Damien Valentine 00:35
hello and welcome to another episode of The now for something completely machinima. I am joined by Ricky Grove and Tracy Harwood. Hi, and I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Damien Valentine is still absent because he's dealing with the aftermath of Hurricane. But as I said before, he's completely fine. You don't need to worry about him. He's just very busy at the moment, and we will look forward to his return next month. So Tracy, you've chosen the film for us this week. What have you got for us?

Tracy Harwood 01:10
Yeah,

Ricky Grove 01:11
big film. Yeah.

Tracy Harwood 01:12
This is a, yeah. This is, I suppose, a slightly more unusual one for me. This is called Dangerous Love. It's a Star Citizen cinematic film, and it's been made by a studio called virtuality media, and it was released more than a year ago now, third of January 2023. Virtuality media is actually directed by somebody called Umar Garcia Tariq, who is a Filipino, Pakistani film director and cinematic designer, and who it seemed when I was looking at some backstory here, is now based in Dubai. He's also one of the folks that signed up to John MacInnis' Unreal Engine 4 30 day challenge a few years ago, which led him to create a film that won an award in 2021 for special effects. And he's also been part of Epic's fellowship in animation program. I think it would be fair to say, however, that he cut his teeth making game based machinima, which he says resulted in his passion for CG, which then basically led him to pursuing a filmmaking career professionally, apparently, he won his first filmmaking competition with a machinima called Revenge Will Come now. I tried to look that up. I couldn't find it. I'm not too sure where that was entered, or which machinima contest that was in, or even how long ago it would be, it would be, probably around 10 to 15 years ago, now, possibly a little bit longer. But anyway, now he's doing live action commercial work, but is still very passionate about making machinima in GTA five, in Arma three and in Battlefield using various kinds of mod tools, which he says he also uses to create storyboards for in live action projects. I think what's slightly disappointing is that I couldn't see a lot more of what he'd made beyond this, which, which is, which is a bit of a shame, because I suspect real world's caught up with him somehow. So I think, I think this is, you know, I don't think we're going to get a conversation going with him, because I think a life has moved on for him, and it seems to have been the case since mid year. So I hope everything's okay with him, but it's quite interesting to see this, this particular film, but it doesn't look like he's particularly active with machinima at moment. Now, obviously Star Citizen, slightly different game and slightly different animal to some of the other games that he's clearly worked with, not least because it's this kind of expansive universe and such. What I liked about this was the independence portrayed maybe a bit of a thrill seeker, or possibly somebody just looking for something that she's not found yet. And that female lead was something that kind of caught, caught my eye, doing these kind of adventurous things in this expansive universe. It was that independence that really drew me to it. As I was watching this, I didn't really seem to be much of a story beyond the kind of ride and search, or at least that. What I first thought, because you get about three quarters of the way through this where you're not really too sure what's going on. Somebody's continually, you know, she's continually searching for something. And then the plot reveals itself a little bit more. You get us, you know, from that early part, you get a sense of somebody, not not only who is independent, but is at peace with herself doing whatever it is she's doing. And in the end, that peace is is clearly the thing that that comes through quite strongly, because at the end of the film, you realize that possibly what was going on was that she was seeking her last hurrah. Um, maybe she was in search of the the kind of the perfect view, or maybe it's a memory of all the trips she's taken through her life. Because, you know, clearly, the last parts of this film are of her, you know, dealing with her own death. I think there's very evidently, two states of life portrayed in this, for this, for this woman, and it's one where she's sort of passing from being an adventurer to being ill. It's actually a really deep, subtle and and a and a an interesting, moving realization that you have watching this film. I had to watch it a couple of times before I really picked up all the different levels and the the nuances through it, because it was the strength that really drew me. And then I realized that maybe she was more vulnerable than we actually were led to believe in the beginning. Now I felt the music from which this video gets its name actually by Willie echo, I think was, it was really good accompaniment, accompaniment to it, because it kind of conveys that added layer of danger. This woman obviously knows she's in not least from her chosen modes of transport. Because at times she's evidently a passenger, she's a tourist and an adventure, and other times she's a patient, but it's one piece of music that plays. It's not multiple. I was also intrigued, because I never once got the sense that this person was lonely. She was clearly alone. I couldn't really figure out why. I'm not really too sure why I thought that. Because, because there are evidently people around her, maybe it was something to do with the the way the character moved, the kind of steadfastness and foot suredness of the of the the way that this person is portrayed. She's evidently a confident and competent Navigator, and clearly in control of her own life, and maybe because of that, clearly in control of her own death as well, possibly also because of the way this was edited with the and Ricky, you might have something to say about this, but the camera, to me, very often, seemed at a distance from her. Never really. I mean, I know there were some close up shots, but it it's it worked best when it was away from her, I think. And sometimes that camera was was looking over her shoulder, and it's almost like it was giving her a respectful distance, maybe documenting her last moments, perhaps interestingly, never, I never really got the sense that she was in pain or was there was a particular illness other than the point at which that's actually portrayed. I think what you got a sense of was that she'd made peace with death. You didn't see her journey through whatever decision she'd made to get that to that point you you were just following her, doing her thing. And and my my guess is maybe you only sort of get sense of of that whole kind of life cycle when you stop watching the film and sort of start thinking about it, and maybe most people won't actually think about about it in that way, but, but it certainly led me to sort of reflect on on what I was looking at. I really like the cinematic qualities. Of course, this game is amazing to to look at. I thought the editing was nicely done. There were a couple of things i i liked less in the in the film, I that hot dog did nothing for me. The hairstyle also did not do much for me, and it kind of made me question how she managed to fit it into a. Space helmet. But you know, whatever the views and the angles and the sound design and the breathing at the start, I thought were the the outstanding parts of this and the and that kind of faint thud that you you really only feel, you don't even hear it landing on the aircraft in that very first sort of few seconds of the film that was really beautifully done for me, shots on the parts of her face and her eyes. They were just enough, I think, to convey the sense of this sort of deep emotion. But I thought it was a really good film. I mean, there was lots of layers to it. It was a more complicated film than I first thought when I started watching it, but I'd be really intrigued to hear what you guys thought. Really

