Our last episode of 2022 is Damien's Pick of the Month, The Darkside EP1: Chrome Armor by Scott Barrett, released 22 October 2022. This is a shining example of Star Wars fandom at its best, a la Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead with shades of Red Vs Blue in the mix. Its made in UE5 and has some excellent mocap although how the armor has been applied, we're not too sure!
Machinima, real-time filmmaking, virtual production and VR. Four veteran machinimators share news, new films & filmmakers, and discuss the past, present and future of machinima.
Phil Rice 00:13
Talk to the hand. Ricky's gotta hand it to all of us. Welcome to the Completely Machinima podcast. Thank you my co hosts Tracy Harwood, Ricky Grove, and Damian Valentine for all, like me wearing the same shirts one more time. All of these separated sessions that are not at all recorded simultaneously. Up next, we have Damian's pick for the month, month, which is a Star Wars fan film called Dark Side Episode One, Chrome Armor. Damien tell us all about it?
Damien Valentine 00:51
Well, I'm sure all of us know that. I like Star Wars until that, given the number of times I've chosen Star Wars videos over the course of the series. So this is it's another Unreal film, we've seen lots of Star Wars Unreal videos. Over the years, two years, we've been doing this podcast. And this one stood out to me because even though it's it's done in a same sort of similar kind of comedy style that we've seen before, there's something about the way these two Stormtrooper characters are animated that really sets it apart from anything else. And I thought well its not motion capture, because obviously, it's motion capture but we've seen that before. So that doesn't stand out from before. And I'll just just to do with the way the characters are designed, because what I think they've done is they've got a character model, and they've put plated armor over the top of it, rather than have that as part of the character model. So when they move, the armour moves, like armor plating would actually move, rather than bending and doing things that it wouldn't do, if it's just all one character model. And I'm just guessing that because that's what it looks like to me. And something about the way that it made it stand out more realistic. And then of course, watched it. There's a lot of humour in this, which, there's some Star Wars in jokes in there, which appealed to me the style was found. And it's really well put together, there's a lot of details put in the environment. So these two stormtroopers are travelling through their stuff happening in the background, that it's not so much that it's distracting, but it makes the film feel alive rather than just a static environment. And it starts off straight away. There's something happening right behind the stormtroopers, and they're completely oblivious to it. Yeah, but obviously, as the audience you see it and you laugh, and the fact that they're not even, it's just something that they're used to seeing every day, they don't even think about it. And that's the humour as well. So what do you guys think?
Ricky Grove 03:00
It's a good pick, I liked it. I enjoyed it. Obviously, the DNA of the of the project owes a lot to Red Versus Blue. They borrowed a lot of the ideas behind it and subject matter, and all of that and it doesn't quite come together in the way that Tracy's pick, the Talky Orcs come together. There are some problems with it. The animations tend to be repetitious and overdone. That one guy almost like look, the one guy doing a lot of the talking look like he had had so many cups of coffee couldn't stop moving. And since many of the same kind of animations that got very tiring. Stillness would have been at times would have been a good choice. I think also that the acting was somewhat flat at times, it needed more direction for pauses and rhythm to emphasise some of the comedy it tended to run together really quickly, as if they had done one take and that was it. I think they could have spent more time with the detail on that. The idea of having supernumerary characters being the centre focus is a wonderful idea goes way way back to what Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, where he's talking about these two minor characters in Hamlet. And they ended up being so goddamn funny because in a way you I think that you know, I see. I see a big epic film even Lord of the Rings, and I go, what about that extra? What about that orc? This story would have been interesting. So that idea is a very good idea and it's very funny idea. And don't get me wrong, my my criticisms are just technical. I found it humorous and enjoyable and, and likeable, I'd like to see more of it. But I think they need to tone that turn down the their debt to Red Versus Blue, try to find some of their own original way to present this limit some of the animations look for stillness and fix their comic rhythm at times.
