International Documentary Challenge

I signed up for the Doc Challenge.

It is like the 48 Hour Film Project except that:

1) it's a documentary
2) it's 5 days

Depending on the genre I get and the theme, I may be doing this virtually. There, I may be knocking on some pixelated doors this weekend.

Machinicast Contest

Not very familiar with the site, but they are hosting a small contest. Action/drama and/or comedy - submission deadline is July 31.

Aniboom Awards

The winners have been announced with the top prize of $25K going to Sebastian's Voodoo by Joaquin Baldwin (note, the $25K is for a development deal with Aniboom). I really liked the winner, unlike some of the others.

Is Blizzard The Pixar Of Videogames?

Blizzard announces Diablo3 (never played Diablo1 or 2).

Pixar has just released Wall-E. This sounds like a Pixar movie I might actually want to see. Very little dialog, Roger Deakins as a virtual cinematography consultant, apparently wonderful sound design, and robots (I have not seen it yet).



One important difference: Pixar produces few sequels whereas Blizzard seems permanently stuck in rehashing their past efforts. Why? They have enough damn money to strike out for something new, so why don't they?. After playing and reading about GTA:IV and Rockstar (WSJ article here) that seems rather conservative. Now would be the perfect time for Blizzard to do something completely novel. Is this because they're tethered by a MMORPG that requires constant maintenance unlike the other two companies who basically produce one-off products? Are MMORPGS a creative drain even if they can be cash cows?

BTW, as far as I know Pixar has never produced a dud (9 features and counting?) and I don't recall Blizzard producing any subpar games either (maybe something before Warcraft II)?

Somewhat related is this fan made movie, UnstuntedII that uses exported WoW character models to produce animation you will not see in game. Interesting twist on the typical machinima workflow.


Unstunted - Vol II from James Dunlop on Vimeo.

Also vaguely related is this new WoW tool that allows far greater control of in-game camera controls. This could be a very interesting development.


World Of Warcaft Machinima Tool from Mads Lund on Vimeo.

And somehow I missed this, but the winners of the invitational contest have been announced. In the machinima section:

"The machinima movie contest winners are:

• Best movie: Olibith
• Best Editing: Olibith
• Best Special Effects: Daniel Wasiluk
• Best Scenario: Raphael Daniel"

Congrats to the winners!

Pointless question goes here:

So which would you rather be? A Pixar or Blizzard employee? Or neither, hacking the system from without as shown in the last two clips?

Machima Info Barf #11

Post OMFF party.

Previous Info Barfs links are now on their own sidebar (the list was getting too long).

====

Machinima News:

While some of us were celebrating machinima, some other people were receiving non-takedown notices. A very interesting development (MFD post). I wonder what else they could demand though?
The first every machinima video viewed by a Congressional subcommittee? (Second Life ad video).
Hands Free SL means puppeteering machinima?
Antics3D now works with sketchup. I've been playing with this a lot. Tips and tricks section.
Brief discussion with Gus from RvB down under.
Zach brags about the numbers.
Brief mention of machinima at Nmancer.
NPR talks machinima (around 22 minute mark).
Overman talks about 'machinima'. I will go on record saying I can't stand the term 'anymation'. Period.
The Shisha den talks about machinima.

Contests/Festivals:

OMFF Winners Announced (My Post, OMFF Site).
The Make Something Unreal contest includes a machinima section.
Koinup's SL Music Video Contest winners announced.
Iron Man contest (I got my avatar from somewhere). Here.
Overman's pointing out some Bitfilm gems.
Semi-Finalists for Radiohead's Aniboom Contest announced.

Video Game/Virtual World News:

A list of upcoming PC games with screenshots (that's a lot of eye candy).
Second Life Guantánamo Bay.
Oprah launches own reality.
Meet the Scout is another great Valve intro to a TF2 character.
The Escapist talks about Allegiance - which was a damn fine game that is still going strong.
Free Spore creature editor. This is the wave of the future = outsource your content creation to the world.
Learn about reality from a video game.
You are no longer hard core.
Halotography. Wired's how to miniaturize a scene.
Is modding over? I hope not. Modding paved the way for machinima.
Canadians planning virtual music festival in conjunction with real festival. Damn innovative canuckleheads.

