Saving Grace Wins Distance Competition

Sisch's Saving Grace won Del's Distance Competition.

As the judges say, "In the end though there had to be a winner, and we all agreed that prize must go to Saving Grace. Getting blown away by the technical genius of this movie aside; Saving Grace perfectly conveys the feeling of distance through the loneliness and frustration of Grace (beautifully performed by Sisch!). A deep character and one we most certainly can relate to. The moment where AICO (AND does an amazing job here) offers to take her back is quite special, pivotal in reflecting how she longs to close that distance."

Coming in second is Dulci's I Will Not Speak of It. "Not only a great example of what is possible with iclone but also a wonderful character study of someone who is psychologically and socially distant. Dulci's movie almost won for me and Roger and it was very difficult to relegate this movie to second!"

Tying for third place are Nukester's Reflections, described as "an Intriguing, moody audio-visual story", and Norrie's Loss, a "fantastic Portishead style song with a great video to match."

Congratulations to Sisch and thank you to Del and the rest of the judges.

Weekly Top Ten - Jan 22-29, 2009

Thought I'd start tracking the top 10 commented movies each week on TMUnderground. I am doing my search based on movies released only in each particular week.

This is not intended to be a chart - my motivation is just to keep a historical record of what was *hot* each week.

Movies Released Week of January 22 - 29, 2009
Top 10 Commented All Genres

The War of the Worlds Promo
Added: 6 days ago
From: Chris62

Warm and Fuzzy TMU
Added: 5 days ago
From: Dulcilicious

Having My Baby
Added: 3 days ago
From: MarvellousGuppi

Impact
Added: 6 days ago
From: iiclone

Conquest: Artifact 3rd...
Added: 4 days ago
From: Uber

El Nino Tu Madre
Added: 3 days ago
From: riott007

Into Shadow Episode 1
Added: 2 days ago
From: Wolf

Explorer EXP - The Prologue
Added: 5 days ago
From: iiclone

Super Zombie Love Machine
Added: 3 days ago
From: riott007

Vengeance and Justice
Added: 5 days ago
From: Zannder

Warm and Fuzzy TMU

Movie by Dulci with highlights from a discussion had by K4 and Ken on last weeks Ken & Roger show. Sure to make you feel warm and fuzzy!

iClone and MovieStorm discussion on TMOA Radio Jan 25 2009

An announcement from Kuroken, host of the Roger & Ken show, regarding the Sunday, January 25, 2009 lineup:

As we move toward becoming a community of filmmakers using different software to make our films, one thing I've sensed is that some people are hesitant to try some of the other packages out there, like MovieStorm or iClone, because they worry that the learning curve will be too steep, or they're too hard to use, or whatever....

Clearly The Movies is still a very viable tool for moviemaking, especially with the ability to use outside editors and special effects software to bring your vision to life - if you don't think so, check out some of the stuff that people like Ubernewbie, Killian, and MefuneAkira are doing with The Movies, just to name three obvious examples.

But some are looking to try other software, either because of limitations in The Movies, or because they want something different.

That's where this episode of Roger and Ken Go to Hell comes in....

We've had shows over the past couple of months interviewing iClone and MovieStorm filmmakers, and we've touched upon the process of making movies with those software packages. This week, the show will be all about it.

And because we have some community members, formerly TMers, who have been doing some amazing stuff with both programs - people who three months ago, knew nothing but The Movies. Today we'll be bringing them in to talk about the thing on the minds of many - how hard is it to learn iClone or MovieStorm, how hard is it to use those programs, and how hard is it to do the amazing things they're doing. We won't be talking about specific movies - more about how they learned, and how they do it.

So our guests tomorrow, in no particular order, will include:

Sisch - MovieStorm
Dulci - iClone
Reptor7 - MovieStorm
Biggstrek - iClone
KingPengvin - MovieStorm

and I may chime in with my so-far limited knowledge of iClone and Roger may have something to say about MovieStorm.

Should be interesting - and we'll also be glad to take questions from listeners, about learning and getting up to speed with both iClone and Moviestorm, so if you'll be around, be thinking about what you might like to know.



The show begins at 2 pm Eastern, 7 pm in the UK, 8 pm in Europe, and sometime before dawn in Australia, depending exactly where on the continent you might find yourself. To listen, go to the TMOA Website and select the 32K or 64K stream.

Feel free to join the community in the chatroom that is usually hopping during the show as well.

Sparky Wins LNEYME Competition

Congratulations to Sparky on coming out on top in the Lionhead Name Em, You Make Em Competition.

Sparky's entry The Man in The Cheap Suit can be viewed here.

He describes the movie as, "Living in a cheap flat next door to noisy neighbours, out star recants the highs and lows of his life to date in an attempt to explain why he’s wearing this particular suit at this particular moment in time.

This was a fun little project that also gave me chance to play around with some outside editing techniques."

Other entries included Macweymess' The Man in The Cheap Suit, and Dulci's The Thingy.

Thank you to RavensFan (who also organized the competition) and thebiz for judging the entries.

Sisch Interviewed by Short Fuze

Sisch's masterpiece Saving Grace continues to garner rapt attention. She was recently interviewed by Short Fuze on subjects ranging from what inspires to her to how she intends to utilize varying software in future projects.

The interview can be read here.

Sisch's thoughts on Saving Grace can also be viewed in recent blog posts here and here.

Featured Channel Contest

Thebiz announces...

Got a great collection of TMU favorites that you're dying to show everyone? Got a personality to express in your writing and visual talents? Got a Channel sitting around on TMU that never really reached its full potential or perhaps the desire to create a really kick ass new one?

Well, here is the contest for you. Modify or create a Channel on TMU. Submit it in this thread before January 31, 2009. A winning channel will be selected by me based upon the channel idea/theme, the style and the content of the channel. The winning channel will be featured on the channel page for at least the month of February (thanks to the wonderful Mrs. Dulcinea). Thats it. Now get to steppin!

Entries for the contest can be be submitted here.

Instructions on how to create a channel on www.tmunderground.com can be found here.

Anyone is welcome to participate.

Poetry in Machinima

There is certainly room for expression of poetry using machinima tools, and this week we have decided to spotlight some of these endeavors on TMUnderground.

The Chaos Cycle by reepicheep is described as being a representation of how our world is in a continuous cycle of chaos.

Her Name by bongoman integrates music with imagery to create a stunning sensory experience. He did this using one 4-minute camera shot in Blender.

If I Were Going by animatechnica is in the unique genre of sci-fi poetry. More poems by the author can be found here.

Apollyon by Corinthian was one of the 10 videos selected for the Warrington Film Festival.

Awakening by Dulci was visualized for a contest with the theme "One day I woke up dead."

The Merciless Sun by Mericc is a western poem narrated beautifully by Lizard3209.

The Creepy Clown Visits by Tie is chillingly performed.

Ode to Norrie by Riott007 is like no other ode you've heard before.

To Eros by PostModernChuck is adapted from the poem by Wildfred Owen and showcases why PMC is held in high esteem by so many members of the TMU community. (come back Chuck!)