Crossroads
OK, several things have come to light. First of all, our main actor Johnny Kim is returning to the states for a longer time or for good, meaning that we no longer have to rush a shooting draft of a script and also the additional casting and voice recording. The first draft received understandibly mixed reactions from readers, as I had really churned it out as soon as I possibly could. Not only that, but I'd realized that I never had much content for most of the story and all of that just multiplied with the rush. And I also realized that I'm a terrible dialogue writer. :) Now that there's more time, I really hope to take my time with this scene by scene. With this first draft, I wrote a scene and that was pretty much it.
At the moment I'm taking a break from the script to let the stuff sink for a bit, while I gather fresh ideas. I've made a decision at this point to completely change how act 1 and 2 will work, and to shorten the entire piece by 10 minutes or so. I'm rather satisfied with how act 3 works, a couple of rewrites and it should be nice and polished.
The new idea was what I should have done in the first place, as it makes the most sense. I got so caught up in what I wanted to do that I didn't think of any alternatives. This new idea partially went to a different script I wrote earlier this year in a different form. Now I plan to take the basis of that idea and apply it to the OTSS story.
Meanwhile, visual work has started and is progressing nicely. We still don't have any modellers or animators, disappointingly. We have two options: do it ourselves, or pay a hefty amount and hire professionals. I suppose we can continue looking for students and amateurs, but I don't think we'll get anywhere. I can't afford to wait for something like that when it's not guaranteed. Right now I'm planning to do some of it ourselves, save up some more money and have some of the complex stuff done by professionals.
Mapping is going well. I'm still getting used to Hammer. I've tried all sorts of level designers: UnrealEd, Worldcraft, Quark, MaxEd, Radiant, DoomEdit, you name it, I've been there. To date, MaxEd 2 is simply the best I've ever used, hands down. No competition in my opinion. I'm starting to miss it. :(
I've been hearing a lot about the death of film these days. Not only the physical film, but movies in general. I think we're smack in the middle of a huge change, bigger than most people think. We're not only changing to digital formats, but theaters are dying out as well. I think now, and within the next 5-10 years, is when machinima can possibly shine the most. It's completely unaffected by all of this and it really gives us machinimators a chance to stand on our own two feet. The great thing about machinima is that as games grow, so does machinima. If I'm not mistaken the video game industry is already bigger than the film industry in the US.
The great thing is, that because machinima is stuck between the game world and the film world, if one happens to disappear, we won't be lost. If the film industry suddenly coughs and chokes, we still have the videogame market and audience to turn to. And games will continue to grow and flourish, better and better until the average viewer can no longer tell the difference between a game and a pre-rendered CGI.
As budgets for films grow larger and larger, and profits grow smaller and smaller, film studios will be looking for alternative options in making films. Right now machinima is probably unacceptable for a major theatrical distribution, but 2 engine generations from now, I think it will be a definite possiblity. The question is if theaters will still exist as we know it today...
