AO Comic, now AO Movie? OMG!

[Windguaerd]

Original First Post:

Yes, the AO Comic is getting popular, which got me thinking...if I can make a comic...why not a movie?

Bare with me here.

I'm not talking about a 15 second sketch, I'm saying...a full blown 2hr action-adventure epic of biblical proportions...well...that is the intention anways.

Not thinking CGI...that takes too damn long, too many resources and skills which I do not have. Someone sent me a full version (don't ask how) of FRAPS, didn't work on Windowed mode, tried it on Fullscreen mode and BINGO!

It works quite well, and even records AO's sound if needed. At 30 FPS (frames per second) the video is quite smooth, and at half the screen size and having my in-game settings mostly set to medium-high the test came out good.

A few problems do cross my mind:

Movie File Size: I know it can probably be compressed further, but I will need someone with more experience with FRAPS and video compression to help or just guide me in the right direction. I don't want to end up with a 2GB movie nobody can download, maybe 500-700MB which can be stored in one of the many public filesharing domains out there.

Voiceovers: I will certainly need actors, and most likely their characters in-game for scenes.

Script: Yes, a movie without a script would be like starting to cook chicken without knowing how to use the oven. I think I could write something, but if there is some talented writers out there, I would love to see your work. It's about a good story, not who writes it...but then if it all works out, the writer will get a good chunk of the credit =P

Special Effects: Call me crazy, but if we gonna do our own stunts (yes Im joking), may as well have some kickass sound effects and also someone needs to be able to make the intro text (I'm not just going to type in white letters in a black background "AO Movie Title"...it has to have a feel of a real movie you know).

Is this idea a lot of freaking work?

Probably.

Could it be done?

Maybe, if enough people with the right skills (and voices) were to come together and give it a shot.

Why do you always have to be involved in everything Windguaerd you ego maniac?

Well...been here 5 years, AO it's a hobby now. I like it here, so may as well try and make it fun not just for me but others, right? Also just because it's my idea, it doesn't stop anyone from doing it on their own time, or with their own team/group. I wouldn't mind at all, I would just hope the movie kicks ass.

So, am I out of my freaking mind or is an AO Movie possible?

Speak up AO Players!

There was a follow-up thread here, but we won't be using that thread however it's good for reference. Another thread which can be used as a reference is this one.

Well it's time to get this project going. Ok so a 2hr movie is really NOT feasible right now. But with the many popular fake movie trailers on youtube (some are so good people believed some of these trailers were real), a 3-4mins Movie Trailer video should be a project that can be done.

Me and Xaun are already working on the concept of it, we'd love to have some feedback from players, and if you want to work on it with us hands-on, you're welcomed.

Besides the AO Movie Trailer project, I'd like to get the community involved in player-made AO Advertising to bring in more players. From virral to the bizzare (having an Opifex costume and being chased by a ton of friends in a video where they want to steal your avatar for example), there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Disclaimer: All the crazy **** we may end up doing, has NOTHING to do with Funcom whatsoever, so if we break some law in some country somewhere (hey there is a law against farting, goggle it) then they can't touch FC.

[deronel]

Yes, the AO Comic is getting popular, which got me thinking...if I can make a comic...why not a movie?

Bare with me here.

I'm not talking about a 15 second sketch, I'm saying...a full blown 2hr action-adventure epic of biblical proportions...well...that is the intention anways.

So, am I out of my freaking mind or is an AO Movie possible?

Speak up AO Players!

Both are correct, you are out of your mind and an AO movie is entirely possible. It all depends on your scritpwriting talents and your technical abilities as a video editor, and your directing capabilities, and voiceover talents.

If you can get all those down good then you have yourself a fat ass AO movie like only the creamiest fanboi could ever create. And when you are done you compress it to xvid or something similar and you get ~2h worth of movie on a single CD.

I know I will be put on more hatelists for saying this but: look at wow and what they have achieved there. As they have such an immense userbase several guilds have created awesome films with fraps and editing that are nudging onto commercial standards.

All it takes is hard work and people who know their stuff. I tried some frapping and editing but I gave up as the learning curve was too steep and the results I got were far from satisfactory.

