Did That Break Your Concentration?

Director: Michelle

Published: June 27, 2007

Running time: 00:01:51

File size: 21.4 MB

Romeo and Juliet

Director: Michelle

Published: June 27, 2007

Running time: 00:01:02

File size: 36.2 MB

Run Forrest

Director: Michelle

Published: June 26, 2007

Running time: 00:00:49

File size: 45.9 MB

Sounds of the 70's

Director: Michelle

Published: June 26, 2007

Running time: 00:01:11

File size: 22.3 MB

Fight Night

Director: Michelle

Published: June 26, 2007

Running time: 00:01:12

File size: 22.0 MB

Michelle Pettit-Mee, July 2007

Q. Do you have a background in film or machinima previously to using Moviestorm?

I'd come from an artistic background, rather than film. I've been created machinima, mainly with The Sims 2, since June 2005. My love of machinima also extends to being an admin and moderator on two machinima websites, Machinima Premiere and Gamerz Theatre.

Q What first got you interested in machinima?

For as long as I can remember, I've been playing video games and enjoyed Sims games in particular. During a moment of boredom and at a suggestion from best friend, Kheri, we decided to make a short music video using The Sims 2 after seeing a couple of machinima movies online. It combined my love of video-games and spending time creatively. I then discovered how much I enjoyed making short movies, especially video editing.

Q. What was Moviestorm like to work with?

It was relatively easy to get started with Moviestorm. I've been a beta tester from the start, since October '06. From a machinimators point of view, it's a dream having a wide range of animations and gestures to hand, without having to mod the software or use hacks, as I've needed to with game engines. If I had to pick one feature I like the most, it would be the camera system, although the built in lip-sync would come a close second.

Q. Why did you decide to use Moviestorm for 'Break Your Concentration'?

I've been keen to make some action movies, as most of Britannica Dreams' films have been romance or music videos and Moviestorm already had the gun props and gun related animations, so it was a perfect match.

Q. How did this movie come about?

Ann Garner wrote the script as a homage to 'Pulp Fiction', which is one of her favourite films and asked me to film the short clip and Paul Weir to produce the sound design.

Q. Was this project especially created to be filmed in Moviestorm?

Yes, the script was written with Moviestorm in mind, to demonstrate one genre of movie-making that can easily be accomplished with the built-in props and animations.

Q. What were your influences for this project?

Quentin Tarantino of course! The set was modelled after the actual room in the film.

Q. What was the production process behind this movie?

I usually make sketches and storyboards, however this time I only needed to draw storyboards and spend a couple of hours constructing the set and actors.

Q. What went right and what went wrong during filming?

Since the film was made with a pre-open beta version of Moviestorm, I had to work around a few bugs with the lighting and getting the fourth man at the end to burst through the door and shoot, was tricky with timing and needed reshooting several time. I think the lip syncing and gestures worked very well, especially the reactions of the victim sat in the chair.

Q. Which part are you most proud of?

I was quite happy with the way the depth of field worked. It was very simple to do, with a greenscreen set constructed in Moviestorm.