Questions For Machinima Makers

"Jellysimwich;15043345" wrote:
@iiimee I'll try to answer what I can from my own experience. I'm not an expert but I've been doing machinima since 2007, and through trial-n-error, I've figured out what works and doesn't work for me.

How long do your machinima videos last? This varies depending on whether it's a still machinima or animated machinima. My still machinimas are between 5 to 10 minutes. My animated machinimas are about 3 to 5 minutes. (These are definitely more demanding, in my opinion.)

Do you plan them out frame-by-frame, or just go with the flow and see what happens? I wing a lot of my stuff, but, I always have an idea in the back of my head of what I'm wanting - a very clear idea.

Do any of you make your own poses? What do you use to create them? Are they animated, or do you only create still ones for yourself? Yes, I have made both still poses and animations using Blender.

What tricks do you use for getting clips of your sims talking? Do you just adjust their moods and start conversations? Do you use animations? Despite having made quite a few poses and some animations for myself, I have not actually utilised any of them in my projects. As of now, I trigger actions and snap screenies as I see the emotion or reaction I want. It can be time consuming and does take some good timing, but, it works.

What tricks do you use for getting clips of your sims running? Lock on your sim to track them as they run.

Are there any mods or CC you couldn't live without when making machinima? For my Sims 4 machinimas, I have not used any poses or animations, so there are no mods that I can't live without. But, I do use pose player for both poses and animations when competing in model comps. So I'd say, download pose player is a must for sure.

Have any of you movie-makers done intro or outro songs? What rules do you use for deciding what songs to use? Have any of your videos ever been taken down for copyright infringement, and have you used copyrighted music? Where do you get your sound effects and music anyway? This is a tricky one. When I started making machinima almost 10 years ago, YouTube wasn't so strict about copyright infringement, and I was able to use all kinds of music and sound effects without being flagged for violating copyright. Now, YouTube will automatically discover videos that use copyrighted content when you upload them, and you'll get a warning, which you can contest if you have permission from the rightful owner. Sometimes your video will still upload but the following can happen; muted video, not viewable to the public, video removed, or banning if you get so many strikes against your account for repeat offenses. These days, I don't risk it, I use free music, which you can find just about anywhere with a Google search.

Again, for movie-makers: Where do you look for voice actors if you use them? What qualities do you look for in a voice actor? Have you ever had a voice actor cancel mid-story, and if so, what did you do? I haven't used voice actors. So no good insight on this.

Are there any tips you'd give new machinima makers? Have fun and just go for it!

You can checkout my machinimas at my channel here: Jellysimwich :) Happy simming x

^_^ Thanks! Hey, if you have time, could you help me figure out how to make in-game animations and poses with the blender? I've downloaded that and tried to read tutorials but I've only found confusing CAS tutorials for it. Also, I do have some pose and animation ideas I want to put into the game for a machinima, but I'm not sure if you think I should make it a full animation or frame-by-frame... Thanks!