Previous Affiliation:
History:
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Reconstruction
Never have I been so excited for the release of a machinima project than I am right now (save the exception of a very few). It is purported that Rooster Teeth's new series, Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction, debuted at the CanWest event yesterday, and that a worldwide internet release would occur sometime today. No official word has come by it, but the website is now down with a very exciting message:
"We will be Right Back!
The Rooster Teeth Family of sites is currently down while we introduce some new dazzling features. We'll be right back to shock and awe."
I would normally try not to get my hopes up too much, but it is a little too late for that. Most of us remember the old days when Red vs. Blue was still a newborne, and a couple of guys were kicking the dirty, "shootin' the crap", and hilariously lazying it up in their precious boxed canyon. Then the storyline began to shape and formulate before our eyes. What originally seemed to be a casual and escapadic writing process turned into a world of pre-designated events that would later be revisited, explained, and eerily tied into the new story almost seemlessly. I still refuse to believe that they had it planned out from the get-go, however.
The point is that Rooster Teeth, essentially the Fathers of Halo Machinima, is about to bring us back into their world, and I can't wait.
p.s. Guess I'll play Bioshock for a few hours until the update.
"We will be Right Back!
The Rooster Teeth Family of sites is currently down while we introduce some new dazzling features. We'll be right back to shock and awe."
I would normally try not to get my hopes up too much, but it is a little too late for that. Most of us remember the old days when Red vs. Blue was still a newborne, and a couple of guys were kicking the dirty, "shootin' the crap", and hilariously lazying it up in their precious boxed canyon. Then the storyline began to shape and formulate before our eyes. What originally seemed to be a casual and escapadic writing process turned into a world of pre-designated events that would later be revisited, explained, and eerily tied into the new story almost seemlessly. I still refuse to believe that they had it planned out from the get-go, however.
The point is that Rooster Teeth, essentially the Fathers of Halo Machinima, is about to bring us back into their world, and I can't wait.
p.s. Guess I'll play Bioshock for a few hours until the update.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
A Twist In the Wound
Vek Aiur'keev
Previous Affiliation: Fleet of Particular Justice / Artifact Retrieval (The "Heretics").
History: From son to father, and father to ancestor, Vek's lineage held some of the many who had fought and died on the very front lines of battle. Having no extensive hand or audience into Covenant politics or any significantly heavy weight in highly-ranked military positions, his ancestors had amounted to many feats of milestone discovery and technological advancement not within Covenant council chambers and hearings, but upon battlefields and missions of galactic conquest. Impossible victories in battle, discovery of lost technology of the Forerunner, and many other accomplishments not meant to be claimed in the name of mere battle pawns to a higher singularity. Such milestone achievements were to be the doing of a trusted, revered warrior of heroic decent and high stature; not by footwork, no-named Sangheili sent in to test the waters as lowly bait. It was understood by his ancestors, as it was by he. They were not to be of legend. They were not to be heroes. Their only glory, honor, and victory, was to die fighting in the name of the Covenant, or the "Gods".
Warriors whose names would never be remembered...
In the early days of the Human-Covenant war, Vek had trudged along the very bottom of the chain of command as a youthful, minor, and expendable asset of battle. He did not mind it, however. The rush of battle intrigued him, though he never did quite attain a true lust for blood as his comrades had even if only due to his barely ripened age. At times, he even commanded his own Lance of Unggoy, and took great pride in their success, even if ever so slight. Moreso than battle, however, it was the awe of the world he had sought. Forerunner worlds, to be more precise. The Forerunner, their artifacts, glyphs, structures, their "Mantle". It all brought wonder, horror, and grave confusion to his heart. It was most certainly not faith that kept him onward. Vek was not the first to inwardly question The Great Journey, but most certainly not the last.
Mission after mission, world beyond world, glyph beside glyph. None of it had brought him any closer to the answers he'd sought. After many years of service, and very little recognition of his many successes, Vek's place as a warrior in the battlefield was halted, and he was brought into an outfit of special operatives, if not for his inaccurately small track record, then his grave enthusiasm and drive toward the goal of his newly assigned position.
