Ricky Grove 00:10
Welcome to And Now For Something Completely Machinima podcast. I'm Ricky grove. I'll be your host today and I'm here with Tracy Harwood and Damien Valentime. We're missing Phil Rice today because he's not feeling too well. So we wish him the best and we hope he gets well soon. We're looking at a film today. This is Tracy's pick. It's called Secret Moon by Orencloud. Tracy, can you tell us a little bit about the film?

Tracy Harwood 00:39
Yeah, absolutely. Secret Moon yeah, Orencloud released on the first of December last year, and then rereleased on the 20th of December on the Kitbash3d channel, because this was the winning entry to the 2022 Kitbash3d mission to Minerva challenge. And this is the video entry. Now,

Ricky Grove 01:05
who did the challenge who sponsored it?

Tracy Harwood 01:07
Kitbash, bash, kitbash? Yeah, Kitbash. So that contest was actually launched in September last year, and it closed in December, so they didn't have very long to actually respond to it. What it did, it asked creators to use their newly launched free kit, the Minerva Mission to Minerva kit, to build a settlement on a planet within this Minerva galaxy. And what basically, they were asking was for challenge submissions to use at least one asset in whatever it is they created. Now, it was judged by a really impressive panel of judges, from ILM, from Netflix, NASA Riot Games, and CD Projekt Red, and it was judged on the basis of how well they incorporated the theme of discovery, exploration and space-faring civilization as well as kind of usual things composition, lighting, atmosphere, render, quality, storytelling, sound, design, all those kinds of little things. And so what they were also looking for, I think, was originality and style and theme, which were, they said broadly to reflect the challenge. And the judges were looking for uniqueness and originality in turning those assets into something new for that Minerva world, which kind of connects to the entire galaxy. The last the kind of challenge that Orencloud responded to. Made in 40 days, as I said, he used Blender and Kitbash. He's an Italian 3d artists with a with a website, Artstation, profile, YouTube channel, a few other pieces of work actually, which, which I think are equally ethereal works. And I actually worth checking out too. His stills are really impressive. And he and he sells them actually as NF t's on various markets. And if you check them out, you can kind of clearly see a fascination that this guy has with a very particular theme that came through in this film, and I'll just sort of tell you a little bit about the film. Called secret Moon, it's basically about a catastrophic virus. What's kind of interesting, I think he's got this whispered voice in this message to people on other planets somewhere else in the galaxy, about the devastation that's kind of going on on this moon. And the tone is, well, breathless, really, for want of another kind of description of it. I think it's, it's kind of it's whispered is breathless. And it just adds, well, it's kind of got a very, it's a, it's got a great sadness through it, somehow. And there's this, this, the music that accompanies the whole piece is really bizarrely strangely very uplifting, and quite beautiful. Quite In contrast, I think, to the voice and what's going on. And you're kind of left questioning why why is that music like that? Why is the voice like that? You can barely hear it. But it's that voice and that whisper and, and, you know, that kind of theme of it. I think that kind of carries you through it. It's that kind of disjointedness that you can kind of barely hear that, I think captures your attention the most. Because the gloom of the world is quite frankly, soup like God knows what assets were used in this. couldn't really make them out as such. The story is clearly of a survivor. It's a woman who's lost everyone and I after watching her closest people die, she sort of sets out to travel across, or through this really gloomy city. And you don't know why she's travelling. But she seems to know where she's going. And she's following these weird sort of ghosts like creatures that all seem to be travelling in the same direction. I won't spoil the ending. But the real highlight is the astonishing detail of these bioluminescent creatures, the only real way I can describe me, and they seem to be kind of part animal part, mycelia, you know, the roots and threads of fungus. And I would say, Watch it, watch that video to the very, very end, because there's something quite unusual that happens after a little bit of a space between the end of the film and the end of the actual play. So watch it right to the very end, because there's some kind of reveal in there. And I think overall, you kind of get the sense that that actually isn't the end of the story, which is intriguing. The thing that I really liked about it, as well as the is the camera angles, but for me, it's the soundscape and the lighting that carries us through as well as that kind of whispered voice. And I think it's kind of interesting, because the contest was actually all about using these assets, but you don't really know what the assets are. So they pick this on the basis of the strength of the story and the originality of the story. Not necessarily because of the the way the assets were portrayed. And the other thing I would say is, when you have a look at this creator's, portfolio, which I really encourage you to do, what you can see is that this, this creator has got a real trajectory in the creative themes that are used in this film through a breadth of work. So I really encourage you to have a look at that. What do you think?

