Phil Rice 00:16
Good afternoon. Good evening or good night. Welcome to Completely Machinima. And as we've mentioned the past couple episodes, we're changing our focus of the episodes to focus on the film's which is everybody's favourites. Don't forget to check our blog for the latest news about Machinima, Omniverse, and Unreal and all the different games that we cover. Lots of good information being published over there. But today we are here to talk with about one of our film picks. My name is Phil Rice, with me as Damian Valentine, Tracy Harwood and Ricky Grove. Hello, hello, hello, Damien. We're going to talk about your film today. 'Most Precious Gift', I believe it's called Tell us about it.

Damien Valentine 01:03
So this was actually my second pick. Because last week, Tracy beat me to the good second thing it is, it's actually quite similar in visual style. It's a it's another very realistic space. Film, it's all everything is very detailed, but this one's actually rented with Nvidia Omniverse. And when I found this, and I watched it, I was thinking about some of our previous discussions where we've talked about how people will make tutorial videos with iClone or Unreal or Omniverse, but they don't actually make any real films. And so this was one of the first real films I found with Omniverse. And it sets the bar pretty high, at least as far as what I can see. And two weeks ago, Phil, when we're talking about your film, again, it was saying about plagiarising and learning by copying other people, there's a scene quite early on in this film, where there's a shot of a window, it's all frosted, and you can see the reflection in of the spaceship interior on the glass. So as soon as I finished watching it, I loaded up Omniverse and try to recreate that effect, because I just really liked the way that looks, I thought, I'm not copying the whole shot or anything like that. I just want to know how they got the reflective glass. To do that, it looks so good. So this is a film that is very inspiring to me, just on the visual side of it. But I found the story itself was very interesting and very unusual. It's created by somewhat, I'm going to probably butcher this name. So I do apologise, Shangyu Wang, from China, so that the spoken dialogue is in Chinese. But there is English subtitles at the bottom, which will help make easy to follow the story. And it's a very spooky film. But it's not. I don't know if you can reclassify it as pure horror, because of the way the story unfolds. There's alien life forms in it. And they are very alien. It's not like Star Trek, where it looks like a human with some lumpy bits stuck on their face. These are very alien creatures with a completely alien way of living. And it kind of deals with humanity's struggle to try and understand them because they're applying human thinking with how to appeal to these alien creatures. But of course, the alien creatures have no concept of human values, they got something very different. And I'm not going to spoil it because that's the whole basis of the story. But that was something that really appealed to me as well. So what do you guys think of it?

Ricky Grove 03:45
I liked it very much. It is a fairly common trope in science fiction, the not first contact, but the ability to break communication between two entirely different species that's been a theme in science fiction over and over again. That was a famous film in the last four or five years arrival. Arrival. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Yeah. And and it's always a compelling and interesting topic. I thought that they, the alienness of the character, I thought was just marvellous. I did fine. And of course, the look is beautiful, but I found it a bit to be like a really, incredibly designed candy, in which the wrapper was just fantastic. And you finally open it up and eat the candy in it sits up pretty good candy, its a normal kind of candy. The expectations for this fantastic story and their final breakthrough were a bit of a letdown. I won't spoil it by telling you what actually happened, but it seemed somewhat. The people who were trying to communicate with the aliens seem to be somewhat stupid, because he kept thinking technology. That's what they'll want. They want our technology. So we'll give them this superduper you know, cosmic ray gun. And of course, they just get they don't care for it. While you can pretty easily guess what it is they want, and when they finally get it, I hate to say this, but it's the kind of thing that just makes me cringe. That kind of sentimental ending, where what they finally come up with is such a cliche that it just, it didn't ruin the film for me, but it just, I suppose my life is just different. I look at the world in different ways. You know, I think the great majority of people will probably find that ending and how they actually finally communicate with the alien, perfectly acceptable and nostalgic, but personally, for me likes a little more originality, I just found it a letdown in it. But overall, I just thought it was a marvellous story. The Eastern cultures like like Japan and China use nostalgia and sentiment in very different ways. Oftentimes, they'll like in a manga or anime, they'll actually use sentimentality and then turn it upside down. They'll they'll do something with it that's unique. They didn't do that. In this case, they just relied on the sentiment and and I was a bit disappointed in it, but not so much to say that I didn't like the film, which I did.

