I will hear no different.

[Aemielius]

First let me recognize that I, in no way can compare to all of you in experience and very likely, skill.
But I must agree that goofparade has the right of it. The options and outside programs for editing are on par with what Hollywood was using 10-15 years ago. What cost them millions of $ and hundreds of man-hours, costs us the price of electricity and a late night snack. Indeed, some of the 3D rendering programs offer some, up to date Hollywood Tech.

I must disagree with the ideas that creativity was born with the demise of TMO & that Lionhead is solely responsible for TMO's closure.
As JazzX said, the creativity was always there, but the opening of TMU was really the birth of our craft not the death of TMO.
Also, as I understand it, Microsoft Game Studios acquired(bought) Lionhead Studios in April of '06.
Microsoft has a history of discontinuing support for products that are not its own. I point to the discontinuation of the MechWarrior series of PC games. (To which they still hold the rights to, and have been known to prosecute anyone who would make machinima with their material) Be careful Ivan.
So the death TMO may be the work of some corporate monkey at Microsloth.

[Aemielius]

Alright, now that it's Friday night and I'm getting into mellow happy mode, I'll expound....

What really impresses/amazes/invigorates me about this community is the never-ending stream of creativity....I don't know exactly how all these talented people ended up finding each other, but I sure am glad they did!

I am not sure why all these talented people have not found Director's positions with any of the big studios.

[JazzX]

I am not sure why all these talented people have not found Director's positions with any of the big studios.

If you've seen the big studios' tired old films, that's probably the reason.

"2012" - I'll give £100 to every single person on this site if that turns out to be a classic apocalypse film. Even the trailer is woeful! It's going to be same old - same old. (You each give me £5 if I'm correct about that!)

I have seen much more chilling visions of the future in "Night Pass", "Bombshelter" and "Capitol" by a factor of a 100 than I did in that ridiculously bad trailer.

[sisch]

Okay, I think I have to clear things up a bit - maybe I used the word 'creativity' wrongly in this context.

By no means did I want to belittle the films we made using TM only - I can only speak for myself, but though I see all the shortcomings of my own old movies very clearly - I still love them, and wouldn't try to re-do them in another program. In fact, I see many more shortcomings in my movies than in any other directors - but that's a personal thing, and in a way the force that drives me - I always strive to get better, I'm never 100% satisfied with my work - if I would be, where would be the incentive to make a new film?

The same goes for the marvellous work other directors created using TM - I, too, have a collection of my favourites on my HD, and I strongly object to the words 'worthless' or 'terrible' used in any kind of context with them! You'll have to watch a film considering the time it was made at, otherwise nobody would watch old gems like 'Tarantula', for example, today - the special effects were groundbreaking at the time, but by today's standards they're lame. Still, people love the film!

What I rather meant, and that's of course my personal take on things, is that the death of TM forced me take a new look at things, forced me to put even more creativity into my movies, forced me to learn a heap of new skills - and I'm happy about that! Who knows if I had bothered had TM gone on strong... I'm not sure that I would have.

And I see the same happening all around me here - people learning new programs, playing around with effects, learning the art of outside-editing... telling their stories in new ways, using advanced technology.

So, exciting times - as once TM was exciting (and still can be, in the right hands), we're now on our way to new shores, and who knows which possibilities the next few years will bring!

[Aemielius]

sisch, I understood what you were saying, and agree that for most of us, it is likely that our own creations will never be entirely satisfactory.
I was commenting more on someone else's comment about putting TMO's demise on Lionhead.
I also agree with JazzX, Hollywood is putting out some crap. There has not been an original movie in nearly a decade if not longer. But in that case it was a mostly retorical question.
But then again, look at the people here that consistently produce Class A material. Even if our tools are crude, and some of the editting a bit off, the writing is most often of high quality, and the voice acting top notch.