Damien Valentine 06:59
I downloaded the asset pack with the idea I was going to enter this contest, and then never got a chance to do it. So there was gossip pack itself, it's got all kinds of stuff, its buildings, its vehicles, various props and things that you can use to illustrate your set and your environment. And I think this film shows what you can do with a content pack like that. Its absolutely stunning. Visually, I go to what the visuals first. See, it's the way it's rendered, it looks beautiful, and so much attention to detail with the way the character looks that her hair flows very naturally, when she you know, she turns her head and she's got very long white hair, and it kind of dressed for that she's wearing a dress, which, again, flows very naturally. And looks. There's so much of attention to detail with things like that. And I think you have a content pack like that as well. You can put your character in an environment that matches the way she looks. And you can play around with it. And there's this kind of fog everywhere that makes everything look really gloomy, which Tracy you commented on that. And the weight lights up. And I could just talk about this for hours. But I think well, yeah, anyway, it tells the story really well. And it makes it draws you in, you kind of want to know what's happening. It doesn't really give you answers, but it makes you want the answers. And it tells you enough that you can, your mind can sort of work things out and play with it. So it doesn't start out entirely for you but gives you enough just to to think about which I really liked. And Tracy like you say, watch it to the very end because the last 30 credits, but the title, the name of the director comes up and then there's a blank and then something else happens. And I almost missed that. Because I thought that was it. And I was about to turn it off when suddenly the next bit started, which I'm not going to talk about, just be aware that there's something more to the film than after that point. I can see why this film won the contest. And I think it really shows what you can do with content packed. I've got some of the Kitbash packs as well, the stunning so I'm glad they did this contest, I hope to do more contests, because if this is the kind of film that gets made every time they do that, I think we're in for lots of good things to see in the future.

Ricky Grove 09:28
Yeah. Well, you know, there's no question that this filmmaker is incredibly talented, and highly skilled. I can see why the organisers of this contest chose this film, because you can imagine you have all of these basically, sort of elements and to put them together in such a creative way with such a strong mood and a feeling behind it. I can just see how they Okay, oh my god, this is gonna show off our, our content pack beautifully, you know, and it's exactly what they want people to do. There's some of the most beautiful things I've seen in a long time on the screen. The sort of evanescent ethereal quality that you were talking about is very affecting. The editing of each scene was just beautifully done. This sort of progression throughout the carries you through, you didn't even need sound or dialogue, to follow the story in a way. It reminded me of a Japanese artist named Mato m a t o who did a film called Vampire Hunter D. And lots of other designs. They have that sort of Baroque, the ethereal quality to them. You know, that gives you a sense. It's not a feminine sense, but it's almost a romantic sense. And the contrast between that romantic character and this sort of gritty and dark environment that they were in were also very affecting and moody, I find it interesting that both of you had no problems with the sound mixing, or the choice of music, because it bothered me quite a bit.

Tracy Harwood 11:23
I wondered what you might say about that. I was I was intrigued by it. Not. I mean, I followed it, because I, I couldn't hear the voice very well. But then I thought, actually, that's a deliberate choice. And that and, and the voice overtook what I was watching, because I was straining to hear it. But I realised as I was watching it that actually, I think that was deliberate. And I think that was intending to pull you through that kind of the you know that you've got the sense of the very deep sadness by the fact that you could barely hear that the person was barely able to string a sentence together because of the emotion and the deep sadness. And then this the music was just very strange, quite in contrast, kind of came together at the end, which

Ricky Grove 12:10
was, it tells me that there are going to be a lot of people who are going to respond to the film that way as well. So I may be a minority opinion on this, but he chose a recording of Claire de Lune by WC, and it's a vastly overused science fiction music theme trope, and it was mixed very loudly. So much so that it drowned out. Well, the the contrast between the high volume music, and the whispered low volume voice made it hard to even know what the person was saying. Claire de Lune fits the romantic ethereal quality of the character design. But it doesn't fit the world of the story. In my opinion. I think a better less, less. I hate to say it, but a less cliched choice for music would be better. There are lots of Debussy there are other Debussy pieces. Also. Erik Satie, did some wonderful piano pieces that might have fit, or even something even less just sound a soundscape as opposed to music. The problem with with music that runs all the way through something like that, is that musical is often used as a kind of emotional paste, where the filmmaker uses it to create the emotion and mood. I think it was wasn't as necessary, because the mood of the style of the characters and the environments were so effecting, it was like over the top. For me. Also the mixing, I don't think you had to have I agree with you, it was a choice for them to do this. But I always want to hear what the character is saying. I don't necessarily have to understand every word. But I want to know what what they're commenting on, you know, it adds to the your understanding and information of the scene. So I think some mixing of the two, bringing the music down and bringing the voice up just a bit. You can there's an old trick that they use in sound editing, where they, you know, a speaking voice has a certain frequency layer. And what they'll do is they'll go into the music and they'll take that frequency layer of the voice in the music, and they'll drop it down several decibels, just just that area where the voice is. I can't there's a name for it. I can't remember it. But anyway, they do that in a lot of Hollywood films that has music so the voice still comes through even though the music as loud, they could have used that effect in here, I think. But hearing both of your comments, it made me realise that perhaps the director intended for that to be ambiguous, and that it was more of a an emotion or a feeling or a mood that they were trying to portray. But for me, it was just a mistake, technically. But boy, oh, boy, what a really interesting and cool film. This was I would watch anything this director made in a heartbeat.