Tracy Harwood 05:18
Really interesting. This is by a guy called Scott Barrett. And he's got some experience in making TV series, video game movies, he's worked on effects on major motion pictures, like Star Wars, episode two, and three, and also Harry Potter. And he's also been doing post production on commercials for NBC, among a load of other things. So he's not an inexperienced, creator, as such. But I'll come back to that after my next set of commentary, I thought there's some really nice contextualization, without opening shot, that kind of well known scene with Darth Vader. And it just shows you where these guys are absolutely, instantly, really nice puts you puts you, where they're where they're doing their thing, if you like. And then I really liked the way that the he pulled you into the focus on those two characters, that little robot to pull you into where these characters are standing, I thought that was really well done. And then they walk into that lift and the banter between them kind of begin to me which, which, to be honest, went on just a little bit too long. After, after a couple of minutes, I started to zone out of what they were saying. And then start thinking about the lift itself. And I realised that the Deathstar is probably much bigger in this creators imagination than it is in mine. And I also began to feel that where they were, you know, I don't, I just didn't know where they were going, or whether they were ever going to get to wherever it is they were going, because that lift ride just seemed to go on for forever. But I think also, it didn't seem to reflect on their suits, which I thought it probably should have. So overall, that aspect wasn't really very convincing for me as a kind of a back shot for the scene. And just as I was coming to that kind of conclusion, they kind of arrived at this craft deck, which kind of answered my sort of subliminal question on where another on the Deathstar, where they actually going. So I thought, there were a couple of things that possibly could be improved. First, the suits themselves were a little bit distracting, they were really shiny. I know, you talked about them being armor, armor plated. And, you know, the movement in them was was more interesting, but I think they could have done a little bit more to them as well. And maybe they were too clean, especially because part of the conversation was about much they smell. One kind of doesn't associate them looking at shiny with being smelly, maybe. So maybe reflecting that aspect, as well as the lift movement in the suit would have been something that could have potentially helped. But overall, I really enjoyed the mocap movement, I thought was really good, the hand movement, the head tilt and whatnot, or really impressively done but let down slightly, when you saw the characters walk not so much for the walk itself. But there was a shop where the footfalls were not really in sync with the walking pace, which I thought was a little bit kind of distracting. But all of all that said, I think the the banter was was fun, and actually reminded me a little bit of a of a 1970s B movie like like kind of Towering Inferno without the fire. And I think that had to do with the, with the actual tone of the voices of the characters there rather than the plot and the scenario. So I kind of guess my analysis, all these kinds of threads started to unravel a little for me, possibly, if it's been a bit shorter, that may not have happened. And then reflecting on this, I was thinking maybe the kind of jumping you out of the scenario was actually deliberate because of who this guy is. And because it's pretty clear, he knows how to create content. And I say that because part of that was at least evident in the credit sections, which were really very well done. And one of the things highlighted in those credits, is that this is not an official film and should not or should be distance from anything produced by Disney - he made a point of saying that and I thought maybe therefore that there was some deliberate kind of playing with it. But then again, maybe he's not an experienced creator of a whole film. I don't know. So those are my thoughts on it. Really interesting pick Damien. Thank you very much.
Phil Rice 09:55
Yeah. So I enjoyed a lot of the Star Wars in jokes as well, especially the one leading up to the end. That that was the biggest laugh for me is the way that this this ended. I don't know that the movement in the elevator didn't, didn't bug me until Ricky said that, and now I'm like, Yeah, too much coffee, you're right.