Ricky Grove 10:46
great analysis. Tracy, as usual. Damien, why don't you go ahead? Hi. I

Damien Valentine 10:51
thought this is definitely my favorite pick of the month. It's a stunning film, because obviously, as you said, Tracy starts. This is a stunning looking game. I like the idea that it was showing off this character's life, like there's no set story to what happened. It seemed like these are events that she was remembering that are significant to her in some way. Even if the audience isn't necessarily made aware of what they are, they mean something to her. And I do that twist at the end where she's obviously in hospital having some kind of medical treatment. We don't know what that's about, but it's put a stop to all of that. And I did not expect that coming. I was thinking this is just someone that's documenting some of their adventures in the game, which that's interesting as well, but yeah, that extra bit at the end takes you away from that element. This is actually a real character in this world whose life suddenly changed. It's hard to talk about more than that, the game is stunning, yeah, but, you know, the camera work is excellent. I don't know how. I don't know the camera work, how the movie making tools are in the game, or, if there's a modern

Ricky Grove 12:15
they're much more friendly. Yeah, they're much more friendly. The game developers have put some tools in the game in order to facilitate, unlike Red Dead Redemption too. Yeah,

Damien Valentine 12:26
I know the developers are very keen on fan content, even if they put some restrictions on, more recently, about using the likenesses of the, you know, the big name actors and so on. I can understand why they've done that, because obviously there's agreements with them. But, you know, using the open world part of the game, yeah, we see some excellent videos with it. Was that one we saw,

Ricky Grove 12:51
yeah,

Damien Valentine 12:52
oh yes, couple, yeah. But you know the one I'm thinking about the the two, the father and the daughter, yeah, yeah. And this is on the same level as that. I thought showing her life, and, you know, she's exploring different planets. She's got her spaceship. She's flying it around. She's doing different things in the game. There's lots of stuff in there. I thought I didn't even know this was in the game yet. So after I watched this again this morning to have it fresh in my mind. I actually started downloading the game to give it a try as you've been recording, yeah, as you've been recording, I've just had a pop up saying it's finished. Oh, that's how it took to get this download installed. So I will look forward to having a go at that later. But yeah, this

Ricky Grove 13:40
Damian, yeah. I mean, I've tried

Damien Valentine 13:43
it here and there, but it's not finished yet, and so it's not run too smoothly on my computer. But, you know, I backed it when it was first announced, and I've been following it since then. I try not to get too excited, because I know it's a long way off being completed. But yeah, this is a game that I could definitely spend a lot of time in, and films like this really help draw you into it and make you want to play it. So I thought it's an excellent film. I'm sad to see that. You know, there are too many other examples from this filmmaker, because I'd like to see more of his work.

