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Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Daemon reviews The Egg
'The Egg' by Animatechna is an iClone machinima based around some of the questions that have kept people up at night since the dawn of time, like 'is there a God', 'is there an afterlife', 'why are we here', and 'why oh merciful God why are they letting the asshole who made Alien vs Predator make a Three Musketeers movie in 3D that involves flamethrower turrets and has Orlando Bloom as the villain'. What, that last question hasn't kept you up at night? It should.
My scruples with animation tools like iClone and Moviestorm notwithstanding, all I really care about when going into a machinima like this is, 'is it cleverly written', and it is. It could be in Halo for all the difference it would make in my eyes, though I will admit that visually the short is very imaginative, even if the facial animations hiccup at the same rate that a hummingbird flaps its wings.
There are a few clever twists to some of the things we usually hear in these kinds of scenarios, like reincarnation and our true purpose in the universe, which like I said is all I could really hope for. The actual dialogue, however, alternates between being clever and being expository and wooden.
We've all seen the dramatic short of the one guy who monologues all by himself, but far more heinous in my eyes are the dramatic shorts where there is more then one person, but the other person only exists to further on the story without actually contributing anything. The human character in this story is an example of that. All he does is ask questions throughout the entire short. His character has no chance to develop or become interesting because he plays one note during the whole concert.
The character of God itself is also rather interesting, but his portrayal opens up a few questions, namely, 'why is God white'? Personally I think it would have been great if the God character would take on whatever form would appeal the most to the person he was talking to like, say, a loved one or a parent, something like that. Would have fit a lot more considering what we learn in the short.
There are a few other discrepancies and overall inconsistencies, but those are small complaints. The short is fairly inventive and I'd say it's worth a look. Honestly, these are the kinds of shorts that I'd like to see more of in the community, even if this short did commit the atrocious act of portraying a God character who is not Morgan Freeman.
My scruples with animation tools like iClone and Moviestorm notwithstanding, all I really care about when going into a machinima like this is, 'is it cleverly written', and it is. It could be in Halo for all the difference it would make in my eyes, though I will admit that visually the short is very imaginative, even if the facial animations hiccup at the same rate that a hummingbird flaps its wings.
There are a few clever twists to some of the things we usually hear in these kinds of scenarios, like reincarnation and our true purpose in the universe, which like I said is all I could really hope for. The actual dialogue, however, alternates between being clever and being expository and wooden.
We've all seen the dramatic short of the one guy who monologues all by himself, but far more heinous in my eyes are the dramatic shorts where there is more then one person, but the other person only exists to further on the story without actually contributing anything. The human character in this story is an example of that. All he does is ask questions throughout the entire short. His character has no chance to develop or become interesting because he plays one note during the whole concert.
The character of God itself is also rather interesting, but his portrayal opens up a few questions, namely, 'why is God white'? Personally I think it would have been great if the God character would take on whatever form would appeal the most to the person he was talking to like, say, a loved one or a parent, something like that. Would have fit a lot more considering what we learn in the short.
There are a few other discrepancies and overall inconsistencies, but those are small complaints. The short is fairly inventive and I'd say it's worth a look. Honestly, these are the kinds of shorts that I'd like to see more of in the community, even if this short did commit the atrocious act of portraying a God character who is not Morgan Freeman.
Daemon reviews Drop Dead Confidential
'What's this? A review of an online web radio series? But I thought you were a machinima critic!'
I am, and there's a very good reason for why I'm reviewing this when it's not necessarily in my area of expertise. When I can think up said reason, I'll be sure to let you all know.
It was the middle of the night. I was pulling an all-nighter, as I am wont to do, thanks to finals month and Legacy, when I decided to go listen to Drop Dead Confidential. I'd stumbled across the site a few times, and frankly the idea of an online radio show was actually pretty intriguing to me.
