Tales of Monkey Island Movie - IN THE MAKING
So, yes, I've finally brought myself to start making the ToMI movie I've been wanting to make ever since... well, ever since I've played the game.
I started filming with, oddly enough, with Rise of the Pirate God. Now, there is a reason to that. In my first attempt some half a year ago, I've met a problem when starting from Narwhal - cutting things from it may backfire - some things actually lead to something important in future games. But in case with RotPG, it's simpler to me - I'll put in all the important and exciting stuff, and the fate of some scenes and stuff from earlier games will depend on whether this will actually lead in to RotPG/Trial/Lair/Siege (in that particular order of importance) or not.
I've already uploaded a, let's call it, a little teaser video on youtube.
Now, there are some things I want to ask you people.
MUSIC
I don't want to go with pre-created music from somewhere. Including Monkey Island original music. The reason? Well, it's a pain in the ass, because music must represent what's going on the screen, and with pre-made music, it may get to the point that the actions on film must be changed corresponding to the music, which sucks.
So I'm looking for someone who's willing to take (To)MI soundtrack(s) (and other piratey soundtracks) as a base to transform it/them into a real movie soundtrack. I will supply the volunteer with final cuts (not in HQ, for the sake of simplicity in sending them) of different scenes which may be used as a reference for composing.
IDEAS
If any forummer has any ideas: post them. Lots of them. The same applies to questions.
MODERATORS
If moderators would be so kind, I would like to ask them to sticky this thread. Attention to the project, as with any project, is one of the things that will help me get it finished. Morality boost, so to speak.
Thanks everyone for your attention.
I started filming with, oddly enough, with Rise of the Pirate God. Now, there is a reason to that. In my first attempt some half a year ago, I've met a problem when starting from Narwhal - cutting things from it may backfire - some things actually lead to something important in future games. But in case with RotPG, it's simpler to me - I'll put in all the important and exciting stuff, and the fate of some scenes and stuff from earlier games will depend on whether this will actually lead in to RotPG/Trial/Lair/Siege (in that particular order of importance) or not.
I've already uploaded a, let's call it, a little teaser video on youtube.
Now, there are some things I want to ask you people.
MUSIC
I don't want to go with pre-created music from somewhere. Including Monkey Island original music. The reason? Well, it's a pain in the ass, because music must represent what's going on the screen, and with pre-made music, it may get to the point that the actions on film must be changed corresponding to the music, which sucks.
So I'm looking for someone who's willing to take (To)MI soundtrack(s) (and other piratey soundtracks) as a base to transform it/them into a real movie soundtrack. I will supply the volunteer with final cuts (not in HQ, for the sake of simplicity in sending them) of different scenes which may be used as a reference for composing.
IDEAS
If any forummer has any ideas: post them. Lots of them. The same applies to questions.
MODERATORS
If moderators would be so kind, I would like to ask them to sticky this thread. Attention to the project, as with any project, is one of the things that will help me get it finished. Morality boost, so to speak.
Thanks everyone for your attention.
Sign in to comment in this discussion.
Comments
By the way, good job. did you erase the credits or something?
That OK sounds threatening, lol. No, I think the game in music is right. Well, to be honest, aside from some tracks and tunes, music in ToMI is my least favorite MI music. Mostly because a big chunk of music sounds too synthesized for my taste (I remember seeing somewhere some remixes that made some ToMI music sound more like CoMI/EfMI, though of course live instruments were not used, but it sounded awesome). Anyway, I've already mentioned all the reasons in the original post.
So far no game-editing job wasn't involved, and most likely will not ever be. In case of credits: zoom in to the camera shot close enough so credits wouldn't be seen, then slowly zoom out to the original game angle, simple as that. But I will use compositing for some shots if simple editing won't be enough.
Hmmm... I'm really curious how you'll manage to make this cool. Editing dialogues must be a pain.
It still be one movie (But I have decided that each ToMI part should have no more than 30 minutes of screentime, so it would be a 2:30 movie TOPS, though it would most likely be less), and the way I'm filming it is really simpler for me.
Yeah. But not as much as editing puzzles.
Maybe a better way than making your own music is to extract the music from the game with the Telltale Music Extractor, and then edit that over the sequences.
You'd clearly have to add somewhere that the music is copyrighted by Telltale/LucasArts, but hey, since it's their game, you should anyway
Very funny. Not only I'm not claiming anything as my own, it seems to me that you do not know a thing about fan-edits and machinimas (and what I am doing IS a machinima, though not the most common type, such as Anachronox Movie, Gothic, Full Throttle, KotOR trilogy and stuff like that).
