My advice for the beginning MACHINIMATOR

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JimRage Level 7 8 Posts March 14, 2008 Permalink Report	Besides Oxhorn's guide, the best piece of advice I have for the beginning machinimator, whether it be WoW, Halo, TF2, or whatever you like, is the following.... DON'T START WITH YOUR DREAM PROJECT FIRST. If you're never made anything before, you'll find that you'll keep going back and remaking scenes you've already done over and over as you learn more and more, wasting a whole lot of time on something you love. In the end, you will have seen messed with the same material for so long and so often, you'll be sick of it. Hell, you'll see it over and over enough times when your production is going right. I'm speaking from experience here. When REKGAR & BUSBY was rounding third base and heading for home, I kept thinking I had tried too much, too fast. There were technical things that I wasn't happy with (compositing :( ) that could have been fixed if I had spent a bit more time practicing the techniques. But I had been working on it for so long, I got to the point where I just wanted it to be done before I filed it away with the hundreds of other personal projects that I've never finished. Fortunately for me, I produced something that people have liked despite its flaws and that has given me the confidence to move forward...after some more practice with the fundamentals, of course :) So to summarize for the beginner... I suggest working in small steps with quick little projects so you can learn the various individual aspects of machinima. Music videos, for example, are a good place to start, IMO. They help with learning to edit and familiarize yourself with the tools in your editing program ( this is ALWAYS a plus). From there, write and shoot some short scenes to help more with the editing and working with dialogue and putting them all together. These short scenes also help you learn to tell a story on screen. Get some practice before you dive head first into the machinima for the ages. I think you'll be happier in the long run. I hope this helps...somebody. ^JR^ http://www.wegame.com/user/JimRage/signa...
DJKMan The Noob Level 11 85 Posts March 15, 2008 Permalink Report	That is a good piece of advice. :D Check out my new official site! http://psp.wijou.com
JsVideos The Machinimator Level 19 7 Posts March 16, 2008 Permalink Report	Well said man, good advice thats what i was thinking when i started.
Deatheragenator Level 13 43 Posts March 17, 2008 Permalink Report	Good Advice, but i have a few questions for you. 1) When are you aiming to get REKGAR & BUSBY part B out? 2) what do you use to edit you films? 3) do you think some one should start with live action or machinima?
JimRage Level 7 8 Posts March 18, 2008 Permalink Report	Ok, let me take those one at a time... 1. R&B part B will be a while down the road. I have to organize all of my bluescreen footage from part A (mostly character animations). Doing that allows me to make future R&B films a bit faster (when I'm able to get to work on it, that is) because I'll only have to animate very specific shots. The story is fleshed out to the end in notes, I still need to script it. I wish I could give you a timetable, but my daily life only allows for small 2 hour chunks of time to work on it. My goal, however, is to have it out before Illegal Danish 3 :) When I do get going on it, look for a production thread here in the forums, 2. I pretty much follow Oxhorn's method, using the wow model and map viewer. I record with Fraps, apply effects with AE 5.5 and put it all together with Adobe Premier 1.5 pro. This is the only way I found to do machinima completely by myself. 3. live action vs. Machinima to start with? That is up to you. I would LOVE to do live action, but that would require getting other people together that have daily lives of their own. The scheduling just wouldn't be managable for what I'd like to do. That's why I went the machinima route. I can do it by myself as free time permits. But if you can get people together and have what you need for Live action, go for it. The principles of filmaking apply to both. You still have to learn to tell your story on film not matter which way you do it. Oh and there is one other tip I forgot to mention in my original post...Get lots and lots and lots of hardrive space. Trust me. :) ^JR^ http://www.wegame.com/user/JimRage/signa...
Deatheragenator Level 13 43 Posts March 18, 2008 Permalink Report	heh lets hope you have it out before LD3 :P, I do have the HD space, and thanks
Tredlort The Gamer Level 6 4 Posts 12 days ago Permalink Report	What is machinimator anyway? o// hello d(x_Xd)
wcd4231 The Wizard Level 35 1576 Posts 12 days ago Permalink Report	You bumped a year old thread your gonna get it from the mods. My blog: http://awesomefist.blogspot.com/
amoor1995 The 1337 Level 34 1417 Posts 12 days ago Permalink Report	AAAH! This is a thread of old people who don't exist anymore AAAAAAAAAAAH!! D:< RUN WITH YOUR LIVES! OMIGAWSH IT'S AMOOR!
Farinar The Advisor Level 32 943 Posts Moderator 12 days ago Permalink Report	Don't bump a year old thread. If you're really concerned about what a machinimator is make a thread about it instead of necroing such an old thread. Forum Moderator and Member.