TMUnderground

Feral Interactive is offering The Movies Superstar Edition:


"Lights! Camera! Action! You’re the decision-maker on everything from budget to production in The Movies: Superstar Edition.

This special edition features not only the original BAFTA-award winning The Movies game and the Stunts & Effects expansion pack, but also composer Dan Pemberton’s BAFTA-nominated music, which mimics a wide range of styles - from silent movie piano ditties to soaring, John Williams-esque orchestral pieces - as he traces a century of cinema."

If you decide to take the plunge, there are two sites that will prove to be invaluable for both learning the software and learning how to expand the software beyond what it was originally intended to do:

TMUnderground (an offbranch of The Movies Online - the majority of TMO users ended up migrating here with the official ending of the Online portion)
DCMF Modding (the word "limitations" is not in this groups' vocabulary)

The Movies Online is no more. For an interesting read, check out the official Movies Online History according to Lionhead. This does not mean the community is vanishing or that people will stop making movies with the software - it just means that there is no longer a Lionhead website for movies to be uploaded to; the online portion connected with the game is gone.

For the next day or so, all the movies on the homepage of TMUnderground will be ones from "The Movies Rescue Project", which consisted of archiving The Movies Online movies onto TMU.

Please join us as we remember good times, good movies, and good friends from the past three years.

The discussion held on TMOA radio this past Sunday is now available for download here.

If you only have a little bit of time, parts 5 and 4 might interest you the most.

Also included in the show are the results of the TMOA Idol Competition. A special thanks to themonk for getting that event organized!

There's been a surplus of new releases on TMU lately. Most of them, however, aren't new releases - they are, in fact, part of a rush to get some of the historical gems from The Movies Online uploaded onto TMunderground before they are wiped from the internet forever when TMO goes offline in early December.

To catch up on some of these oldies, but goodies, click here: Rescued TMO Movies.




This release by Dulci (full disclosure - isn't that what real journalists say? - this blog is written by Dulci so naturally I like my own movie!) is a glimpse into the last few minutes of a woman's life. The music is by StokeStudios and Bongoman helped with an animated prop. What I really enjoyed about doing this was combining footage from iclone3 and The Movies to meet the vision I had in mind. I am looking forward to seeing what other hybrids can be crafted once I get more technically savvy with iclone. I have hesitated on posting it on any iclone sites because I'm not sure how they would feel about a hybrid movie.

This weekend on the internet radio show Voice of the Community (as announced here), the subject will be "Where are the Modding Tools?"

With the demise of The Movies Online, the modding community is anxious to get their hands on all the technical goodies that will help them in their creative paths.

One request from modder BudStopWilly - "Were the meshes created in MAX? If so, give us your import/export scripts! Please!"

So, please, tune in to the radio show, or voice your support here. Or leave a comment on this blog and we will pass that along.

Those of us who saw the signs feel like prophets this morning, as Lionhead formally announces that The Movies Online site will be shut down as of December 5, 2008.

Rest assured, this in no way indicates an end to the creative coalition that has grouped together to form The TMUnderground. In fact, the updated welcome message on the home page states, "Welcome to TMUnderground, a site for machinima made with TheMovies, MovieStorm, iClone, Antics3d, and other purpose-built programs for making animated movies, as well as occasional live-action projects from our members. Watch, comment, rate, and enjoy."

Over the next few weeks this blog will feature some of the outstanding individuals that have demonstrated themselves to be the cream of the crop of TMO and continue to maintain that stride.

The TMUnderground forum is actively discussing this issue here.

The official Lionhead announcement can be found here.

It's a bittersweet day, especially for the members who have been around since TMO's inception 3 years ago.