Ricky Grove 14:21
Me too. Well, that's part of the brain drain thing that has occurred periodically in machinima. Very talented artists, they sort of what was the phrase you you Tracy, cut their teeth in machinima and then move on to professional jobs in which they get more money and they have a more established and secure career. So it's understandable, but I hope that isn't I hope the person doesn't leave their roots in machinima, because they're an inspiration. This kind of film is an inspiration to other people to want to make films. That's part of the great thing about the mission. A community. Somebody makes a great film, and you go, Oh, man, I want to do that. It's like you you were talking about. I want to see if I can make that thing happen or this is exciting and and this game is much more friendly to the Machinima community. We've we've reviewed some superb films. You've encapsulated pretty much everything I think about the film, Tracy, so I'm just going to go off of some expand on a few comments that you made the story. I think you captured the story exactly. One of the things that the filmmaker does is show the person watching and looking and paying attention. That's one of the actions that the character performs over and over, as if they're seeking something, you know. And then the other ones is you find them in action, flying almost like doing things that exhilarate them, you know, trying to experience life, trying to see the details of life, appreciating life. So it makes sense that at the end, when they discover that perhaps are terminal, maybe the story is that they found out they were terminal, went out seeking these experiences and then came to face death. At the end, to give strength to face death. That's my preferred way of looking at the story. And I thought that that was masterfully done. It's such a beautiful game. The the music was perfect. I see the the Machinima as a music video, story driven music video, and I think Machinima is one of the best ways to do music videos. In fact, some major groups have used machinima. I wish now that the Machinima has lost some of its popularity with the popular culture. Not as many groups use machinima, but I think it's an excellent tool for machinima because it allows a lot of groups with their music like to have unique visual representations of their music. And this, this music, as you pointed out, Tracy, has qualities of almost there's a dangerous quality to it, a punk like quality. But there's also a longing in the music. There's a sense of desire, a sense of of loneliness, maybe in it, you know, but it was a perfect choice. And if the Machinima is going to illustrate and tell the story of the song, it did that perfectly. However, there was one element that I am critical of, and that was the editing. And not that the editing was bad. It's just that music videos oftentimes are edited in a much faster rate, sometimes one second, sometimes five seconds, for shots, which means you have to take in all of that information, and then move on to the next shot. You have to connect the shots. That's what the magic of film is. You they show a shot, just the next shot, and then you connect the two. Well, I timed quite a few of the edits in this movie, and there are two seconds. They're one and a half to two seconds. And that went on through the entire film. And by having such a choppy, consistent edit, it made it harder for you to engage in the moment of the scene that you're watching. I think if the filmmaker had varied their edits more like do several two second videos edits, and then one six second one, where you could take in the scene that the person is is engaged, and then you could get more emotion from the character, because a lot of times we sort of had to imply that's what they were feeling. You had to sort of guess that they were feeling. So I think it was a mistake to have such a choppy edit all the way through more more variety in the editing would have made the story more understandable, and I think would have added more emotion to the film. Now, that's not to say that you didn't get emotion to the film and that it wasn't moving, it was, but I think that two second edit was just too much, and I think it could have been much better with a better editing scheme in it, but that's my really soul, soul criticism. The film. Everything else is fantastic, and I hope, I hope this person comes back and makes more films and machinima filmmakers, you should look at this game as a way of telling stories, because it's excellent. The animations, the facial expressions, the ways you can move the camera, the ways you can record, a lot of very interesting things can be done in both the space and also in a kind of city stories as well. So hats off to the filmmaker I. Despite that one flaw, I think, I think it's an outstanding film. Great

Tracy Harwood 20:04
comments. Ricky, thank you.

Damien Valentine 20:07
Yeah, but yeah, I I really enjoyed this film, so it was a great pick. Tracy um, for those of you who haven't seen it yet, but you're intrigued to learn more about Star Citizen, you should check out our News episode this month, because we've got quite a bit of slices of the news that we cover there, including things that have some impact on machinima in hopefully a positive way. So yeah, I recommend checking out this game as well. Obviously, I'm looking forward to giving it a try after we finish recording. Yeah, so I think that's it for this episode. Thank you for me, Damian Valentine and from Tracy and Ricky. Thank you. Thank you. If you've got any feedback about this game or this film, please let us know at talk@competema.com and otherwise, we'll be back next week, and hopefully Phil will be with us, so see you then, bye, bye, everyone. Bye.