Tracy Harwood 06:45
Well, okay, do you want my view on it? Yes, slightly more. Actually. Some of the some of Ricky's comments are, I've kind of sort of think very similar ways really. It's nearly 14 minutes long, which was very similar to the one that we reviewed last week that seemed 14 minutes long. And for the first three and a half minutes of it, all you're all you're seeing really is just positioning of the story, it's kind of setting the scene building up the suspense for what's to come, it's kind of a story of impending doom, you kind of get this notion of planetary failure, alien invasion, you know, death and destruction, all that sort of stuff and or early. So that's kind of how it came across to me. And I think it was kind of interesting, because it's told in Chinese with this sort of translation over the top of it. What what, what I really picked up on is the the, the voice actor has just the right tone. Because of course, you don't understand a word or certainly I didn't understand the word of the Chinese language that was being spoken, which means your attention is drawn to the titles, as the kind of the story gets going, that text I think, has the potential to be really distracting. But actually, the next part where the astronaut kind of leaves the earth, you kind of see you see the animation, they kind of travelled to this alien planet, not too sure why because it's supposed to be about Earth, but there's this sort of travel scene in it. To make some kind of exchange with this alien overlord. And the characters kind of talking to the commander, it's, it's all quite dark. And so surprisingly, I think you're able to follow what's what's going on. But you're you're doing it primarily through the text and the tone of the voice and the and the soundscape. And then the next bit of it from about nine minutes on, is really the film. And, you know, there's this kind of quite surprising reveal at the end of it, where there's not a lot of talking, but it's kind of done in sort of chunks, I think, and having been set up as this kind of suspenseful interaction. You know, there's kind of an alien attack and a failed mission, which you kind of feel is is bound to sort of, you know, destroy the life of this astronaut, astronaut. There's kind of something magical that kind of happens. And yes, it's invasive and, and yes, it's intrusive, and disorientating, but what you kind of see isn't is is it's kind of an alien recreating memories, I won't kind of spoil it beyond that, but the basically what it's doing is invading the astronaut, and then revealing emotions. And that's actually quite an interesting theoretical concept about what is alien or you know, it's kind of it's kind of a traditional sort way thinking about what's alien or animal, and human, what's the difference? It's this idea of humans have emotions, nothing else does. So this reference to emotions, I think, is really quite an interesting play. And I'd say probably the folks behind it may be quite academic in their understanding of, of the concepts that are being shown in this story. And obviously, you know, what you've picked up on Ricky, I also picked up on the fact that it's actually quite a sticky, it leaves quite a sticky taste in the mouth, really doesn't it with the, with the feelings that are portrayed at the end of it. And I immediately thought of you in the comments about emotion. When it kind of got to that sort of point of story, but what I liked about it was the journey that the creator took you on from the, from this kind of place of hopelessness and fear to break through, and humanity or at least, you know, at least what the essence of humans are. And that sets and sets them apart from kind of other living things. And the way that that was told, I thought was also quite intriguing, because they start with this idea of like a cardboard wall. Not sure why. But you have this kind of cardboard presentation. And then these kind of travel scenes in the spaceship that was was very similar to what we saw in last week's film. And then this kind of alien planet and hostile encounter fully back to this person's long forgotten memories of a homeland. And I thought that was really quite clever it with that kind of sense of journey, takes you through all these different styles, I thought it was very, very clever, very, very interesting in how it's done. There is something I will mention, because when I did a little bit of research into this, it was entered into the Fifth Annual Global Game Art Contest, which is a Chinese CG contest that aims to showcase Chinese art talents, and promote cultural exchanges. And the deadline for it is actually December this year. So this film only came out a month ago. So as we report on this, this is still a live Contest, which I think is, is quite interesting. And it'll will be, I think, quite interesting to see how this finishes up in that contest. But at the moment, we don't know. Phil, over to you.

Ricky Grove 12:34
good criticisms also, always points out things that you've missed, and makes you enjoy the, especially if it's positive criticism, makes you enjoy the artwork even more. And that's what your your comments just did. I liked the film better now.