During the discovery of the first holy ring (Installation 04), Vek served within a team of Elites charged with the duty of Forerunner artifact retrieval. During their investigation of a Forerunner gas mining facility in the upper-atmosphere of the gaseous planet Threshold, the neighboring Alpha Halo was shattered and destroyed, leaving them fatefully surviving the dreaded doom that many of their Brothers had clearly fallen to. In the days following, the team eventually made their most important discovery of all. They had come upon 'The Oracle' (monitor of Alpha Halo, 343 Guilty Spark) amidst the wreckage of the destroyed installation, and were soon fed the unclouded truth of the real design of these 'holy rings': The destruction of all life.
Their beliefs crumpled and burned away, the Great Journey no longer lingering a glimmer in their eyes, they threw their loyalties to the Covenant into the vacuum of space and did not look back. Ancient oaths of blood and fealty that had for ages been handed down had suddenly vanished in a single moment of undeniable truth. Anger raged amongst the most of them. Vek, as well as the others, unclad the brand of the Covenant, and donned the armor of their newly reformed coalition, all led by one Sangheili commander, Sesa 'Refumee; leader of the Elites branded as "Heretics".
Vek's experiences during and after the silencing of the Heretics by the "Blade of the Prophets" is currently unknown, though his survival is proof of at least one remaining Heretic soldier. Following the Great Schism, it is unclear whether Vek took up arms against the Covenant alongside the Separatists. Now, however, the only vow of loyalty Vek still carries is a bond shared amongst his three older Sangheili Brothers; the first, and the last thing he would ever truly fight for. Even die for.
And the one thing to dare leave his name in Legend.
Previous Affiliation: Fleet of Particular Justice / Artifact Retrieval (The "Heretics").
History: From son to father, and father to ancestor, Vek's lineage held some of the many who had fought and died on the very front lines of battle. Having no extensive hand or audience into Covenant politics or any significantly heavy weight in highly-ranked military positions, his ancestors had amounted to many feats of milestone discovery and technological advancement not within Covenant council chambers and hearings, but upon battlefields and missions of galactic conquest. Impossible victories in battle, discovery of lost technology of the Forerunner, and many other accomplishments not meant to be claimed in the name of mere battle pawns to a higher singularity. Such milestone achievements were to be the doing of a trusted, revered warrior of heroic decent and high stature; not by footwork, no-named Sangheili sent in to test the waters as lowly bait. It was understood by his ancestors, as it was by he. They were not to be of legend. They were not to be heroes. Their only glory, honor, and victory, was to die fighting in the name of the Covenant, or the "Gods".
Warriors whose names would never be remembered...
In the early days of the Human-Covenant war, Vek had trudged along the very bottom of the chain of command as a youthful, minor, and expendable asset of battle. He did not mind it, however. The rush of battle intrigued him, though he never did quite attain a true lust for blood as his comrades had even if only due to his barely ripened age. At times, he even commanded his own Lance of Unggoy, and took great pride in their success, even if ever so slight. Moreso than battle, however, it was the awe of the world he had sought. Forerunner worlds, to be more precise. The Forerunner, their artifacts, glyphs, structures, their "Mantle". It all brought wonder, horror, and grave confusion to his heart. It was most certainly not faith that kept him onward. Vek was not the first to inwardly question The Great Journey, but most certainly not the last.
Mission after mission, world beyond world, glyph beside glyph. None of it had brought him any closer to the answers he'd sought. After many years of service, and very little recognition of his many successes, Vek's place as a warrior in the battlefield was halted, and he was brought into an outfit of special operatives, if not for his inaccurately small track record, then his grave enthusiasm and drive toward the goal of his newly assigned position.
During the discovery of the first holy ring (Installation 04), Vek served within a team of Elites charged with the duty of Forerunner artifact retrieval. During their investigation of a Forerunner gas mining facility in the upper-atmosphere of the gaseous planet Threshold, the neighboring Alpha Halo was shattered and destroyed, leaving them fatefully surviving the dreaded doom that many of their Brothers had clearly fallen to. In the days following, the team eventually made their most important discovery of all. They had come upon 'The Oracle' (monitor of Alpha Halo, 343 Guilty Spark) amidst the wreckage of the destroyed installation, and were soon fed the unclouded truth of the real design of these 'holy rings': The destruction of all life.
Their beliefs crumpled and burned away, the Great Journey no longer lingering a glimmer in their eyes, they threw their loyalties to the Covenant into the vacuum of space and did not look back. Ancient oaths of blood and fealty that had for ages been handed down had suddenly vanished in a single moment of undeniable truth. Anger raged amongst the most of them. Vek, as well as the others, unclad the brand of the Covenant, and donned the armor of their newly reformed coalition, all led by one Sangheili commander, Sesa 'Refumee; leader of the Elites branded as "Heretics".