Machinima/Video Clips:

Ross Scott releaed Galaxy Gulp (YouTube) which is a tutorial made for Noesis Interactive (the software company that produces the XSI Modeling Tool). That's a boring description for what really is a pretty damn funny vid.
This flip it video is a blast (Squeeze Me - Kraak & Smaak).
Xanatos and the Janus Syndicate made a western in TF2 (Garry's Mod Post).
Beware the Believers (Dawkins Rap Vid).
Quarantine goes viral (ha ha).
Clone Wars Animated Trailer looks pretty dull actually. Can we please go to some other time and place in this universe.
Transforming Robot Battle.
Bitstream Boogie Machinima.
Charlie Rose interviews Charlie Rose (very odd).
Custom animations in TF2.
Bloodspell making of documentary (behind the chaos there was order).
Cult of Sincerity is the first full length film released on YouTube.
Burning water does mocap for breakdancing Gman.
Topography at Vimeo (Vimeo has some great looking videos).
This machine is brilliant.
Presidential Reality. Forget the first African American or first woman President. How soon before we have an avatar for president?
Team Roomba's Meet The Pyro (the same guys who did the TF2 griefing video as detailed at The Escapist).
PEDS season 3 is starting.
What to do when a girl says she has a boyfriend.
Did old media release the first GTA IV machinima (Conan O'Brien)?
When We Two Parted by Strange Company. Controversy ensues.
Ironman vs. Batman (amusing).
Game Over in stop motion.
Instant City in Moviestorm.
Christian Aid ad using disaster footage shot in ?
Can't afford to shoot a video? There's millions of bloody cameras in the UK, so one band decided to make use of the cloud video.
Thirty minute Battlefield machinima (Hatred).

Digital Online Video/Cinema/Imaging:

Hollywood is going 3D and Wired has some history. James Cameron.
The 50 greatest comedy sketches of all time. Too much SNL in the list. Where's my Monty Python.
The 50 greatest commercial parodies of all time. Ditto.
Not sure where I got this link to Carlos Baena's home page, but he has some great links to animation information, clips, shorts, etc.
Art of the Title Sequence.
Resolution vs. Framerate.
Swooping in Google Earth.
The movies that did not win best picture (not including There Will Be Blood which was robbed).
Hi-res YouTube hacks. And another.
Bjorks' Wanderlust in 3D.
Best macro photos at Wired.
Penny Arcade TV. Watch the process of creation. Forget the behind the scenes footage - make it the scene.
We've all heard about We Are The Strange - now a one woman created animation was shown at Tribeca (Sita Sings The Blues - by Nina Paley).
The 50 greatest TV shows of all time (another skewed list).
Free stock photo site.
Insect Sex and Rossellini.

Misc:

365 Tomorrows has one very short story every day. Some of my recent favorites (Retirement, The Rise and Fall of the First Shi Empire, Hard to Find).
Another interesting legal case mentioned at BoingBoing about the EFF fighting for the rights of 3D modellers.
Schematics of starship interiors. Now all you need is the 3D models.
Trapped in an Elevator. 41 hours changes man's life forever.
Search the web for sounds.
Do it yourself cable organizer.
Soundproof a room.
Have someone read your script for a fee.
Fontbots.
All about movies.
Processing ported to javascript.
YouTube comment snob Firefox extension.

Machima Info Barf #10

Away for a week, so enjoy some links.
Calling this #10, even though #9 was not titled.

Previous Info Barfs (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9).

====

Updated*

Machinima News:

Bloodspell DVD released (thx Hugh).
RvB Boxed Set DVD released.


Contests/Festivals:

I posted about an online photoshop contest. The winners have been announced.
There's 12 videos tagged as 'animated' that are part of the Nine Inch Nails Ghosts Film Festival. There are none tagged as 'machinima'. Hello?!