But I do want to edit Star Wars movies after their Blu-Ray release, and I'm planning to try and make PotC Dead Man's Chest and At World's End into one more straightforward movie (inspired by a guy who edited Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions into one). So, whatever the sarcasm level of your comment was, it didn't work
PS. Avatar sucks
Figuring Avatar was James Cameron's Pocahontas why not XD .
I love machinima fan edits
I've never had much respect for companies that say OMFGBBQ GO TO JAILZ FOR LIFE CRIMINAL! just because a fan may have drawn or used material that was from their game or whatever... There's a difference between drawing Guybrush and saying "I made him, this is my character" and drawing guybrush saying "I want to do something inspired by my favorite series cause I admire them." I don't think this project in anyway is to discredit the Telltales group from making tales, especially since the game is 95% cut scenes anyway, this project makes sense to me.
They say Avatar is a copy of pocahontas
check this out
http://www.ourkitchensink.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/james-camerons-pocohontas-err-avatar-16167-1262575848-25.jpg
I normally use Camtasia but that just gives me a blank windowed screen with the desktop still visible whenever I launch TOMI, even though I play it in Full-Screen mode, any ideas?
I never said I liked Avatar, in fact I would rather watch Dances With Wolves or The Last Samurai much more then Avatar. I was just using Avatar as a example.
Anyways as for machina's they add something to the game like Freeman's Mind does, or they are totally original like Fallout 3 :Rebirth. They don't edit a game into a movie so people get the experience without ever having to play (or buy) the game themselves.
Yeah if you're open to it's suggestion it's pretty convincing.
I use Fraps. Everything works fine, though it needs quite a lot of free space if you record in high resolution.
I already listed ones that do edit a game into a movie (and only those I know of personally and have watched). So your statement is wrong. Plus, those edits are totally awesome.
OK, that's great I will give that a go - thanks for the advice
It wasn't funny anymore the second time I saw it...
lol just sending it, to show people if they havent read it lol
EDIT: OK just one more question Farlander, in your video have you somehow removed the mouse cursor or are you just editing around it?
EDIT: Doesn't matter, I've had a crack at the ROTPG opener too and I've just edited around it.
EDIT: OK, I've had a crack at this using Farlander's theory of starting with ROTPG, what I've done so far can be found here if anyone is interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kS59_4O2NrI
I'd say he uses fraps, cause that's pretty much what everyone uses to record their game footage. The file sizes are pretty large for videos, so you'll need to put your recording into an editing program first. I would suggest using Sony Vegas 9, that way you can render in HD (something I'm still getting the hang of).
I'll upload in a few minutes
I made this in like 15 minutes... it's messy. The idea is just to show you how not everything will be included but enough to keep the story going at an interesting pace.
The music in the final version of chapter 1 will be smooth. LeChuck will also be Earl Boen since I'll use the mac version of the game to record.
Also the editing will be cleaner since I'll be using Adobe Premiere Pro and not iMovie like I used for this quick trailer mashup.
Anyway here is a little taste.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA0v0saS_Bg
First, yes, even when I have the mouse cursor in the corner, it's still visible, so I just edit it out.
About your video. Don't get me wrong, I'm really flattered that I actually inspired someone to do another kind of this crazy thing
You can't leave in place all the dialogue, all the puzzles, all the object descriptions and such, it would be too cluttered and would hardly be considered a movie. It's a process of thinking what should stay and what should go, much like when filming and editing a real movie. Only the relevant things must stay.
Now, what I would recommend you to do: I've already listed the games-turned-into-movies that I personally saw. I'm not sure where to find most of them now, but try to find them. And not only them, I'm sure there's more.
I will, however, link you to the Full Throttle Movie download page (the only download page I still remember). You should at least watch it, because the game is of the adventure genre, not the RPG or action one. Yes, Full Throttle is not the longest adventure game ever, and it has some action elements, but as a game it still has those things that work for a game but do not work in a movie. Watch this movie, it's a pretty satisfying experience, and if you remember Full Throttle well, you'll notice how much stuff from the game actually is not there and how well it looks like a movie without it.
Anyway, good luck!
That's no worries, I hadn't wanted to double post or anything.
But essentially what I am doing at this stage IS capturing absolutely everything - and then I will edit it back and cut around it.
Yeah, I need some constructive criticism - I just wanted to let you know I had definitely already thought of that, I just want to get ALL of the footage there first and then I will start cutting it back and moving different aspects.
Basically I'm doing studying Sports Journalism at uni and editing / production is a huge part of that, so while it's probably taking the long winded approach it's helping me get to grips with the editing aspect itself, and then I will cut it back into a proper movie story.
Cheers for the feedback though, it's much appreciated
how do you zoom in?