Growing up as a kid I used to listen to a lot of my grandparent's radio dramas on cassette tapes. That previous sentence just made me realize how old I'm actually getting. My two favorite serials to follow were The Shadow and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I'd always listen to them before going to sleep, and when I found out that you could find some of these broadcasts online, I was ecstatic. Not to sound melodramatic, but these radio dramas were a pretty large part of my childhood, so I was really glad to see that Nadia had made her own radio drama. I was even happier when I started listening to it and found that it was addicting as cocaine and about as enjoyable...not that I'd know anything about that or anything.
I really like Drop Dead Confidential. I devoured the four-episode series and the two spin-off episodes that have been made so far, and at the end all I could say was 'I want more'.
The plot is your usual story of a rabies-like rage virus causing a zombie apocalypse, but unlike Flesh Candy it makes the right decision by focusing entirely on its characters. Remy Ross (voiced by Nadia Rodriguez), a Boston police officer, is suspended after she kills a murder suspect named Linda for making unnatural noises when she should be dead. Linda, it turns out, is the first of a horde of rage virus-infected zombies, and as Boston is overrun Remy must fight her way through the city to reunite with her five-year-old daughter (played eerily well by Jenn Michelle) who is in the care of her lawyer ex-husband, Heath Ross (played by Tori Kamal. Yes, that Tori Kamal). That's pretty much the gist of the series so far, and I gotta tell ya, it's been an absolute blast.
First off, the technical aspects of the show are great. The soundtrack is very effective, the sound effects and music all work great (though the firearm audio gets a bit repetitive and could use more variety). The voice actors all do a great job with their roles, which are really fun and likable. The highlight for me was in episode four when we're introduced to a crazy lady who does nothing but quote movies. I absolutely loved the scene to death and, while I won't give away exactly what happens, I will say that I was sad when it became clear she wasn't going to be a recurring character. I'm sorry, I can't help it if my ideal zombie apocalypse scenario involves partnering up with someone who will help me blow away zombies with a mounted machine gun on top of an old jeep while quoting lines from old movies. The only other scenario I'd prefer would be teaming up against the zombies with Batman on a T-Rex.
Like I said, the series so far is four episodes in total, with a spin-off series called 'Drop Dead Diaries' that expands the universe of the series by giving us more information that, while not directly necessary to understand the plot, does help to further our understanding of the characters.
If you're a fan of radio dramas or zombie stories, I'd say give it a listen.
You can find all the entries at the Drop Dead Confidential blog. I'd recommend starting off with the pilot episode.
By the time you get to the end, you'll definitely want more. Trust me. The Shadow knows.
I am, and there's a very good reason for why I'm reviewing this when it's not necessarily in my area of expertise. When I can think up said reason, I'll be sure to let you all know.
It was the middle of the night. I was pulling an all-nighter, as I am wont to do, thanks to finals month and Legacy, when I decided to go listen to Drop Dead Confidential. I'd stumbled across the site a few times, and frankly the idea of an online radio show was actually pretty intriguing to me.
Growing up as a kid I used to listen to a lot of my grandparent's radio dramas on cassette tapes. That previous sentence just made me realize how old I'm actually getting. My two favorite serials to follow were The Shadow and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. I'd always listen to them before going to sleep, and when I found out that you could find some of these broadcasts online, I was ecstatic. Not to sound melodramatic, but these radio dramas were a pretty large part of my childhood, so I was really glad to see that Nadia had made her own radio drama. I was even happier when I started listening to it and found that it was addicting as cocaine and about as enjoyable...not that I'd know anything about that or anything.
I really like Drop Dead Confidential. I devoured the four-episode series and the two spin-off episodes that have been made so far, and at the end all I could say was 'I want more'.
The plot is your usual story of a rabies-like rage virus causing a zombie apocalypse, but unlike Flesh Candy it makes the right decision by focusing entirely on its characters. Remy Ross (voiced by Nadia Rodriguez), a Boston police officer, is suspended after she kills a murder suspect named Linda for making unnatural noises when she should be dead. Linda, it turns out, is the first of a horde of rage virus-infected zombies, and as Boston is overrun Remy must fight her way through the city to reunite with her five-year-old daughter (played eerily well by Jenn Michelle) who is in the care of her lawyer ex-husband, Heath Ross (played by Tori Kamal. Yes, that Tori Kamal). That's pretty much the gist of the series so far, and I gotta tell ya, it's been an absolute blast.