Should you however decide to go through with this I wish you the best of luck and hopes that the finished product is awesome. But it will cost you time, blood, sweat and intense sessions of weeping and editing.

[Alienchild]

I'm available for help with graphics (2d & 3d), some editing (need to brush up on my Premiere skillage) and storyboarding/writing. I'd only be willing to join though if this were to be a 110% quality attempt, where we push it to the max of our abilities, and then some.

So yeah, I've lived and breathed AO since 2001, so why not give back something to the community? I'm game

3 years later-edit: My services now cost $250 an hour!

[Windguaerd]

I think I solved the voiceover problem:

I was watching "Law & Order: SVU" and in the episode a criminal used SOFTWARE to change his voice from male to female. In the episode the detectives mentioned that software like that can easily be found online.

So...assuming that was not made up in the show, and that I'm in need of sleep...IF I could find the software and it is actually something useful then we'd only need 1-2 actors to portray all the characters voices.

Now...I need to sleep, discuss it while I catch some zzz's.

[deronel]

If you really want to do it right take the time out to announce for voiceover talents. Digital voice change is either very time consuming or terribly time consuming. A "real" voice talent needs very little in the way of manipulation and brings more depth.

If you really want to go off the deep end you can have ingame castings...

[I used up my If you really want... quota too. =/]

[Firestorm518]

Depends on which dimension. It would take me far too long to make an Hyperion Adama on the other server. Good luck on what you try.

[Amosco]

I think I solved the voiceover problem:

I was watching "Law & Order: SVU" and in the episode a criminal used SOFTWARE to change his voice from male to female. In the episode the detectives mentioned that software like that can easily be found online.

So...assuming that was not made up in the show, and that I'm in need of sleep...IF I could find the software and it is actually something useful then we'd only need 1-2 actors to portray all the characters voices.

That seems a bit nasty, and overly complicated somehow.

There are plenty of people in AO who could do voices and would be glad to help out. For instance, I work for a radio station and voice commercials, so I'd be happy to lend my voice to a character or two as needed. If you would like, send me a sample script (just a 1-2 minute script) that I could record an MP3 as a sample of my voice so that you can match me up with a specific character(s).

[Alienchild]

Ok, just throwing out an idea here;

Goal: A movie that will be comprised of edited and enhanced in-game material, perhaps ****ed up with photo/drawings (think "Max Payne").

Stage One :: The Story
The first part of this project should be spent writing a script, and eventually storyboard of as many scenes as possible.

Stage Two :: Planning Stages
I've been working on way too m any Half-Life/Unreal Tourney mods that have gone straight from stage one and just jumped on stage three. What seperates the good ones from the mediocre/bad ones are how carefully the planning has been done. Tasks need to be seperated in iterations, bottlenecks needs to be located, buffers need to be made (mostly in the form of people)... lots of planning.

Stage Three :: Material Gathering and Creation
Where the real work starts. All of the in-game scenes needs to be recorded, from several angles hopefully. Music needs to be made (or found on the net - there are a lot of great underground artists that would prolly be willing to lend their work). Art needs to be created. And all along there needs to be someone managing and overseeing everything, and make sure that nothing falls behind and becomes a bottleneck.

Stage Four :: The Melting Pot
If everything has been planned correctly, its time to start melting the scenes together, and adding whatever graphics/art thats been planned. Voice-overs are added, together with music. Or you can add music first, and let the voice-overs use the music to enhance emotions in the dialogue (instead of the other way around).

Stage Five :: Taking Feedback
Let the team view the final creation, and come with input. Do changes where it is needed, and be prepared to go through a long line of changes/enhancements. Releasing a mediocre product right away instead of fine-tuning it is a bad thing. Just as Funcom.

Stage Six :: Distribution
This is when you make a website. It's ok to have a dev-site, but way way WAY to many projects (like mods) are just website-projects. They got a cool webby, with a half-decent logo, perhaps a section on the web with a short story summary. And thats the way it will be until the project dies. Make the website AFTER the product is gone, start spreading news about it on forums/newsgroups/call your grandma. Recieve praise and get chix to dig you. Or something.

