Friday, March 16, 2007

EPISODE 3: SHADOW OF A DOUBT



Here's the third episode that I originally intended to have done before the 2nd, but here it is anyway. I meant for this one to have slick motion blur, but I would have taken my computer an eternity to do it right, so I just shot it and released it as it is. WARNING: This episode is not suitable for all audiences, it contains singing. It's over with pretty quickly though, and I promise that this will be the first and last time Mike sings. As for Dave, well, I'll keep it to a bare minimum in the future. Unfortunately it's going to be a while before Episode 4 because I have something big planned for that, so imagine I'm dead or something so you won't expect it too soon. Enjoy!

49 comments:

bllius said...

Lol, vampire! Nice.

xNIX said...

Hey!

I love your episodes!! If you EVER need any help making them, making logos, getting the public aware... let me know! I also do site building, if you want something better than blogger.

Jared

Anonymous said...

Ross, I wanted to tell you that these movies are great!!! I'm loving them!

Keep up the great work, I know they're not easy to produce but we're loving them!!

David said...

"Well, look who suddenly has a shadow,"
Nice, this series is getting better ever episode.

Anonymous said...

Well I want to say a few things so far and that is good job with the series. I admit I am very impressed with the quality of your work so far, also its uniquness as well. Plus this machinma is equal if not better then Red vs. Blue.

Other then that keep up the good work and cant wait to see your next episode.

Unknown said...

Hilarious! Didn't find the singing bad, at least it was for the majority in tune.

Tobeon said...

Absolutely brilliant episode! Well done! :D

Anonymous said...

I love this series that you are making here. Keep up the good work.

It reminds me of a Half Life webcomic called Concerned. If you haven't heard of Concerned you should check it out at www.HLcomic.com, hilariously mirror the Half-Life 2 game.

Unknown said...

:-D

Looking farward to 4. Exelent job so far. Thanks.

:-}

Ross Scott said...

Well thanks again to everybody for the positive comments, I'm glad some people are liking this. Here are some more specific replies:

Jared: It won't let me read your profile, but my contact information is on the main page under my profile.

Saman: Thanks, and doublethanks for defeating Godzilla.

hlfan: I actually found out about Concerned after I finished Episode 1 and at first was scared my script ideas would overlap his, accidentely making me look like a copycat. Thankfully that didn't happen. While I'll never approach the rate that a comic strip is produced at, unlike Concerned, CP has no predetermined end, nor will it necessarily go constantly forward in time.

Anonymous said...

Episode3 was brilliant (as usual), and I can’t wait to see episode4.

Keep them coming!

Anonymous said...

how long do you think youll keep the series going

with 2 characters you cant get very far

but up to now great work

Anonymous said...

This is great, can't wait for the next episode. But it would be even cooler if there was some link between episode. A kind of story that has a to be continued after each episode so we can stay hooked at it. Also it would be nice if you could post something to indicate aproximatly when the next episode will be released. (Actually i'm checking the site daily to be sure to get the next ep. when its done :P)

Anyway keep up the great work. I was really impressed by those animations.

Ross Scott said...

some dude: how long do you think youll keep the series going

All depends on how much help I can get with the animation. It gets draining doing it all myself. As for ideas, indefinitely, I already have about dozen script ideas in my head.


with 2 characters you cant get very far

Dude I've barely tapped into all the stuff I can do. If you really believe that you might want to check out Sam & Max, Sifl & Olly, or Aeon Flux (the show, not the movie). They seem to do pretty well with just 2 main characters and don't suffer in the idea department.


Surcouf: I plan to avoid interconnecting plots for a couple reasons. It gives me less freedom to do what I want in each episode or jump around in time. For instance, at the end of 2, I'd have to wait for Mike's bones to knit, and that wouldn't be any fun. Also, I want people who stumble into CP to be able to enjoy the episode without having to watch every episode up to that point to understand what is going on. If I want a long coherent story, I'll do a full length movie, and I definitely don't have enough resources for that right now. Also, don't disappoint yourself checking the site daily for updates. This stuff is hard and takes a long time to make. Just email me and I'll send out a mass email when new ones are made.

Anonymous said...

lol great video.

Since episode 4 is going to take a while can you give us some small updates every now and then about your progress.

Demon32 said...

I am going to link you, give you a complete promo style ad and tell people to visit your site... now if they listen to me, that would be nice.