Vek's experiences during and after the silencing of the Heretics by the "Blade of the Prophets" is currently unknown, though his survival is proof of at least one remaining Heretic soldier. Following the Great Schism, it is unclear whether Vek took up arms against the Covenant alongside the Separatists. Now, however, the only vow of loyalty Vek still carries is a bond shared amongst his three older Sangheili Brothers; the first, and the last thing he would ever truly fight for. Even die for.
And the one thing to dare leave his name in Legend.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Brotherhood: The Production Explained
"Brotherhood"
A machinimation project that I've had on the "backburner" for years, dangling by a thread above the monumental pull of the "producer's black hole". Finally, I've pulled it back from the bounds of oblivion and began the project's start.
While it is very much so still in a phase of pre-production, the theme, style, and technical side of this project is what is going to make the actual production for a one-man team worlds easier than a normal machinima production.
To call "Brotherhood" a Halo Machinima would be somewhat of a misrepresentation. It isn't exactly your every-day visual machinima project you can just slap up on YouTube after capturing from the nifty Theater Mode feature (though, clearly, a lot more work goes into it than that).
This project is going to be a cross-multimedia production. What I mean by that is this:
The audio teasers that I've created for the project (Teaser 01, Teaser 02) do not only represent the visual production, but an audio-based Prologue to the project itself. In the beginning, I had aimed for the entirety of the project to be a series of monologue-driven audio drama shorts for each character, as I am much more of an audio production hobbyist than a cinematographer. However, since then I have decided upon an equal medium of both, as well as the third aspect, which makes the entire thing all the more interesting.
Still images.
"Still images?" you ask? What do I mean? I mean exactly what I said. Still images, photographs, screencaps. They are the third ingredient to the multimedia project in which the story will grow. More specifically, in the layout of a comic book. An interactive, semi-machinimated graphic novel.
The project will be presented in comic book form, overlayed with appropriate audio production such as proper voice acting and narration, sound effects, ambiance, and perhaps if the mood calls for it, music. However, staring at a single image with narration for a prolonged period of time could get somewhat dull, no?
That's where they all mesh together: video, image, and audio. It will never just be a single image. The comic book itself will take you from image pane to image pane as the scene progresses... and in some instances, the image pane itself will be slightly, or even completely animated in full-video machinimation.
"Why?" you ask? Well, the answer is simple. Machinimation as a one-man production team is incredibly difficult; few have pulled off decent machinima projects in such a setting, and even fewer have created something great (the number is a single digit). Using still images allows me to use my knowledge of image editing in photoshopping programs to give the visuals an even greater edge that I otherwise would not be able to achieve with my current knowledge of video editing. It also means easier editing of scenes. If my screencaps do not look how I wish, I can edit them in Photoshop rather than having to re-shoot in the game engine itself.
"Aren't you taking an easy way out?" you ask? Well, you might see it that way. I see it as a new and innovative way to present a story. Again, being very much more akin to the world of audio, that is where I am putting a lot of the weight of the performance and intensity of the project to pull an audience in. There are so few projects that have a good source of audio production, and unfortunately, it ultimately ruins even some of the best cinematography out there. If you don't have the quality of audio to match the quality of video, things will fall apart. While the other way is a bit more lax, it still applies, which is why I am taking a step further than just a normal still-image project.
It is truly an embodiment of multimedia. An interactive comic, with the utmost pristine detail in the audio department. I am confident it will not do anything less than amaze and awe.
Stay tuned.
A machinimation project that I've had on the "backburner" for years, dangling by a thread above the monumental pull of the "producer's black hole". Finally, I've pulled it back from the bounds of oblivion and began the project's start.
While it is very much so still in a phase of pre-production, the theme, style, and technical side of this project is what is going to make the actual production for a one-man team worlds easier than a normal machinima production.
To call "Brotherhood" a Halo Machinima would be somewhat of a misrepresentation. It isn't exactly your every-day visual machinima project you can just slap up on YouTube after capturing from the nifty Theater Mode feature (though, clearly, a lot more work goes into it than that).