First off, the technical aspects of the show are great. The soundtrack is very effective, the sound effects and music all work great (though the firearm audio gets a bit repetitive and could use more variety). The voice actors all do a great job with their roles, which are really fun and likable. The highlight for me was in episode four when we're introduced to a crazy lady who does nothing but quote movies. I absolutely loved the scene to death and, while I won't give away exactly what happens, I will say that I was sad when it became clear she wasn't going to be a recurring character. I'm sorry, I can't help it if my ideal zombie apocalypse scenario involves partnering up with someone who will help me blow away zombies with a mounted machine gun on top of an old jeep while quoting lines from old movies. The only other scenario I'd prefer would be teaming up against the zombies with Batman on a T-Rex.
Like I said, the series so far is four episodes in total, with a spin-off series called 'Drop Dead Diaries' that expands the universe of the series by giving us more information that, while not directly necessary to understand the plot, does help to further our understanding of the characters.
If you're a fan of radio dramas or zombie stories, I'd say give it a listen.
You can find all the entries at the Drop Dead Confidential blog. I'd recommend starting off with the pilot episode.
By the time you get to the end, you'll definitely want more. Trust me. The Shadow knows.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Halo Legacy teaser trailer
Halo Legacy teaser trailer
This has been the big project I've been hinting towards. Six directors from Daemon Productions come together to make seven Halo-based miniseries, with a full runtime of approximately 4-6 hours. Each series will be split into three episodes (except for Randomjack's, which will be six), and each episode will be between 10-15 minutes long. This will be going on every week starting from May 7.
Which every series will have its own unique plot and characters, there will be a few recurring characters and interconnecting plot threads between each series.
We'll be releasing a second, full trailer next week in order to promote the series. Stay tuned for that!
This has been the big project I've been hinting towards. Six directors from Daemon Productions come together to make seven Halo-based miniseries, with a full runtime of approximately 4-6 hours. Each series will be split into three episodes (except for Randomjack's, which will be six), and each episode will be between 10-15 minutes long. This will be going on every week starting from May 7.
Which every series will have its own unique plot and characters, there will be a few recurring characters and interconnecting plot threads between each series.
We'll be releasing a second, full trailer next week in order to promote the series. Stay tuned for that!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Daemon reviews Tempus Maximus
Tempus Maximus is another one of those machinimas that I knew was going to be big even before it was released. I was first introduced to it while browsing around for some voice talent and was then shown the trailer as a kind of impromptu 'demo reel'. My curiosity was piqued at the FX and overall visual quality. Clearly this project was being handled by someone who knew what they were doing. Color me intrigued, if slightly cautious.
Then it was released, and there was much rejoicing and critical acclaim. It even made it to the front page of Bungie's site, a feat that I haven't seen done since Ataraxia. Clearly this video was going to be special...or be another Ataraxia. Considering that this video turns out to have a run time double that of Ataraxia's and about ten to twenty times the run time of most garbage that M.com regurgitates as 'content' that I have to sit through, I decided to hear a few other opinions before I dove in. After hearing Jack give it a positive review I finally decided it was time to stop putting Tempus Maximus off and give it a shot.
The final verdict?
Meh, it's okay.
If I bring up Ataraxia a lot in both this review and in general, it's because Ataraxia was a landmark in my machinima watching career. Suddenly, large ambitious projects weren't something to be welcomed with open arms, but to be closely scrutinized. Ataraxia was like that bad first relationship that made us all become more cynical of the world around us, afraid to reach out lest we just be rejected again.
And to be honest, most of the things that hindered Ataraxia make return appearances in Tempus Maximus. For starters you have the latinized, nonsensical title (though I'll grant that Tempus's does make a slight bit more sense when translated), you have a skeleton crew of three members in a desolate location who are guarding something of importance to the UNSC, only to start being followed by something ominous that picks them off one by one, all of which leads up to the dramatic reveal which ultimately makes no sense.