Video Game/Virtual World News:

Flipside is an interesting premise for a game wherein the player must 'flip' from one side of reality to another (half life 2 net - mod review).
How soon before the Turing Test is passed? An AI has been created in Second Life.

Machinima/Video Clips:

A History of Evil (YouTube).
Lego and Biochemistry (YouTube).
Keiko Takamura sings about Bioshock (YouTube).
This robotic dog is bizarre (YouTube).
Roman Coppola makes an environmental short (nofatclips).
Interesting effect in this Half Life machinima - Message (YouTube).
I like this Portishead video (YouTube).
Low cost multitouch whiteboard (very cool - imagine the possibilities - YouTube).
This video of a TED talk by a neuroscientist discussing what happened when she had a stroke is very inspiring (TED).
Ammo Previz (some clips showing atmospheric previsualization).

Digital Online Video/Cinema/Imaging:

As noted in Indymogul, this composer is offering to make free music for films/videos (forum post).
The secret strategies of viral videos.
Twenty-five brilliant animated shorts.
Photoshop Express is online, but beware the terms of use.
Kloseup is some sort of portal/online movie making platform? Example: (YouTube).

Misc:

Easter Eggs in your software (an amusing list of hidden embedded games and other easter eggs in a variety of programs, DVDs).
Maps and fiction - The 21 Steps. An interesting experiment (game, literature?).
OLPC is offering 8.5 GB of Creative Commons sample content (Wiki).

Machinima News - Bad And Good

Some news.

The bad first.

I was very shocked to hear the news of Peter Rasmussen's passing. I did not know him, but others in the machinima community did.

More information on these pages:

Machinima for Dummies
AFTRS Lamp
IHateSheep
EyesWiredOpen
Sydney SIGGRAPH
Dr. of Machinima

Now some good news.









The After After Party

The OMFF Second Life pre-awards cocktail party was yesterday. Unfortunately I missed most of it and have only 2 pics to show (plus what Frank took). But he's already posted them so take a look:

FlingFilms








The After After Party

Thx again to HatHead and Stormy. Remember, the awards are May 10. I am not wearing a pirate costume.

More news.

Machiniplex will be showcasing "Folie a Duex" in just a few hours.

Overcast contest.

Phil is having a contest to promote the Overcast podcast. Entries are due April 27, 2008.

Michael Nitsche has an article about machinima. I have not seen much discussion about it.

New video releases.

Tom Jantol just released another video called "Wizard of OS: The Fish Incident" that is bizarrely based on an experiment by Nikolai Tesla and some lab notes he left behind. Very strange as you might expect.

A fair use documentary (approx. 10 min.) made with The Movies (how does that work?).

Same As It Ever Was. Critics of video games recycle their arguments (what was this made in?).

Ross Scott released the third episode of Freeman's Mind.

Apparently students at the University of Utah were using Half Life to create some machinima clips and released them on YouTube.

PoorComputerScienceStudent
The Lumberjack Song
Secret Hillary/McCain Love Affair
The last one is especially well done.

Never played Half Life before? You can get the gist of the story from HL in 60 Seconds.

Not your cup of tea? How about Half Life: Full Life Conseqeuences #1 or #2. Machinima made from fan fiction created by a nine year old. Of course, it makes no sense. Or is it the work of a genius beyond our understanding?

LitFuseFilms released Melons 3.

Other news.

NIN film festival.

Some of you may have heard of Trent Reznor's (Nine Inch Nails) recent release of Ghosts, a set of instrumental tracks. You can get some tracks for free, the full set for a limited amount, or the special super deluxe mega version. Word is they already made $1.5 million after one week release. They are having a fan-submitted visuals contest to accompany the instrumental tracks. More information on this You Tube video.

Adobe is having a "See What's Possible" contest. Some very nice prizes. Check out the submissions.

The oldest animation ever found is very cool.

The Machinarium also has some fascinating visuals.

So does The World of Goo.

And Crayon Physics Deluxe. You Tube vid.