I found you on shoutfile... I have to say dude you rock. I have not watched the 2nd or 3rd episode, but I am going to when I take my lunch.

tip my hat to you. keep making kick ass videos.

James Powell said...

They were great, Thanks a Lot. I cannot wait for the next one to come out. Well done.

Anonymous said...

i love your episodes, Just ssaw them and now i'm spreading it through all my friends.

I love Simba, any chance we'll be seeing him again? :D would be nice to see him :D

Anonymous said...

I found this on YouTube and instantly these series became one of my most favourite ones :) Really can't wait for the next episode :) Is there way to get notified about changes on this blog?

Ross Scott said...

another anonymous dude: Sure, here's my status right now: The script to Episode 4 is written and I'm working on creating a custom map for it. I'm also simultaneously developing Episode 5 for a PlanetHL contest, but that's nowhere near as hard to do as 4.

demon23: Well, hope you like the 2nd and 3rd episodes! If you don't as much, don't worry, Ep. 4 is going to rock.

anonymous dude #2: Simba won't be in any episodes in the near future, but I haven't ruled out the possibility of him reappearing.

drc: I'd say the best bet is to email me. I've been sending out mass emails notifying people when the next episode is out to everyone's who contacted me before. That's a good idea too, becuase these are so time consuming that I simply can't produce them at a fast enough rate to be checked regularly.

Anonymous said...

Great Show man,the show already spread out fast on various internet sites

Anonymous said...

Your episodes are awesome. They're kinda like the Red vs. Blue of Half Life. Great work so far. Keep them coming, Ross.

Sylpheed said...

hey ross, is there some kind of subscription list that we can sign up to be notified when your next episode is out? :)

Anonymous said...

Ross, your episodes kick ass! I have been keeping an eye out for more episodes since your first came out. They make me sort of like the civil protection after playing HL2.

I was wondering though, will you be introducing any more permanant characters to your series? Also, do you have any comical action scenes planned in your future scripts?

Ross Scott said...

Alright, first off you anonymous people need to get names, I mean you can make anything up, it's not that big a deal. And thanks again for everyone's compliments, it's incentive to keep going.

Jonathan: yeah, just email me and I'll send you an email once I finish the next episode

Yet another anonymous dude: I don't have any plans for any permanent main characters like Mike and Dave, but who knows, this stuff isn't set in stone. The only character I plan on having reappear (eventually) is the Vortigaunt from 2, but it will be a while before that happens.

And as for action, Episode 4 man. You'll not only get comical action, but also the insane-o crazy kind action too. The difference between 1-3 and 4 is going to be HUGE. It'll take a while though, but I can say with confidence that this one will be worth the wait.

Stormtrooper said...

Fantastic series, I laugh my ass off on every episode. I only have one negative thing to say. You guys gotta try not to break the 180 degree rule when two characters are having a conversation. It's confusing to an audience for a moment when the characters suddenly flips sides and jolts them out of the story for a moment while they re-orient.

If you have no idea what I am talking about, check out the 180 degree rule on wikipedia. It's been around since the early days of the film industry and will make your own productions look far more professional.

Anonymous said...

Hey Ross and Craig, i love your episodes! I have a little question...
These maps from episode 2 and 3, which maps are these and can i please (please, please!) download them because i like them so much!
I always seek on the internet for city maps.
Can i please have them. I would be very grateful!

Bye, Noa (I am a boy, not a girl!)

Mark said...

I nearly pissed myself watching this. Great job. Keep 'em coming. :D

Dan Tucker said...

Funniest thing Ive seen all day.

Unknown said...

Haha. Hoo-hoo! Oh man, priceless. It's the kind of thing that can turn a bad day into a great one. :)

Keep it up!

Ross Scott said...

Stormtrooper: Well don't worry, Craig at least won't break the 180 rule, unless it's somehow possible with voice acting. As for me, I am familiar with it, but got kind of lazy about it and just tested the shots to see if I thought it turned confusing. Also for a few shots it was NECESSARY to break it in order to cover up continuity issues or engine limitations. But yeah, I should probably pay more attention to that in the future. It will be easier too since they'll be moving around a lot in Ep. 4 and not just standing by the side of the road like they have been for the previous 3.

Mike: I think you're unduly biased because of your name.

Noa: I'm not delusional. I assume everyone contacting me is male until proven otherwise, don't worry. And yeah these are just hacked up version of Valve's maps, but I don't mind sharing them. There's not much to them beyond what you can see, but it's not big deal, just email me. You should really like Ep. 4's though, I'm doing a bunch of custom map work for that one.