Tracy Harwood 15:27
Yeah, that's really interesting to hear you say that because? Yeah, I wouldn't. If I could have heard it better. Yes, I would have appreciated that. But I didn't. It didn't stop me enjoying it, the fact that it was a bare whisper because it, you know, it's what carried it through for me, really,

Ricky Grove 15:44
it doesn't stop me either. It's just that being looking at the craft of it. It made me think that they could have fixed that. And if I think it would have been a little bit better film,

Tracy Harwood 15:55
but you know, you may well be right, because clearly this artists very gifted on the visuals. And as I understand it, they do also write their own music.

Ricky Grove 16:08
Or should up their own music instead of Claire de Lune. Maybe, because I recognise the music immediately.

Tracy Harwood 16:15
Yeah, I must admit I did. I couldn't remember what it was.

Damien Valentine 16:18
It's familiar to me as well. Yeah. No, I

Tracy Harwood 16:21
couldn't remember it. But I have to say congratulations to the winner. And also,

Ricky Grove 16:27
congratulations, yes. Very well, to this win. Please do more contests like this. And I think two months is probably the right amount of time for it two, three months. It's just enough for you to be able to put together something interesting, and then do some good post production work on it. Perhaps it could have been a little bit more in this case, but not not for every viewer of it.

Tracy Harwood 16:53
Yeah, well, I have to say this contest attracted according to Kitbash 32,000 entries. Wow, that's great. Isn't that astonishing? And that included also image image selection, as well as your selection of images. And what we'll do, we'll put the winners show reel link on the post as well. So you can have a look at some of the others. But yeah, I think this is a really good. Good, good choice of winner.

Ricky Grove 17:20
Yep, really and a good choice for you for there are movie definitely watch this. It's really an eye popper and leaves you with a real interesting feeling. A sense of loss, unexpected loss. Now, I have to be honest with you I jetted out as soon as the credit started coming. So I missed a little bit at the end. So I'm gonna have to go back and watch the end of a ticket. You don't say it now, because I don't want you to spoil that.

Tracy Harwood 17:49
I won't, I won't. But you know, go back. It was quite interesting, because I've watched a couple of the other videos that this artist had put up. And they use the same technique on the other videos, just a little bit of a gap. And then something at the end. I think that's kind of what's the point of that. It's kind of like a bonus for sitting there and watching nothing. It's I don't know is that is that A is that a technique now for getting.

Ricky Grove 18:20
It's been used quite a bit not only in small films like this, but in major films as well. The host post credits scene,

Damien Valentine 18:28
Marvel does a lot with their stuff to try and tease the next film. But I didn't get that feel for this post credit scene. For this one I felt like this shows time has passed from when it fades out to when it fades back in again. Because it's not really a teaser of the next film, like Marvel does. This is just shows time has passed. I haven't seen any of these other films yet. So I can't say how it works in them because I have to go back and watch but at least for this one, it's just a time passing kind of thing. Interesting.

Ricky Grove 19:00
Good choice. Well, listen, everybody if you have a comment on this film or you agree or disagree with our comments, or maybe you did an entry into the Kitbash contest and you'd like us to know about it please contact us at talk at Completely Machinima.com and don't forget our blog, Tracy has been putting lots of really interesting information on the blog at Completely Machinima.com covering AI, machinima, technology, lots of good stuff. So that's it for this week, and this month as well. We'll be back next month in March to start out with four film picks. So thank you, Tracy and Damian, and Phil, we hope you get better soon. Yeah, see ya. Bye.