Ricky Grove 10:21
Well, there was an animation that he did, where he pointed with his left hand, his body swaggered and he pointed with us, that must have shown up maybe five, six times during the I didn't
Phil Rice 10:32
catch the repetition on that. But I did notice that the, the guy on the left with a higher pitched voice moved around a lot more. And I kind of thought, well, maybe that was, you know, any movement at all by them that's casual like that, is out of the norm for what we see stormtroopers with, they're always on duty. Here they're out of sight, you know, assuming no one's paying any attention. So the idea that they would maybe cut up or be fidgety or whatever, the one on the left look my like, like, you know, my son, he can't be can't keep his legs still when he's sitting, you know, and the other guy was a little bit more subtle in his movements. So I don't know, it didn't, it didn't bug me. Definitely the the conversations in the in the elevator, long ride, though it was and it could have used some edit. But that's definitely the where this really shone animations wise, we can, we can disagree about, you know, some of the choices that were made there. But it was, for the most part pretty well executed there. Where it were really stood out to me as as is the cutscenes, if you will, the scenes showing what's going on outside the elevator, which I realise if you had a film of this length, and it's just two guys in elevator that's too long. So you got to cut away to something. But what they chose to cut away to was, it was like that, that's where the B team went to work on animations. The A team was in the elevator and the B team was these other things. And so you got this weird guy walking across the gang plank, and it just looks very, it doesn't. It looks like a manually slotted walk. Even Vader throwing down the guy that he was choking. It's like there wasn't any physics, it was just the through him and now he's moving. And then if the fall was weird, it was a little too slow. Gravity just on its own would have. I don't know, it just wouldn't look different. So I understand the need for those cutaways. But free they were jarring because they weren't of the same quality of the more simpler animations going on in the elevator. Voice acting, I feel like the guy with the lower voice, a little bit better performance from him and the other guy kind of a little bit monotonous. could have used some coaching there, I think. And Ricky's right, they the use of some silence, some breaks in the conversation. I think that that could have been done, and the film still be shorter to. Sure. With just a, uh, I think the where the edit is needed, is that the writing level. And then the film edit would follow.
Ricky Grove 13:32
Because Because between the two of them, where none of them had anything to say would have been funny. Yeah. Especially with all this volume of stuff that's coming out, you know, yeah.
Phil Rice 13:44
But I think I think with, with a clever writer, one could write pauses into it, to give those characters an opportunity to think. And then the next thing that they say, is showing the fruit of that thinking, Hey, wait. And you're right, the delivery of it was just rapid fire rapid fire and it it it just never they never really got a chance to do that. It felt like recitation Yes. Instead of conversation. But very humorous ideas. I think the the, the way that the conversation led to where it went, it felt organic. It had the right elements there it just a little bit of tuning up and editing I think would have would have made it even better. And finally, where's the soundscape? The ambience. I was Damien. I could not figure out why their animation. Their movements looked so much better than what you pointed out. I think you're exactly right. I think that's how they did it. That armor is moving a little bit independent of the bones underneath. Yeah, however they did that you're right. But that makes noise, too. You know, and we've heard what stormtroopers moving sound like they're not quiet. There are no stealth storm troopers. They don't send them out on spy missions. It's dudes are loud clanking, you know, it's like it's like knights in armor. So and there wasn't anything there was moments where they're moving and there's just no sound whatsoever you can barely hear elevator you can barely hear that even you know Yeah, and there should be some variation in that you pass a certain floor that's louder than the other or whatever. So again soundscape would have what again, would have made it even better. So overall I enjoyed it. I got I got some good laughs out of it again particularly to the end stay with it till the end. If you if you like cut a nice a good Star Wars joke. It's very, very nicely done. There's some very makes me wonder. I hopefully this isn't spoilers to say, but it makes me wonder how is there going to be an episode two? Let's just say the ending Well, that's a challenge. Yeah, kind of implies that maybe things won't go be great for these guys. So yeah, funny stuff. And yeah, at the end, honestly, I felt like that the end when when the reveal happened, and then it shows the ships flying. That the perfect thing to do score wise would have been to do the the closing theme music from curb Curb Your Enthusiasm. Like is used in the memes, you know, boom, boom, boom, done, lidded did it and just have directed by Larry David. It was that find that kind of humorous ending very well done that. Very well done. Anyway, great pick,
Ricky Grove 16:47
It's got. It's got the classic comic situation between two mismatched men, one who's whose it goes all the way back to Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello and Waiting for Godot, Vladimir and Estragon where you have the one who can't stop talking, and who's very fast, and is usually a bit smarter than the slower one. I liked the inverted thing because the slower one was smarter than the faster one in this episode because he kept puncturing this guy's assumptions about things. But but the thing that I think would have been really interesting is that these characters could have been characters in a car dealership, you know, auto mechanics, you know what I mean? What would have been unique as soldiers in the evil empire? You know, what, what particular things those guys would talk about? It lacked that little bit of verisimilitude, which I think would have added to it, although there were some very funny bits, like when were a couple references, but yeah, it would have would have been nice to see or would have been, they make them unique. But there was one point where the guy was saying, Well, you know, I'd like this girl on deck six, you know, this woman. And he says, Well, you know, we're going to destroy this planet pretty soon, and the views gonna be beautiful on the decks. I take her up for that the guy goes, Yeah, that's right. I mean, just the absurdity of that was this very funny. I like that.