Phil Rice 12:53
I think well, to get out of the way, first, craft wise, you know, as far as the design, the lighting, the animation, even the sound? I mean, I have no quarrel with it whatsoever. It's it's some really delicious moments. I could have done without the opening. You talked about Tracy is as almost like three different segments. I hadn't really broken it down that way in my mind until you said it. But yeah, that is what it isn't it. So I could have done without the emblem segment altogether. The the setup for me lop that off, is still a meaningful story. You know, I mean, I could get there when I needed to. I was a little bit put off by the the trope. I think because I read Solaris in the last 12 months. Oh, there's just no out doing that or even competing with that in terms of alien entity who wants to understand or invade the minds of humans. This is kind of a pale shadow. But it's clearly influenced by that tradition. So I was hard to get that out of my head but that's not going to be most most viewers and I too I think where it ended up arriving I think I just expected more. It's expected something even remotely innovative, innovative about their take on this idea, right of that week aspect of a seemingly unique aspect of humans and you know, it's all born of this idea that that boy would aliens really be puzzled by this kind of Iron Man core of irrationality that we carry around with us, let us influence our decisions that would be what would baffle them. That's the premise of this really, again, is that that's the mystery. That's there's something weird about that, which is a very arrogant thing to say, I think. But I mean, arrogant as a species, we have no idea how unique that is. And we don't even fully understand what it is. But that doesn't mean that some some other advanced species would necessarily be at all baffled by it. Right. But anyway, that aside, you know, it wasn't the job of this film to resolve that philosophical quandary. I liked it. Overall, I just I think that I was just with the journey that took us on, I was hoping that there would be something of an insight, or even an attempt at an insight. And it just it did it all felt kind of played. But beautifully crafted. And if they were, indeed creating this for a showcase, and they're wanting to show different styles, then, because that's probably as good a way to do it as any good as good an excuse as any to incorporate three really completely different animation styles and settings into one mostly cohesive film, then I guess that's the way to do it. But narratively, I could have done without the first third, fifth. And I think it would hold up well, without all that. Because none of none of that underlying history really ended up mattering mattering in the end. Yeah, it didn't. It didn't weigh in at all. I mean, maybe it for some, it kind of elevated the imagination and made this world building a little bit more in depth. But for me, I just I feel like it was kind of fluff. Yep. I don't mean that as insulting as it sounds, but there's no way to use that word without it. Kind of having an edge to it. But I just, I felt like it was unnecessary. Yeah. But I liked the film. Subtitles, Tracy, you talked about that? Yeah, the I think part of the issue with the subtitles for me was something that is very simple and very technical, but their position, the fact that they were all the way down at the very, very bottom edge of the screen. And the fact that I had to rely on them to know what was happening. I spent half the time not looking at the image on the screen, and instead of looking at the very, very bottom, whereas if those have just been positioned a little bit more traditionally, you notice subtitles that are like brought in by TV or by video engine or whatever the position matters. You don't want to have to draw the person's view completely away from the screen to see them. So I feel like nudging those up a bit might have helped a bit. Because the fact that they were down to bottom when I'm watching full screen, I mean, it's a it's a great deal of difference today. Yeah, earlier in an earlier episode about the way our eyes work and focus and all that and for me, that was that's what made those challenging because I I watch TV with subtitles all the time. I'm not even hard to hearing yet. I don't think but I just like it. We can watch it lower volume and it doesn't matter and all that. So having subtitles no problem. I have no issue with that. But yeah, they were little. They had to wedge them all the way down on the screen, I think because they were all bilingual. So they had they had to fit them somehow. Anyway, that was just a thought that came to mind when he mentioned the subtitles that yeah, it was I found myself wishing I could could read those and watch at the same time. I'm not bright.

Ricky Grove 18:58
I think they missed an opportunity to create suspense when they when they could have had the lead female character indicate that she was retiring that this was her last mission

Phil Rice 19:14
she could she could she could have like a really crazy partner who's like, suicidal. She could just keep saying I'm getting too old for this shit. I'm getting too old.

Ricky Grove 19:27
I'm getting too old. Yeah, but they didn't take chose not to do that. So

Phil Rice 19:33
it's a missed opportunity. One out of the thing and seriousness regarding the the animation. How in the world did they pull off the tendrils? I know it's good. That's like some James Cameron shit there. You know, that's like Terminator 2 stuff. It's like how are they doing that? Because whatever they made this in. I don't know how they did that. But that was remarkable.

Damien Valentine 20:00
I know you can't do that with Omniverse at least not yet. So somehow,

Phil Rice 20:06
it's amazing. I mean, that's high level CG work, or at least it certainly appears like it. And it was perfectly done. Yeah, it fit like it. It didn't look off place on the screen it it seemed to just blend right in with the rest of the tech being used. But that was really amazing. I've never seen anything like that.

Damien Valentine 20:24
I think it's one of the things is the alien with the technical effects and the design of it is very different from last week's video. This creature feels very new and weird. The way should

Phil Rice 20:38
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that tendrils thing just blew my mind. I have no you know, it's sometimes we we often see stuff that we're like, How'd They Do That? Yeah, but this one was was this was genuinely. Oh my god. How did they do that? I really wants to know. Yeah,

Ricky Grove 20:55
it also really produced an emotional response in me. It made me feel kind of creepy.

Phil Rice 21:01
Well, Oh, yeah. The sound for them was perfect. It was executed so well. That part. Yeah.

Tracy Harwood 21:09
Which is why the last part is a bit of a letdown, isn't it?

Ricky Grove 21:12
Yes. The contrast between the two. Yeah.

Tracy Harwood 21:15
Yeah, I certainly expected a little bit more at the end. Okay, well, I guess we're done on that film. Yeah.

Ricky Grove 21:24
Yep. That was very good. Damien. Yeah. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Phil Rice 21:29
Kind of ties in with what is fast approaching us here, which is Halloween. Hmm. I think next we have some pics from our in house. Halloween aficionado. Mr. Ricky grove. He's going to have some some scary stuff. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Looking forward to that very much. On No, thank you for joining us. Be sure to send us your feedback at Completely Machinima.com. Look for the talk button. And you could send it to us by email or by other methods. So let us know what you think about all these. Was I being too hard on this this movie? Where were we? No, no. No, I want them to tell us.

Tracy Harwood 22:14
All right next week.