For those who don't know, the big dramatic reveal here is that the Forerunner artifact the team is supposed to...defend? Analyze? The film wasn't really specific on this point...whatever, the point is it's a 'time machine' that sends people a few days backward in time. How exactly it works and why it sent the protagonist back to that particular moment in time and to that particular location are never really explained. More importantly, if the Forerunners had a time machine, why didn't they ever use it to go back in time in order to stop their entire race from being tentacle raped by the Flood?
See, this is the problem I have with machinima series like Deus Ex Machina that take place in the Halo universe while bearing only a fleeting connection to the story's setting and characters. The resulting machinima has almost nothing to do with the Halo canon, which in the end just makes it more problematic then if it had just been an original creation.
Almost none of this machinima's backstory makes sense. Most of the plot centers around the idea that they're on a planet with no oxygen (or at least that's what they're told at first for...some reason), but really, how could anyone have been fooled into thinking that such a lush planet had an oxygen poor atmosphere? Christ, between Ataraxia's Carbon Monoxide plants and this film's attempts to pass off a lush forested Halo ring as being oxygen-poor it's like none of these writers have any idea how basic respiration works. Even then, they make a point about how one of the characters has low oxygen while he's inside a building, implying that the building has no form of life support systems, which makes absolutely no goddamn sense.
The characters were remarkably under-developed, which for a machinima of this length is inexcusable. Unlike Ataraxia, which had some moments of dialogue that were chillingly good, Tempus lacks those brief bits of genius. Its obligatory moment of introspection about the nature of time travel is completely ham-fisted. For the record, unless you regularly ram your own flaccid dick up your own ass, then no, having sex with yourself does not count as masturbation.
The characters themselves were for the most part an unlikable bunch of idiots, from the character of Mack who warns the two not to go to the portal and then acts amazed when they go to it (even though there are literally no defenses around the artifact itself), to the protagonist who steps through the portal and immediately complains about how the portal supposedly didn't work as if he was some kind of spoiled brat complaining about their latte being served wrong. Special attention should be given to Clay who treated the act of sneaking around a giant confidential relic with the same air as a high schooler dragging his friends along for a night of spray-painting giant day-glo penises on the side of grocery stores. The voice actors did an alright job with the lines they were given I guess, but as far as making us care about the characters was concerned the script dropped the ball. I guess it's a good thing that we got to see them all die twice.
There are so many abandoned plot threads in this machinima that the result looks like my first attempt at knitting a scarf. We never really learn what happened to the previous crew, and the way the ending's done we're supposed to believe that some epic victory was accomplished. But let's really think about this for a second: there are two copies of Peyton running around on Earth. Wouldn't that be a pretty huge problem? Wouldn't people eventually notice that there were now two Peytons running around on Earth? Why would the UNSC let the two Peytons get away from the top secret base without some kind of debriefing? Also, we're supposed to believe that now that the UNSC knows about the portal and has control over it that everything will be all hunky-dory. This is the same government that authorized the kidnapping and abuse of young children to make into super soldiers, often times with the sole purpose of being expendable, and we're supposed to believe they'll use the ability to time travel responsibly? The ending should have involved Peyton destroying the portal to prevent that kind of technology from falling into anyone's hands. And don't even ask me to try to decipher how the time-travel is supposed to work here, my doctor says that it'll just lead to another aneurysm.
The cinematography was pretty good. Some moments were bad, most of the driving scenes were exemplary, but for the most part it was just kinda there. There is some FX work which went pretty well, though the rain scenes had a few flukes. As far as cinematography and body acting goes, it's all good, but there aren't really any shots that will 'stick with me'. When I think of good cinematography, I think of the works of TGO GMBH and 2 Ghosts 1, which had images that could move us emotionally and tell their story through the visuals as well as other narrative methods. Tempus has a moment that attempts this shortly after the protagonist steps through the portal, but it doesn't really approach the same level of quality. It's adequate and that's pretty much all anyone can say about it.
The music was alright, though I think it belonged in another movie. While the music itself is undeniably well-composed, it doesn't seem to fit the tone of the scene it's in more then half the time. The music is far too energetic and pumped for a machinima about a conspiracy involving a time travel portal.