Damien Valentine 18:21
Well, you mentioned those Stormtrooper armor sound effects, I have those. I extracted them from the Star Wars games, because obviously, they put that in as a ambient sound when they're walking around. And I'm annoyed with Heir to the Empire, because there's hardly any stormtroopers in it. And I want to put them in, but I haven't had the opportunity to do so.
Phil Rice 18:42
Well, nowadays too, Damien, you've got some experience with this. Now nowadays, there's cosplay stuff that you could do, you could actually foley that movement, if you wanted to make it really accurate. Instead of just used trying to line up pre existing samples. You could just craft something or probably, if you're in the US or UK, there's probably somebody who does Stormtrooper cosplay professionally, near you. I actually worked with a guy 10 years ago, that's what he'd do on his weekends. And he had the full gear. I mean, it looked legit. He would dress up as we used to make fun of him for it, of course, but he dressed up as a full Stormtrooper and go and just make kids day. And you could find someone like that who just probably do it just for the asking just for the honour of yeah, they put on their gear and I just move like that guy. Alright, take two. So anyway, just just ideas, but anyway, great pick Damien. And I guess that concludes our December picks. One last thing, go ahead.
Ricky Grove 19:49
The theme for this December is soundscapes, so machinima filmmakers, pay attention to ambient sound if you're doing it in a room. That room has a sound to it. If you're wearing a uniform, especially like armor, stuff like that, when you move that makes a sound, find out what that sound is and include it.
Phil Rice 20:11
Yeah, all you need is a good condenser mic and a quiet room and just watch the video and just oh you hit especially if you're the one who made the video. You probably hand animated a lot of those movements. So you watch footage 100 times, so you probably can get it done in a taker too. So yeah.
Tracy Harwood 20:31
Or, somebody with a cold. It is Christmas snuggly
Damien Valentine 20:38
I got a cold. You want to use cold sound effects? Get there in quick.
Tracy Harwood 20:42
Yeah, we've been featuring that throughout the month of December's episodes,
Ricky Grove 20:48
Its freesound.org. That's the place to go for sound and music. Thank you, Damien. That was a great choice. In fact, I have to applaud myself and all the rest of us. I think we've made some really interesting choices this month. In fact, the whole year has had some terrific choices for films. Again, I point out my lack of imagination when we started this podcast and thinking that all Machinima is dead. Nobody's making this stuff. No, it's changed quite a bit. And one of the ideas that we can discuss maybe in a future episode is the idea of the the theme of machinima is to make things quick and dirty, you know, put them together a la French Democracy. That's a brilliant film that was done in one day or something like that, and had a massive impact. And how much moving towards Unreal Engine five, and other groups like that as as put the the onus on being, having professional level skills in putting machinima together? What's the difference between the two? Is it just a change in the way Machinima is being done? Personally, I think the balance between the two is pretty good. I mean, if you look at the 917 production, that's all handmade stuff. I mean, that's really clear and excellent. Whereas if you look at Tracy's pick, Talky Orcs, that has the skill level of a perfect you could show that on on Liquid TV or Adult Swim, and would be perfectly fine on that professional level. So it's kind of interesting idea, and maybe it's something we could talk about more in the future.
Phil Rice 22:37
I like it. Well, from all of us here at the Completely Machinima podcast that I will learn to pronounce one day, be sure to visit our website, completed comm. Complaint comm slash blog. That's where Tracy compiles all our all the news and current events related to this machinima world. And that's where you can leave us feedback on the show too. We thrive on your feedback. And we'd love to hear from you. If you've got ideas or if you've got a film that you want to call our attention to, that's the place to do it. So from all of us here, happy New Year. Happy New Year.
Tracy Harwood 23:15
Happy New Year.
Ricky Grove 23:16
Take care everyone