And Audiosurf (surf your music).

And Love.

Maxis has integrated YouTube into Spore, so that you can post to YT directly from the game. Talk about embedded gaming.

This is how to use You Tube to audition. A very attractive young woman doing 21 different accents. Judging by her resume she is very talented.

Impressive fan made art for Bioshock gets noticed by 2K Games.

Excel: The next generation 3D modeling software? YouTube.

The 20 minute dcumentary The Story of Stuff.

Goobees. What happens in a vending machine.

Line Rider vs. Pivot. Amusing.

Daily Monster. A new monster every day.

Strange Animation from Marcel Kaars - keukendingen.

OMFF

OMFF finalists are up, and as I happen to be one of the judges, I will become intimately familiar with all of the films and people in the nine categories.

So, to recap the process.

1. Nominations accepted from the community at large. Nine categories. Nominations finalized.
2. Short lists derived from #1 accepted from the community at large. Short lists finalized (3 in each category).
3. Judges decide order (1, 2, 3) for each category. All six judges contribute to final order (less finalists than the total # of judges means hopefully no ties).
4. Winners announced.

We're in phase #3 right now. Winners announced in May. There will be an awards ceremony in SL on May 10th.

Best of luck to all the nominees and finalists.

Note: There will be a lot of watching to do. Hours and hours. I hope you all appreciate my sacrifice.

Dr. Muglerstein's Machinima & Fantastic Pictures Experience

Not entirely sure what this is all about, but found this site:

Dr. Muglerstein's Island

That appears to have a contest for submission of machinima from Second Life (among other things) with an in-world as well as a Paris exhibition. Some more info about Mugler on this blog? A fashion designer?

Off topic:

Does anyone else absolutely despise FLASH based sites? You can't get a link to copy, you can't open links in another tab. The damn flash takes over your entire browser hostage. It's all some wankfest artist crap that is all style and no function. Sick of it.

Machinima Info Barf #7

Been busy and have not done one of these in awhile, so the links accumulated.

Time to purge.

Welcome to the future. Grab some popcorn, this one is long.

Previous Info Barfs (#1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6).

====

Robots:

There seemed to be a lot of news about robots recently.
Artificial boy built.
According to defensetech.org, the first armed drone in Iraq has killed (the MQ-9 "Reaper").
More ED209 news from Iraq.
Is Iraq to be the playground for the military industrial complex R&D divisions?

eSports:

Shocking news, the WSVG is cancelled. I guess they could not compete with CGS.
CGS to give out $1 million in prizes.

Contests:

Amazon and Microsoft team up to allow up to 1000 indie film developers the ability to get their film pressed on to HD-DVD and available from Amazon.

Machinima news:

Oxhorn talks about advertising.
Anthony Bailey posts about the origins of the word machinima.
Adobe is entering real time 3D animation at least as a research project (and ray-tracing). I always wondered when some of the big players would start to enter this turf.
Shaping Youth talks about machinima.
Casual WoW lists some machinima guides.

Machinima/Video Clips:

Thes two clips mentioned at Frames Per Second magazine from the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival are fascinating. The first is Oh Hisse is by Hikaru Yamakawa and is either a celebration of rigidity, conformity, and the human machine, or is maybe a rejection of it, I haven't decided yet. Very Japanese. The second is Mix a Miniascape by Tomonori Hayase which has a cityscape constantly disassembling and reassembling as the viewer passes through it. Very cool (and must have taken a lot of work).
Speaking of lockstep, this human powered animation video is impressive.
Rubberdada episode #2 is released (rubberdada.com). This is just BIZARRE and sure to cause controversy. Juvenile, violent, immature, and yet strangely fascinating as it deals with topics like racism (episode #1 mentioned here). Think of South Park. They definitely seem to hate clowns.
More from the CRC Machinima Collection shot in SL. #1, #2.
This video of a system that allows users to create shadow puppets wherein extra animations are added in real time is very cool.
More Shadow Puppets.
Basho is a very impressive thirteen minute Japanese machinima (with English subtitles) made in Second Life with classic ninjas, shoguns, and the fate of a kingdom in hand at SL-machinima.com. Nice to see some hand-to-hand combat (English translated site; Metacafe trailer).
Someone liked the new GTAIV trailer so much, they remade it using GTAIII San Andreas (too bad the game is delayed till next year).
There's an epic machinima made in Halo called Trinity. I have not watched all of it.
Does what happen in Facebook stay in Facebook? Beware your personal bitstream and who's reading it.
Hallow3en is back with another musical machinima using U2's Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me.
OneJovialSim's Bjork based machinima Akin.
Someone's trying to escape their world. Do they succeed? Infiltrator.
Afonso Cuaron and Naomi Klein's trailer for The Shock Doctrine.
Animation Ramblings lists some iClone examples.
List of Siggraph shorts.