Overall the scope of the machinima is just underwhelming. The Time Machine it is not. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was a brainier time travel story then this and seemed a lot more plausible, and when I can say that a movie that involves Abe Lincoln lounging around a shopping mall and Napoleon going bowling seems more plausible, that says a lot.
I must stress that it is a fairly enjoyable machinima. It does have some good moments in the filming and there are times where the dialogue even works. But as a whole the movie just falls flat for me.
Honestly guys, I don't like it when I have to criticize a machinima that does its damndest to be engaging, intelligent and well-filmed. These are the kinds of machinimas that I want to see more of: plot-focused machinimas that none the less have good production values. And I'll be the first to say that Tempus Maximus is worth seeing. But it's far from perfect and isn't nearly as good as everyone has claimed it to be. I wish I could live in a world where large projects could get me excited, but unfortunately with machinima the more you put into the production, the more likely it is to crumble. Hopefully in time that will change.
Now go forth and be excellent to each other.
Then it was released, and there was much rejoicing and critical acclaim. It even made it to the front page of Bungie's site, a feat that I haven't seen done since Ataraxia. Clearly this video was going to be special...or be another Ataraxia. Considering that this video turns out to have a run time double that of Ataraxia's and about ten to twenty times the run time of most garbage that M.com regurgitates as 'content' that I have to sit through, I decided to hear a few other opinions before I dove in. After hearing Jack give it a positive review I finally decided it was time to stop putting Tempus Maximus off and give it a shot.
The final verdict?
Meh, it's okay.
If I bring up Ataraxia a lot in both this review and in general, it's because Ataraxia was a landmark in my machinima watching career. Suddenly, large ambitious projects weren't something to be welcomed with open arms, but to be closely scrutinized. Ataraxia was like that bad first relationship that made us all become more cynical of the world around us, afraid to reach out lest we just be rejected again.
And to be honest, most of the things that hindered Ataraxia make return appearances in Tempus Maximus. For starters you have the latinized, nonsensical title (though I'll grant that Tempus's does make a slight bit more sense when translated), you have a skeleton crew of three members in a desolate location who are guarding something of importance to the UNSC, only to start being followed by something ominous that picks them off one by one, all of which leads up to the dramatic reveal which ultimately makes no sense.
For those who don't know, the big dramatic reveal here is that the Forerunner artifact the team is supposed to...defend? Analyze? The film wasn't really specific on this point...whatever, the point is it's a 'time machine' that sends people a few days backward in time. How exactly it works and why it sent the protagonist back to that particular moment in time and to that particular location are never really explained. More importantly, if the Forerunners had a time machine, why didn't they ever use it to go back in time in order to stop their entire race from being tentacle raped by the Flood?
See, this is the problem I have with machinima series like Deus Ex Machina that take place in the Halo universe while bearing only a fleeting connection to the story's setting and characters. The resulting machinima has almost nothing to do with the Halo canon, which in the end just makes it more problematic then if it had just been an original creation.
Almost none of this machinima's backstory makes sense. Most of the plot centers around the idea that they're on a planet with no oxygen (or at least that's what they're told at first for...some reason), but really, how could anyone have been fooled into thinking that such a lush planet had an oxygen poor atmosphere? Christ, between Ataraxia's Carbon Monoxide plants and this film's attempts to pass off a lush forested Halo ring as being oxygen-poor it's like none of these writers have any idea how basic respiration works. Even then, they make a point about how one of the characters has low oxygen while he's inside a building, implying that the building has no form of life support systems, which makes absolutely no goddamn sense.
The characters were remarkably under-developed, which for a machinima of this length is inexcusable. Unlike Ataraxia, which had some moments of dialogue that were chillingly good, Tempus lacks those brief bits of genius. Its obligatory moment of introspection about the nature of time travel is completely ham-fisted. For the record, unless you regularly ram your own flaccid dick up your own ass, then no, having sex with yourself does not count as masturbation.
