Friday, June 06, 2008

CP SPECIAL: WHAT IS MACHINIMA?



Youtube version

High quality streaming version &
1280 x 720 WMV download link (60MB)


Well this was done a little while ago and while it's normally my policy to never withhold a video release, this episode is a little different. This is a mini-episode that was done at the request of Machinima.com putting together a collaborative video asking several directors "What Is Machinima?".

EDIT: The high quality version is up now and contains additional dialogue. 


OTHER NEWS:

Also, it looks like a growing number of people are becoming frustrated with how long it's taking for me to release videos. Believe me in that I share that frustration. A big part of the problem is that with this tutorial combined with other oddjobs, I've been spending most of my time working on stuff to make income so I can do things like eat and pay bills. I ask that you hold out a little more patience, once this tutorial is done, I promise I'm going to start putting out machinima faster than ever.

In order to make more time to work on episodes, I'm planning to move soon near a friend where I'll have relatively low housing costs. I'm very frugal, so once I'm there, I think I'll be able to survive on part-time work somewhere (hopefully as a videostore clerk or something). That should afford me more time to make videos, plus I'm going to be getting more help on animation for CP, which is the slowest part of its production. In addition to this, I'm getting help setting up a new website which will serve as a central hub for all videos, especially CP. I'm still trying to find the best/cheapest host for this that can accommodate any forseeable bandwidth needs. It will contain a cleaner interface, more information, more updates, subtitles, extras, and just be better all-round. I still need to figure out what will be a good hosting option for the bandwidth load I'm anticipating however.

Right now I'm still too busy with the tutorial to work on any more episodes, I'm sorry. For the record, I am NOT taking the stance of "I don't owe you anything." If no one liked my movies, I wouldn't make them. The fact that there are so many fans makes me want to make new episodes more than ever. Also I am confident that the best episodes are still yet to come. Thanks for hanging in there.

38 comments:

Me 2.0 said...

You can take as long as you like. i have patience. i want you to be able to eat and live and stuff more than i want civil protection.

Anonymous said...

after seeing that, it makes me reeeealy miss cp!!!!! idc much about gg or fm(but i still like those no doubt) but i really like cp!! lol, hydros

Otto said...

Hmmm, I was wondering when it was alright for you to release this. A lot of people are really keen on getting more Civil Protection, so it is good that they now have some new stuff to watch.


Hope you're doing alright surviving and getting shelter. :)

Anonymous said...

Hope you finish that tutorial soon!

Sharky said...

CP is one of my favorites pieces of Machinima, I don't think any other makes me laugh as much as it does.
I think today actually is like the 4th or 5th time I watched all of the episodes. :D
Also, is that really how you pronounce "Machinima"?
It's such an awkward word.

Anonymous said...

well im happy that we get a update on whats happening

Joe said...

For me right now it ok if you take a longer period of time as long as we get a couple updates every now and then just to see how far your through the new episodes.
Take it easy.
-Joe

Combine 017 said...

Horray! I love your work and I want to see more. If I had a PC I would try my hardest to help, but alas, I have but a shitty mac and can do nothing but wait for more awesomeness. You should consider joining the Lit Fuse Film crew, im sure they would welcome you.

bllius said...

GJ!

Anonymous said...

"*Combine 17" Lit Fuse is shit, They take to long to release something and when it comes out it's crap, and they they drop a lot of their project like Combine Nation, there haven't been a new episode since a half a year ago. And I Think Ross is doing a greate work by himself, and he's already getting the help he wanted, and im also considering to help him, but I have a exam to focus on.

But i cant really make any prejudice against Lit fuse, it's only my opinion after I have been waiting month for a new Combine Nation Episode.

Anonymous said...

Take your time, mate. Works of art should not be rushed. Also, consider having a donation link if you think that would help. I'm sure people would be willing to contribute.

William Conine said...

Hey man, its okay. You told us everything you need to do to make an episode which take me a couple months to just make a single episode, so grats on that.
Plus, since you're giving us updates and not leaving us in the dark, i think people will be more patience.

Also, me 2.0, right on! I always watch an episode a day and when I'm real bored, I'll watch them all in a row.

David said...

Was the the Gman in the background walking around the house?

Anonymous said...

HEy its ok, i can w8. thank you for the update. i do get frustrated from time to time comin to the site and seeing nothing new. im ok if ur gonna take awhile with the episodes, but please, put more updates telling us wats goin on? thank you.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry Ross. I see your works are always excellent, so take as long as you like!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey!!!!! on cp episode 2, the tripods attackeed!!!!! Killing all of the combine

(Ogilvey) "Not my blood! Not my blood!! Thay drink us, then they spray us like fertilizer!!! Not my blood!" (Ray) Shut up, theyll hear you!" What a good movie, war of the worlds!

But i do think of the world machinima as an alien race..hmmm.....

Anonymous said...

tyhere r no viruses on cp episodes, r ther?