Video Games:

Remember when the specs for Microsoft's Xbox360, Sony's PS3, and the Nintendo Wii were released. Remember how everyone said Nintendo didn't know what it was doing and that it obviously couldn't compete in the high tech arena. Guess who's laughing now as the Wii outsells both the Xbox360 and the PS3, even after being released a year after the Xbox360. Never underestimate the company behind the plumber power Mario.
Neuromatrix is an educational video game where you enter a neuroscience facility and track down the nanobots invading the brains of the scientists within. Made by Morphonix. Check out the video introduction.
There was a report from the Eve Online economist and an interview on Slashdot. It would be nice to see reports from Second Life, WoW, and other MMOGs.
Artificial worlds to be artificial intelligence incubators. Now if only they can obey directions like "no, say it with more emotion".
Artificial worlds are the future of commerce.
The marines are using virtual worlds as training simulators.
VastPark is a virtual world content creation system. Site.
Next week, virtual worlds will do my laundry and wash the windows.

Digital Online Video/Cinema/Imaging:

Steam is a digital content delivery platform developed by Valve. Not only are a wide variety of games available, but apparently steammovies.com has been registered by Valve. If you've seen the recent videos Valve has made for Team Fortress 2 you will realize that high quality video can be delivered via Steam, either for free or after paying (via credit card).
Overman lists some free filmmaking tools. Other freeware/shareware lists specifically for Mac and more general tools here. More DIY list from The Workbook Project.
Revver has paid out $1 million to content creators to at least 25 000 people (the winners are the Diet Coke and Mentos people at $50 000). It may not be MySpace, which just seems to keep picking up new shows, but it is definitely a site to consider.
Speaking of which, NewTeeVee discusses what makes an online hit.
Brand Worlds 3D production for Flash and the web.
3D holographic display developed. Now when can I play Tank War Europa on it.
More 3D image creation using plasma balls.
SciVee brings science to the world of internet video.
IndyMogul talks about Reverse Shot, a film quarterly that goes into detail about film and cinema. Check out this extensive article on "the cut".

More Virtual Worlds Machinima

Not exactly hot on the heels of the Second Life announcement (see last post) but some other virtual worlds are getting in on the machinima craze (I'm ignoring the 800 pound gorillas like WoW for now).

Habbo Hotel is hosting a film making competition (from Wonderland). The winner can win a trip to Hollywood along with virtual Habbo credits. This looks like fun. Check out "Stop That Hacker".

There's some sort of educational/student contest in Singapore using a MMOG called Granado Espada. Very strange topic requirements that to myself seem unbelievably nationalistic. Bizarre. And in a game I've never heard about.

I've posted about Croquet before (other note), an open source virtual world, and there is some development in that area towards recording machinima (via Wetmachines). It looks quite crude right now, but the graphics could improve in the future. This project by the University of Minnesota might be an interesting alternative to commercial virtual worlds and definitely a great educational resource.

TGIF Machinima

Or something like that.

1. I didn't win one of the Stolen Life DVD giveaways Overman was giving away. Boo! Hiss! Scam! It was rigged! Cheat! ;)

Oh well. You can now download (for a price) SL on their site now. Cheaper and probably faster than buying the DVD.