The characters themselves were for the most part an unlikable bunch of idiots, from the character of Mack who warns the two not to go to the portal and then acts amazed when they go to it (even though there are literally no defenses around the artifact itself), to the protagonist who steps through the portal and immediately complains about how the portal supposedly didn't work as if he was some kind of spoiled brat complaining about their latte being served wrong. Special attention should be given to Clay who treated the act of sneaking around a giant confidential relic with the same air as a high schooler dragging his friends along for a night of spray-painting giant day-glo penises on the side of grocery stores. The voice actors did an alright job with the lines they were given I guess, but as far as making us care about the characters was concerned the script dropped the ball. I guess it's a good thing that we got to see them all die twice.
There are so many abandoned plot threads in this machinima that the result looks like my first attempt at knitting a scarf. We never really learn what happened to the previous crew, and the way the ending's done we're supposed to believe that some epic victory was accomplished. But let's really think about this for a second: there are two copies of Peyton running around on Earth. Wouldn't that be a pretty huge problem? Wouldn't people eventually notice that there were now two Peytons running around on Earth? Why would the UNSC let the two Peytons get away from the top secret base without some kind of debriefing? Also, we're supposed to believe that now that the UNSC knows about the portal and has control over it that everything will be all hunky-dory. This is the same government that authorized the kidnapping and abuse of young children to make into super soldiers, often times with the sole purpose of being expendable, and we're supposed to believe they'll use the ability to time travel responsibly? The ending should have involved Peyton destroying the portal to prevent that kind of technology from falling into anyone's hands. And don't even ask me to try to decipher how the time-travel is supposed to work here, my doctor says that it'll just lead to another aneurysm.
The cinematography was pretty good. Some moments were bad, most of the driving scenes were exemplary, but for the most part it was just kinda there. There is some FX work which went pretty well, though the rain scenes had a few flukes. As far as cinematography and body acting goes, it's all good, but there aren't really any shots that will 'stick with me'. When I think of good cinematography, I think of the works of TGO GMBH and 2 Ghosts 1, which had images that could move us emotionally and tell their story through the visuals as well as other narrative methods. Tempus has a moment that attempts this shortly after the protagonist steps through the portal, but it doesn't really approach the same level of quality. It's adequate and that's pretty much all anyone can say about it.
The music was alright, though I think it belonged in another movie. While the music itself is undeniably well-composed, it doesn't seem to fit the tone of the scene it's in more then half the time. The music is far too energetic and pumped for a machinima about a conspiracy involving a time travel portal.
Overall the scope of the machinima is just underwhelming. The Time Machine it is not. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure was a brainier time travel story then this and seemed a lot more plausible, and when I can say that a movie that involves Abe Lincoln lounging around a shopping mall and Napoleon going bowling seems more plausible, that says a lot.
I must stress that it is a fairly enjoyable machinima. It does have some good moments in the filming and there are times where the dialogue even works. But as a whole the movie just falls flat for me.
Honestly guys, I don't like it when I have to criticize a machinima that does its damndest to be engaging, intelligent and well-filmed. These are the kinds of machinimas that I want to see more of: plot-focused machinimas that none the less have good production values. And I'll be the first to say that Tempus Maximus is worth seeing. But it's far from perfect and isn't nearly as good as everyone has claimed it to be. I wish I could live in a world where large projects could get me excited, but unfortunately with machinima the more you put into the production, the more likely it is to crumble. Hopefully in time that will change.
Now go forth and be excellent to each other.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Randomjack reviews Tempus Maximus
Today a friend of mine linked me to this machinima, claiming that despite being forty minutes long, it would be worth the time it takes to load (pretty damn long, on my internet connection).
Having just finished it, I'd say he was probably right. I don't regret tying up my bandwidth all day to load Tempus Maximus in high quality.
Although it had it's flaws (almost all machinimas do, to me at least), I still found it to be an enjoyable and well made film. What it lacks in any areas, it makes up for in ambition.