Anonymous said...

hey by the way guuys, i say Machinima like this"Ma-sheen-ih-ma"

Mike and Dave sed "Mah-shin-i-ma"

(Ow my maSHINima!) stupid coffee table

Anonymous said...

But in fact you do not owe anybody anything. You already delivered brilliant work for free, so what.
If there is anybody pissed about it, just let them be, such people are constantly pissed people, they are pissed because its kind of a fun time to them.
I think it would be your good right to close down the site and the project without a comment on why because i think if this hobby of yours isn't fun to you anymore you really should leave it, and do some other stuff.
But well, i hope it is fun to you and you will get along with all the other things in your life.

And thanks for the "machinima thing", i'm really looking forward to the high quality download.

P.S. I don't really store much things on my harddisk for a long time, but i keep your things on it and i think i will even burn them to a backup disk when i make a new one.

Anonymous said...

you should add one of those donation bars on the site,
if there are people who are to frustrated they might donate a few bucks to speed up the process

and, about the hosting...
have a look a servage.net
510Gb storage
5TB transfer per month
but europe based
dont know where youre from

Anonymous said...

Good things take time, waiting isn't a problem. Good luck with the new site, too.

Mr. M said...

I can wait. C'mon half the fun is seeing them brand new after a wait.
ACHOO!

Ridan Krad said...

"But smoking's like setting fire to yourself. That's silly! You're pretty silly sometimes, Mike!" Haha, I love your dialogues. They've got a feeling of randomness, but are paced so that they never drag. Good job.

Regarding your new site, are you planning to have an RSS feed for your news like you do here? I check up on this site every day by just quickly checking the feed and seeing if there's anything new out there, and then loading up the site itself whenever there is. I find it pretty convenient, so I hope that you'll still have an RSS feed when you move to a new site.

Ross Scott said...

sharky: I think that's how you pronounce it. And once this tutorial is done, I hope to have a bunch more CP coming so you and people like you can get your fix.

Combine 017: Lit Fuse's production techniques differ quite a bit from mine, it's not clear whether there would be much benefit to joining.

anonymous dude 1: Well I don't know about CN, but I certainly haven't dropped CP, it's just been delayed a ton. It's going to come back in full force this year. There's still two really long episodes coming that are half-finished.

fotograaf: I'm located in the U.S. actually, but maybe it doesn't matter.

Ridan Krad: That section was something I wrote quick to justify having the credits. It doesn't add a whole lot, though you get a little more perspective on Dave from it.

RSS isn't my main goal, but there's no reason why I can't have it once the site is up. I plan for many updates on the new site (for reasons I'll reveal later).

Anonymous said...

Great host is hostgator, cheap, alot of bandwith, lots of space. :P

www.hostgator.com

Bursoft said...

Good job Ross, as always. HD quality is very good. Besides, I know I'm painful, but have you got any scripts? I like your stuff very much and with scripts I can enjoy it fully ;) Keep up good work.

Anonymous said...

take your time, you doing cp because you want to, not because you must.

i love your machinima, but i can wait.

Anonymous said...

love the new video! thank you :)

Anonymous said...

SO if this was supposed to be a complation video?why did machinima decide not to make???

Anonymous said...

I can't speak for anyone else but no matter how long I have to wait, I will because I enjoy your work THAT much. I understand how real life is necessary for you to do this so I'm not complaining about how long it's taking.

I'm just biding my time and waiting for the next episode. Do what you have to do, your true fans will be here.

Otto said...

Thanks for being patient, guys. You will not be disappointed.

Anonymous said...

you know, i was just thinkng about freemans mind, and noticed how much more BORING it is to WALK throo the place on anamalous materials without funny comments, it drags!!! lol,

Ross Scott said...

morbid: thanks, that's the best looking one I've seen so far

bursoft: I do, but it hasn't been updated yet. I plan to put all the scripts (and subtitles) on the new site, which is being worked on again and is getting closer to completion.

anonymous dude: I don't know why they changed the format, I didn't get any warning either.

ShadowStylez: That's good to hear, I'm not going to disappoint in the long run. This has just been the biggest delay I've hit for a while, there's still plenty more to come.

Katana said...

Just a little typo I'd like to point out...you said that the song you used was from "Deus Ex Machina". I recognized the song, and realized you probably just meant "Deus Ex". Yes, the common expression has machina, but that's the game. Great video.

Ross Scott said...

Actually I assumed the common name was the abbreviated version of the full name, kind of like how the game STALKER is, though it looks like I was wrong. In my defense though, this was on the jewel case:

http://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/large/988151828-00.jpg

akuyume said...

Combine at a building that strongly resembles Falling Water? Interesting...

Anonymous said...

Eating is for the weak get the CP video done!!!!!!! lol jk try and make the next Freemans mind when u get this next video done plz.

Anonymous said...

well i have one question how do do this stuff?