This project is going to be a cross-multimedia production. What I mean by that is this:
The audio teasers that I've created for the project (Teaser 01, Teaser 02) do not only represent the visual production, but an audio-based Prologue to the project itself. In the beginning, I had aimed for the entirety of the project to be a series of monologue-driven audio drama shorts for each character, as I am much more of an audio production hobbyist than a cinematographer. However, since then I have decided upon an equal medium of both, as well as the third aspect, which makes the entire thing all the more interesting.
Still images.
"Still images?" you ask? What do I mean? I mean exactly what I said. Still images, photographs, screencaps. They are the third ingredient to the multimedia project in which the story will grow. More specifically, in the layout of a comic book. An interactive, semi-machinimated graphic novel.
The project will be presented in comic book form, overlayed with appropriate audio production such as proper voice acting and narration, sound effects, ambiance, and perhaps if the mood calls for it, music. However, staring at a single image with narration for a prolonged period of time could get somewhat dull, no?
That's where they all mesh together: video, image, and audio. It will never just be a single image. The comic book itself will take you from image pane to image pane as the scene progresses... and in some instances, the image pane itself will be slightly, or even completely animated in full-video machinimation.
"Why?" you ask? Well, the answer is simple. Machinimation as a one-man production team is incredibly difficult; few have pulled off decent machinima projects in such a setting, and even fewer have created something great (the number is a single digit). Using still images allows me to use my knowledge of image editing in photoshopping programs to give the visuals an even greater edge that I otherwise would not be able to achieve with my current knowledge of video editing. It also means easier editing of scenes. If my screencaps do not look how I wish, I can edit them in Photoshop rather than having to re-shoot in the game engine itself.
"Aren't you taking an easy way out?" you ask? Well, you might see it that way. I see it as a new and innovative way to present a story. Again, being very much more akin to the world of audio, that is where I am putting a lot of the weight of the performance and intensity of the project to pull an audience in. There are so few projects that have a good source of audio production, and unfortunately, it ultimately ruins even some of the best cinematography out there. If you don't have the quality of audio to match the quality of video, things will fall apart. While the other way is a bit more lax, it still applies, which is why I am taking a step further than just a normal still-image project.
It is truly an embodiment of multimedia. An interactive comic, with the utmost pristine detail in the audio department. I am confident it will not do anything less than amaze and awe.
Stay tuned.
A Blade In Our Midst
Ka'los Asalee
Previous Affiliation: Second Fleet of Homogenous Clarity (High Charity Defense Fleet). Following the Great Schism: Fleet of Retribution
History: Although Ka'los' actual familial background is unknown, it was rumored that he was borne into a family of Titans amongst the Sangheili; that his grandfather had served as an Arbiter of Legend, and that his father had died a Fleet Master in the earliest days of the Human-Covenant war. Perhaps living up to his puported lineage, Ka'los Asalee served the Holy Covenant as the Zealot Ship Master of the 'Lawgiver' in the days before the Great Schism; a Covenant Carrier vessel within the Second Fleet of Homogenous Clarity (the fleet which, at all times, acted as High Charity's first line of defense; the "armor" of High Charity). A fierce warrior, and a level-headed leader, Asalee was both revered and disdained for his desire to preserve the lives of his warriors, Sangheili and Unggoy alike. Many mistook his actions as signs of cowardice and even broken loyalty. Many warriors would give their lives for even the cause of the Covenant, while he would retreat and abandon an objective deemed impossible. However, his success far outweighed his failures, and he continued to prove himself a worthy leader.
Asalee's whereabouts during and immediately following the Great Schism are currently unknown, but standing together with the other three at his side, he clearly managed to escape the massacre of the Jiralhanae-Sangheili fray within his former fleet.
Eldest of the four brothers, Ka'los seems to unattentively take on a fatherly a watchful role over the other three brothers, though his quiet demeanor seems to mask that tendency, even to himself. Despite his offerings of both wisdom and an apt prowess in battle and warfare, he, as well as the other three, keep from overstepping their bound into a role of leadership.
"We were warriors, once . . ."
It is all we have left, really . . . The unfettered bond we share. Our pasts were broken apart, and our futures tied together. Whether it be the will of higher planes of this world, or by the will of our hearts, we've stood together. Side by side we've stood as brothers. We fight for no God, no Prophet.
Only for each other.
For our brotherhood.
We would die for it . . .
Only for each other.
For our brotherhood.
We would die for it . . .
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