A Proposal.

[Saria]

I have an idea. A great idea. Well an idea.
I have recently finished creating a short machinima movie using WoW and Sims 2. I quite enjoyed doing it plan to make more. What has this got to do with 5M? Well stop asking questions and I'll tell you.

What I propose is this:

Working in full co-operation with 5-Minute.net and it's dedicated writers, I believe these awesomely funny scripts need to be expanded to the next level. Yes I'm talking animations.

I first had the idea a while ago, but I was thinking along the lines of a series of four-six panel comics, or a flash animation. I soon realised that, even though I had a small amount of talent in drawing, it wouldn't be sufficient to complete my goal. Also, I can't use Macromedia Flash for peanuts.

So, instead, with my newfound interest in machinima, that 5M scripts would be turned into short comedic films, giving full credits to those involved (writing etc). Of course due to the nature of audio-visual media, the script may or may not have to be tweaked slightly to accomodate, but all this can be discussed with the authors and story-boarders.

The game format I am thinking of using, purely for it's customisablity and ease of recording, is Sims 2, although if people have better suggestions I would be glad to hear them. I also thought it would be fitting to use Voyager scripts first, as they were the first fivers.

Any questions, comments, vounteers, supporters etc are most welcome.
Also, I will only go ahead if I have permission to do so.

Thanks,

Saria.

[Nate the Great]

There's been discussions of audiofivers and videofivers in the past, but it's never really gotten anywhere. I wish you luck, however.

[Saria]

I do intend to make it happen, but I need to know that everyone here is OK with it.

[Nate the Great]

Why wouldn't we be okay with it? I'd offer to help, but I have no experience with flash or audio editing.

[Saria]

Awesomeness! Then I'll get started on preparations for Caretaker part 1, and update you guys on this thread.

[Derek]

So just because Nate's the only one who checks the forums daily, he gets to make all the decisions?

That said, I agree with Nate. No experience with any of that stuff, but plenty of well wishes.

[Nate the Great]

Was I making a decision? It may look like that, but only because the posting was up for days and I was the ONLY one who responded! If "pays attention to the forum" means "has clout," then we've got a problem.

[Zeke]

Actually, guys, I check the forum every day. I just don't always answer right away because (a) I suck or (b) I'm thinking it over. In this case, I had a nagging feeling that Saria had already emailed me about this. I wanted to check, but my email wouldn't let me in... for three days. (That turned out to be my mistake, so I'm kind of embarrassed. And I was wrong about her writing me anyway. But the POINT is...)

Ah yes, the point. Welcome to the forum, Saria! I think you may well have come up with the greatest idea ever. I've been pondering animated content for ages now; trouble is, the best medium I could think of was Flash, and that sounded really hard. (We all know about my skills at Flash art. *rimshot*) Machinima will probably lend itself much better to this. Be sure to keep us posted about how it's going, and let me know if I can help.

[Saria]

Heh, no you're not crazy (at least not in this regard) I did send you a couple of messages in Facebook... my email kept rejecting me when I tried to send emails to you. Anyways, at the moment I am trying to recruit voice actors. Bascially I'm going to find poeple who can best imitate the characters' style (inflections, rhythm, pitch etc), rather than an near-exactly copy. I hope that this will add to the parody. Rather than have people go.. "Hey that's nothing like Janeway".. but instead say "Hey it's not Janeway but it sounds sorta like the way she talks, and this person makes her super funny".

Cross fingers.

I'll probably be set-and-character-building for a while. However if you guys find any good/half-decent character models on the Sims 2 Exchange or Sims 2 related websites that are of the Voyager crew or any sort of alien, throw us a link to save me making them from scratch. Even if they're only vauge resemblance post anyway and I can work with it. (Not assuming that any of you would frequent those kind of sites, but y'know if you happen to stumble across something..).

[Nate the Great]

Wait a sec, so you're talking about videofivers. We never even got audiofivers off the ground. I hope you fully grasp the commitment you're offering to make.

[Chancellor Valium]

SFC3 has the ability to video/replay game matches. If you have or could get a copy of that, the space sequences might be more possible.

[Derek]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Actually, guys, I check the forum every day.

Sorry, Zeke. Didn't mean to imply otherwise. My comment was more a reflection of me than anyone else. Well, it was probably also a reflection of Nate's tendency to always post responses to anything.

[Saria]

Kewlies, I have a couple of ST games, that I haven't tried out yet I'll try and glean footage off of them if I can. If all else fails I'm sure YouTube has some game footage that's useful.

I do realise this is a big committment, but I have 3 months of holiday up my sleeves as of tomorrow (woot for uni schedules), so I'll do my best and see if I can't have a few episodes done in that time.

Thanks for all your suppport guys.

[Zeke]

Facebook! Of course!

Saria, I suggest not worrying about the audio just yet. Subtitles would be almost as good, and that way you could focus on the video. It'll be awfully hard to find good voice actors... and bad ones can be embarrassing. T Campbell's webcomic Fans had a pretty cool "musical" storyline that was absolutely ruined by recruiting readers to do the singing.

Originally Posted by Derek

Well, it was probably also a reflection of Nate's tendency to always post responses to anything.

For the record, Nate, I value that tendency of yours -- even if it does risk giving the wrong impression sometimes. With a dry period this long, I'm lucky I still have anybody at this forum, let alone regulars.

[Nate the Great]

Sometimes I respond because I have something constructive to say; sometimes it's to make a bookmark between posts I've read and posts I haven't. Is that pedantic or what?

I'd love to participate, but I have neither a decent microphone nor a proper audio recording software.

[MaverickZer0]

Chiming in to say that this sounds very nice, I still check often, and I love machinima so it's all good.

[PointyHairedJedi]

This could be interesting. I did actually do a voiceover part for a reasonably similar thing (I'm the mad Ambassador; KatyJane was involved too), but as imitating voices is a lot harder than just coming up with a new one, I'd say that aiming to go with subtitles would be a good level to start at - it's one less thing to get bogged down with. So, I wish you happy animating!

[evay]

Originally Posted by Zeke

With a dry period this long, I'm lucky I still have anybody at this forum, let alone regulars.

I only check in every week or two, but I'm still here.

[Wowbagger]

I actually run a Trek audio drama, so I feel like my connections might finally come in handy here. Feel free to post any casting calls in my forums (http://s3.invisionfree.com/Star_Trek_Excelsior). My actors are generally pretty eager to do voice work.

Now the question becomes: is Zeke the curly-haired Colin at Waterloo, or did he get a goatee and move to London? Ah, Facebook puzzles.

[Saria]

Have done now. Thanks for the help, I was really struggling to find people. I have officially trolled through nearly every Sims custom mod website sleasy and non. I have found the awesomest Voyager ship to use for the set. A little trouble on Janeway turns out Kate Mulgrews hard to reproduce graphically along with Robert Picado as the Doctor. But I do have a near perfect Tuvok and Borg Queen + drones and an alright Kes and Harry. By the time I have the Sims models done I should have my voice actors raring to go *crosses fingers*.
Good thing I only have to do this sort of thing once (excluding extras and miscellaneous aliens).

Next step: Filming...yay!

Also, I have an awesome MacBook now, so any tips on the best editing program for a Mac?