Anonymous said...

Herro.

If you'd bear with me fo ra sec I'd like to drop ya a bit of constructive criticism. . . The biggest suggestion I could give you would be, well, to add more human effects to the characters. When you're talkign to somebody you don't just, you know, stand there in an almost zombie-like fashion. There's usually some head movement or hand motions going on. . . I'd suggest watching some Robot Chicken episodes - it's anmazing how the puppets look and act almost human in their motions. . .
But yeah, this series is getting better with every episode. The humour is almost identical the type me and my friends share. . . And, well, if you could just listen to my suggestion I just dropped ya then this series would be fucking perfect - for me at least. Keep up the great work; Looking forward to the next episode!

Anonymous said...

I really like your movies,Ross. they're so funny. But that guy with no shawdow kinda creeps me out(lol).

Ross Scott said...

I'm severely limited by what animations I have available because of the engine, otherwise there would be much more animation. There actually is quite a bit between hand gestures, head and torso movements, etc. If I just kept repeating the same animations over and over in the same episode it would look even more unnatural. Ep. 4 will have much more movement however.

That and having done security work myself, you really DON'T do much besides just stand there.

KIBBER said...

great !!!
i want see evrey week an episode :))

grretz from sandra, germany

Anonymous said...

This has been my introduction into Machinima and I was so impressed with what you have been able to accomplish I have been looking to trying to create something like this on my own. Excellent work keep it up.

Anonymous said...

All your work vidoes have been superbly made and very funny to boot. Keep it up mate ;)

Anonymous said...

nice job guys! i hope you become the next Concerned or RvB.

if you need any voice acting, me and a friend of mine would be glad to help. you can contact us through steam or aim:

Steam: swansong1979
aim: nugget la pesado

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Just watched all 3 episodes. I really like what you guys are doing with this! Probably the best HL2 Machinima I've seen yet!

Keep up the great work!

PostinUp said...

This series will get huge soon, it's comic gold! These guys are geniuses!

Anonymous said...

Your Machinimas are great! Really, they are among the best i've ever seen.
I noticed the backgroundmusic of Fallout. ++ Double PLUS! ;)
Thanks a lot.

Arucard-sama said...

Great, this was very nice!

Anonymous said...

Can you make your videos downloadable to watch on the Playstation Portable?

Ross Scott said...

Hey, thanks for all the positive commentary again.

Sandra: I too would like to see an episode every week, although the production time involved on this is terrible.

anonymouse dude: About the PSP thing, I think that's MP4 format or something, I have no experience encoding in that. My first choice for encoding is Xvid (I don't distribute those versions on here simply because a lot of people don't have the codec). You're welcome to re-encode it and distribute it however you want as long as you don't cut out footage or sell it.

Anonymous said...

THIS IS FANTASTICALLY BRILLIENT

Otto said...

I'm sorry but, I have to pile up with everyone here and tell you how awesome this is! It is, by far, the best machinima I have ever seen! The time you've put into this must've been massive. Every new Episode you make doubles the amount of comments you get. You're getting alot of satisfying viewers and I'm happy for you.


I'm such a great fan of Half-Life and I remember when the first episode came out, absolutely fantastic! Even if it weren't a humorous series, I would still be shocked and amazed by the work you've done. But it makes me laugh alot aswell. It's sensually stunning! Best of luck to you with your future episodes. Such an amazing job you're all doing!

Ross Scott said...

Otto: Well thanks man. Believe it or not, I don't censor out any negative comments, unless they're outright insults without criticism, but that that hasn't happened here, only occasionally on Youtube. I'm happy for all this positive feedback, so don't feel like you're just adding to the pile.

The core of the series will always remain comedy, however, I also want to eventually incorporate action/suspense and occasionally horror elements depending on the episode. They should only get better in time as I learn better ways of doing things and can implement some of my more radical ideas. Thanks again to you and everyone else for watching!

Unknown said...

stop being so awesome

also me and a friend are making a machinima and we want to know how to do all that greatness. like lip scyncing, or simply walking with no weapons. Please if u can Email me at gamerdude21@sbcglobal.net

Anonymous said...

this is awesome, with my friends we laughed for weeks on this when calling back certain moments in the movie... lol. keep it going. and thank you for bringing Mike and Dave into our lives! :D