2. Lot's of info on the new Microsoft rules. Check out Mprem for links.

3. I don't know what Rubberdada is, but it certainly is strange. Episode 1 link here.

4. Firingsquad AMD machinima contest winners announced.

5. I'm not usually a big fan of musical machinima vids, but this one, "Memories of a security guard" has some definitely amusing bits. Shot in HL2, it uses the U2 song "Elevation" by Half a Beer productions (not a real company) and made by barneyvation? (uploaded by radu0).



6. Pacman quits. Arrghh! Who's next, Mario? Video game character union anyone?



7. The Euro Machinima Festival extends it's submission deadline. I thought having the deadline on the last long weekend of the summer was kind of silly, but now it's Sept. 7, 2007.

Tuesday Titillations

Eve Online gets TV show? This post (albeit referring to events two years old) suggests there needs to be a movie made (Eve TV - seems to require micropayments?).

Ubisoft Assassin's Creed film contest. Grand prize winner gets $10 K.

RvB Episode 100 coming tomorrow. When is the movie getting made?

ESRB will rate game trailers?

An entire issue of The Escapist devoted MMOGs. Julian Dibbel wrote an article in NYT on gold farming in WoW.

All I know is I am addicted to Desktop Tower Defense like everyone else.

Machinima Festival And Contest News

Apparently Europe will now host a franchise machinima festival Oct. 12-14 at De Montfort University in Leicester, UK (via MCV and distraction economy- festival site). No word yet on the dates for the US festival.

At the Darklight Film Festival Friedrich Kirschner will give a one hour presentation - June 21-24 in Dublin, Ireland (via Games Toaster).

The Ataris WoW contest finalists are up (via WoW Insider).

Second Life Black Tie and Blues: Oyster Bay Machinima - release of a new SL machinima focusing on sculptures at Oyster Bay. Documentary?

Machinima Info Barf #4

I have not done one of these in a while.
Number 4 in this chaotic mash of info (#3, #2, #1).

Movies/Cinema

Postcards From The Future (via Wired)
Raiders: The Adaptation (DIY remake of Raiders Of The Lost Ark)
Most Powerful Person In The World (awesome! fun look at video games - YouTube)
Star Wars Clone Wars Sneak Peek (so sick of the prequels)
Tintin in 3D: Spielberg/Jackson (WTF?)
Grindhouse Movie Posters (from Somethingawful)

Onine Digital Video

Serial Storytelling
Onine Video Comparison (gigantic, better presentation needed)
Video Conversion/Encoding (this could also be presented in a better format)
The Second Wave (long)
Collaborative Film Making (mashups)

Video Contests

Comedy Central/Atomfilms - Pilots
Halogrid - Affinity Machinima Challenge
Virtual Live TV SL Machinima Contest (apex-high studio sponsor)

Machinima/Video Clips

Half-Life PC vs. Mac (somewhat amusing)
Action Figures Marvel vs DC (HBO needs to do a superheroes series)
The Making Of The Sims 2 (amusing - for the EA "Sims in the Hands of Artists)
The Carioca (also funny - Lionhead's The Movies short for Chrysler competition)
Snacky's Journal #1, #2 (Stage 6 machinima)
Guitar Hero Ad
Sonic's Revenge
The Saddam's Family (from the creator of Dubya and the Monkey)

Theatre Of War Video Contest

This is an interesting machinima contest (via Armchair General) for the game Theatre of War by Battlefront (developer 1c).

• you can use the demo release
• only in-game footage is allowed
• it runs for three months (till Aug 7th)
• top 10 voted videos on YouTube will be entered to the grand prize drawing
• the grand prize winner wins a trip to Moscow to meet the developers

Upload to the YouTube contest group (channel). Discussion forum.

There have not been many machinima contests for RTS or RTT games. I'm interested to see what becomes of it.

Microsoft Becoming TV Producer?