Blah, Im bored at work

[Opitate]

I'd be all up for this as actor or something if filming will be atlantern. If not i could still provide voice or the likes. But i'm all the way over in New Zealand so the times which i am able to go on differ from many. Anyways throw me a pm if you need me.

[xyboc]

My account goes dry on October 29th, but I can record voicework if you need someone. :>

Just send me a PM if you need someone.

[deronel]

Blah, Im bored at work

If that immense effort was you beeing bored at work you have to be some kind of nuclear physicist or something. =) That list is the epithome of success.

[Windguaerd]

Holy son of a Leet!

Alienchild...you took my concept and pretty much refined it to what it needs to be so that it actually works!

So...would you like to be the Project Lead on this enterprise? I gotta ask.

[Mastablasta]

Some danish 19 year old dude made a 45 min or so long WoW movie, with a cast, voice acting, with upwards of 300 people taking part in major battles, including raid mobs and such in the story. I forgot the name of course, but it sounded like a pretty big undertaking.

[Alienchild]

If that immense effort was you beeing bored at work you have to be some kind of nuclear physicist or something. =) That list is the epithome of success.

hehe thank you. And yes, I study nuclear physics, along with most other branches of physics (depends on what video/audio lectures I can get my greedy hands on) for 1-2 hours every day on my spare time

Holy son of a Leet!
Alienchild...you took my concept and pretty much refined it to what it needs to be so that it actually works!

So...would you like to be the Project Lead on this enterprise? I gotta ask.

I would be lying if I said I didn't want to, but unfortunately I've discovered that I rarely got the staying power for large projects like these. I could help get this project off its feet and onto a good start at least

[TheCatlady]

Some danish 19 year old dude made a 45 min or so long WoW movie, with a cast, voice acting, with upwards of 300 people taking part in major battles, including raid mobs and such in the story. I forgot the name of course, but it sounded like a pretty big undertaking.

Could it be "Tales of the Past"?
Have some friends playing WoW, and even downloaded "Tales of the Past II" which is some awesome work really.

Thay

[Ciggie]

very good idea
some points come to mind
how will u do the casting for the voices?
how will u do the casting for the acting?
and who is gonna be the cameraman/fraps capturer?
good luck

[jonnyxpress]

Here are some of my ideas:

Make it into Episodes: well I believe it'll certainly be easier to make episodes (about 15min long) Because you don't need to think on a huge scale for your project. You could divide it into segments so you don't cause your brain to overflow. A whole 1.5 - 2hr movie is going to take a long time before it publishes.

Whats your genre going to be: Of course scifi/fantasy is basically going to be included because we don't live in a world where you warp around and see ppl shorter than your hamster.

Comedy: Maybe you'd like to make it a humorous thing, a satirical thing to make ppl laugh about random things like kiters or w/e.

Drama: Well, the "AO Comic" was rather this genre. Where it's ppl having conversations and having good fashion. It makes ppl feel like they are a part of the game.

Horror: "no bloody-eyed six year old is going to come through your window and kill you." (I believe you won't be interested in this genre anyways.)

Action: Lots of fighting maybe that'll work well with the already Scifi theme of the game. Jackie Chan isn't going to be in it for stunts tho.

Documentery: Maybe you'd like to make a film about yourself like how you grew up into the game. Start w/ u being in some newbie training area. How you learned to collect monster parts, such and such. (This might work well if u put it into episodes)

History: An event in history that u'd like to play over in this AO movie that you're making? Maybe the revolutionary war if u know wut that is lol.

All I can tell you is good luck, and have fun! Or maybe I'll ramble on about some other random ideas to you later.

[Windguaerd]

I'll be contacting FC & ARK (email just sent) to see if they are able to collaborate with the project.

If either is on board, it means we'll be looking for a script, if you're a writer...start writing!

[Sterva]

My account goes dry on October 29th, but I can record voicework if you need someone. :>

Just send me a PM if you need someone.

if you need someone with a really thick southern accent.

ps: if no one has said it yet, go check out the pvp videos thread on rk1, there are lots of great tips on how to make videos in AO using fraps, ways to compress them, etc...

[Sefus88]

I'm sure some in-game music will be used but if ya need original stuff let me know.

I would be very excited to work on this project.