The premise is based around a moderately elaborate time travel plot. It isn't as complicated as something like it could easily get, but there is enough non-linearity that you have to pay attention. Although it begins with a familiar - three man squad on a mission to an abandoned base - storyline, it slowly gains momentum and picks up as the film goes on. It actually reminds me of Inception to some extent: although no one element (the characters, cinematography, ect) is particularly outstanding, the sheer uniqueness and ambition makes it work. It's aiming for the stars, and managing to reach the stratosphere. I'd prefer this to a more cleanly produced 'regretful guy committing suicide' short any day, because of the bold (so far as machinima is concerned) nature of both the concept and the scale.
For something with as much shouting as this, I'd expect there to be major problems in the voice acting. Surprisingly, that was rare. The material was fairly well handled, with an all around competent cast. Heck, as somebody who was just casting for a very large machinima myself, I'm glad to know about these guys.
As I've said, the production values are a ways from perfect, but good enough to not hinder the story. The cinematography is above average, and has its moments, although overused sweeping/circling movement leads to me not knowing what is being emphasized and what isn't. The framing is a bit off at times, and the 180 rule is tossed out the window. However, the visuals never fall into outright bad territory, so this is only an occasional annoyance.
Effects play a prominent role, from time-of-day colour correction to inserted displays or screens. In many cases, such as the opening, they are spectacular. In others, they fall a bit short (such as visible masking boundaries during rainy scenes). Just like with the camerawork, it never falters enough to be definitively awful, and sometimes comes out very nice.
My personal favorite part was the musical score. There is a prominent soundtrack, with several parts that stood out as especially fitting. Ranging from orchestral to quiet, the music adds a very nice touch that helps to round it out. Some was selected, and some was scored, but all of it was well done.
Overall, Tempus Maximus was worth watching and showed a nice degree of skill and effort. There are many junctions at which this kind of machinima could have gone off the rails, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it stayed on track. Could it have used improvement? Yeah. Is it still high enough quality to justify the forty minute commitment? Yes.
Having just finished it, I'd say he was probably right. I don't regret tying up my bandwidth all day to load Tempus Maximus in high quality.
Although it had it's flaws (almost all machinimas do, to me at least), I still found it to be an enjoyable and well made film. What it lacks in any areas, it makes up for in ambition.
The premise is based around a moderately elaborate time travel plot. It isn't as complicated as something like it could easily get, but there is enough non-linearity that you have to pay attention. Although it begins with a familiar - three man squad on a mission to an abandoned base - storyline, it slowly gains momentum and picks up as the film goes on. It actually reminds me of Inception to some extent: although no one element (the characters, cinematography, ect) is particularly outstanding, the sheer uniqueness and ambition makes it work. It's aiming for the stars, and managing to reach the stratosphere. I'd prefer this to a more cleanly produced 'regretful guy committing suicide' short any day, because of the bold (so far as machinima is concerned) nature of both the concept and the scale.
For something with as much shouting as this, I'd expect there to be major problems in the voice acting. Surprisingly, that was rare. The material was fairly well handled, with an all around competent cast. Heck, as somebody who was just casting for a very large machinima myself, I'm glad to know about these guys.
As I've said, the production values are a ways from perfect, but good enough to not hinder the story. The cinematography is above average, and has its moments, although overused sweeping/circling movement leads to me not knowing what is being emphasized and what isn't. The framing is a bit off at times, and the 180 rule is tossed out the window. However, the visuals never fall into outright bad territory, so this is only an occasional annoyance.
Effects play a prominent role, from time-of-day colour correction to inserted displays or screens. In many cases, such as the opening, they are spectacular. In others, they fall a bit short (such as visible masking boundaries during rainy scenes). Just like with the camerawork, it never falters enough to be definitively awful, and sometimes comes out very nice.
My personal favorite part was the musical score. There is a prominent soundtrack, with several parts that stood out as especially fitting. Ranging from orchestral to quiet, the music adds a very nice touch that helps to round it out. Some was selected, and some was scored, but all of it was well done.
Overall, Tempus Maximus was worth watching and showed a nice degree of skill and effort. There are many junctions at which this kind of machinima could have gone off the rails, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it stayed on track. Could it have used improvement? Yeah. Is it still high enough quality to justify the forty minute commitment? Yes.
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