From Wonderland is this post about a new contest to win a $100 K production budget for an Xbox Live six episode series. Pilots of five to fifteen minutes (live-action or animated or mixed) can be submitted by June 29th (with a $25 processing fee). The whole contest is in conjunction with the New York Television Festival where the winner will be screened (finalists will be shown on Xbox Live Marketplace).

I wonder when Valve will do the same with Steam? I wonder how much potential ad revenue there is for something like this to a company like Microsoft?

Virtual Architecture Contests

New World Notes has a post about a virtual architecture contest for the design of a Second Life office for publishing house Meltemi Editore, an Italian firm. The english translation of the contest rules suggests that the prize is 5000 euros, and submissions must be made by May 20, 2007. The goal is to design their SL office in a 4096 square metre space with only 937 prims. Interesting in that this publishing house has released a book called Second Life by Mario Gerosa (it's on the front page). Feedback loop?

There's another architectural contest in SL: First Annual Architecture and Design Competition (via Virtual Suburbia and Inman). The deadline is Sept 1, 2007. There's no design limitations, and winners will be documented in a book, a real world exposition, and an SL hall of fame. The contest organizer is a real world artist and organizer (Stephan Doesinger) who contributes to magazines and books and apparently has a new book coming out, "Learning from Sim City". I've always thought that today's city planners and engineers and more importantly, politicians, should play Sim City to get a more fundamental grasp of urban planning. Maybe they should play and design in SL as well?

Machinima Info Barf #3

Part 3 of this link list mess (part1, part2).

I. Online Video:

1. How-To Videos (via WebTVHub). JumpStartTV and Expert Village are two sites that host how-to videos (see previous post mentioning DoHowTo).

2. Video Search. Blinkx has a whitepaper and a wiki detailing search optimization and strategies for video search (via NewTeeVee). PureVideo adds new features including a toolbar (from WebProNews). PageFlakes has some video search widgets (via NewTeeVee).

3. The Onion News Network. "You'll Never Read Again". Will the news ever be the same or is this just Stewart and Colbert redux?

4. Organize your online videos into Channels (NewTeeVee, DailyReel).

5. Put BiggyTV on your site and make money (via WebTVWire)?

6. Track trends in your online videos via TubeMogul.

7. More video site comparisons (who has the most Del.icio.us bookmarks - via WebTVWire).

II. Contests (some serious money to be had):

1. Network2TV had a video contest (via WebTVWire). Website and contest winners will be announced at the Video on the Net Conference.

2. Machinima.com contests.

3. Briobox contest.

4. FiringSquad Editor's Challenge Video Contest. Some preliminary rounds have already finished. Example Palladiuman's Whackey Network News from YouTube.

5. For the editor in you (not the director) Cuts is hosting a weekly video editing contest and giving away iPods (via WebTVHub).

III. Machinima/Video Clips:

1. Judge Dredd Machinima.
2. MTVU WoW Machinima Clips (Google, site).
3. Not My Time To Die (long IL2 movie - forum announcement).
4. Cube Game Ad (retro game ad - hilarious).
5. Kiwi (student animation - well done).
6. Mario's back - this time in Lego.
7. Frank of the Dead machinima.
8. MyClones demoreel for Reallusions' iClone.
9. Operation Melon Freedom.
10. No! My favorite word video montage.
11. Big Brother State (YouTube).

IV. Miscellaneous.

1. Videogames and Art book (Amazon, Chicago Press). Apparently it has some discussion of machinima in it. Has anyone had a chance to read it yet?

2. Portugal Machinima Festival (Animatu - has a machinima component - thought I mentioned this already, but perhaps not?).

3. Quentin Tarantino calls the shots.

4. Upcoming Italian SF police drama Project Chrono machinima series.

Alright, that's enough for now.

Creative Movies Director's Cut Winners

Winners have been announced and the voting levels for each movie are listed on CM's site (the final score was based on 30% audience and 70% judges). Unfortunately, Civil Protection: Aliens missed out by just a hair in the open category (the third clip in that series has just been released). I have not watched all of the movies, but most are frag videos, some with interesting editing techniques, some without.