What do you want to make?

I voted for something else in the sense that I wanted to select more than one of the choices.

I have several different projects that I would make with this program.

I would remake a few movies that I've created using The Movies (mainly Bully, The Innsmouth Horror and possibly Reanimator Freaks).
I'm also working on the following projects:

-A Godzilla/Ultraman style movie with a bunch of my friends as stars and with lots of inside jokes

-A sci-fi/action series called War Game about a virtual reality MMO

-A comedy series that is a parody of Soap Operas

There are also a few experimental projects. One of those is a movie where we never see the head of anyone. I would only film their bodies or make extreme close ups of body parts. I want to try and convey emotions only through voices and body language.

Mainly want to make a scifi series, with a whole bunch of episodes, and a huge epic fantasy movie. Then whatever comes to mind

I d'like to do some shorts movies , thriller movies , based on novels scripts !

Full length is the ultimate goal...but id be happy getting anything from a 5 minute short out that was created completely by me.

I have made plenty of music videos and 5 -15 shorts with The Movies, but i cant put them anywhere but on youtube.

richke wrote:

I have made plenty of music videos and 5 -15 shorts with The Movies, but i cant put them anywhere but on youtube.

We're going to have a built-in movie upload feature for all of our users; the films you upload via the software will go directly onto the Moviestorm community.

Alternatively, you'll have the option to save the film and upload it to wherever else you want!

Eddz wrote:

richke wrote:

I have made plenty of music videos and 5 -15 shorts with The Movies, but i cant put them anywhere but on youtube.

We're going to have a built-in movie upload feature for all of our users; the films you upload via the software will go directly onto the Moviestorm community.

Alternatively, you'll have the option to save the film and upload it to wherever else you want!

I am sure that the music video problem is a copyright one, not purely an upload one. Only youtube is not bothering to screen for copyright violations that I am aware of.

I point this out because the promised lawsuits for copyright infringment are looming ever closer. In fact while job hunting recently, I saw an opening for someone that would specifically look on youtube (Mentioned by name n the ad) and other places for such violations. The phrase "Appear in court to testify" also showed up in the ad.

[quote=steelblade
I am sure that the music video problem is a copyright one, not purely an upload one. Only youtube is not bothering to screen for copyright violations that I am aware of.

I point this out because the promised lawsuits for copyright infringment are looming ever closer. In fact while job hunting recently, I saw an opening for someone that would specifically look on youtube (Mentioned by name n the ad) and other places for such violations. The phrase "Appear in court to testify" also showed up in the ad.

Yeah I am aware of the copywright issues asnd the reasoning behind Lionhead not allowing me to post on thier site...which is fine. But to me it's insane if anyone who makes a music video just for the fact they love a song and want to show their interpretation of the song in video form would cause someone to get sued. Would it be the person who made it getting into trouble or Youtube itself? It's just a shame artisit/record companies would do such a thing if no money is being made by the creator.

but what do i know

richke wrote:

But to me it's insane if anyone who makes a music video just for the fact they love a song and want to show their interpretation of the song in video form would cause someone to get sued. Would it be the person who made it getting into trouble or Youtube itself?

Aye, but that's the world we live in.

In copyright cases, the copyright holder has the right to go after anyone and everyone involved in the copyright, so that'd be both you and YouTube. (YouTube have more money than you, so there's a chance of the record company actually getting some money out of them, but YouTube have better lawyers than you, so there's less chance of winning.) Oh, and then, of course, YouTube could sue you for damages. Copyright law is a lawyer's paradise.......

Incidentally, it's not making a video of your favourite song that'll get you sued. It's publishing it that the record companies object to. Even if you don't make any money out of it yourself, someone else might do - YouTube collect ad money, for example - and the guy who owns the rights to the song is getting nothing at all.

Hunt down some Creative Commons music and use that - it sidesteps all the copyright issues!

Yeah i do for my series SST but i dont get into making music videos for songs i dont love...

richke wrote:

But to me it's insane if anyone who makes a music video just for the fact they love a song and want to show their interpretation of the song in video form would cause someone to get sued.

There is a thing called 'exclusive right", if one doesn't protect it, one risks losing it. The trademark name 'aspirin' is an example. take a look at http://www.rexx.com/~jaguar/copyright.html for a good explanation of a lot of copyright questions.

matt wrote:

YouTube have more money than you, so there's a chance of the record company actually getting some money out of them, but YouTube have better lawyers than you, so there's less chance of winning.

Technically, YouTube wants to say that the uploader is fully responsible, which means that YouTube can get the adverising revenue, while the uploader gets the hit for copyright violation. I don't think it'll work since YouTube's financial gain is easily shown in the banner ads.

richke wrote:

Yeah i do for my series SST but i dont get into making music videos for songs i dont love...

Make em. Just don't upload em. you can show your friends, etc. Just don't upload them for public use.

I gotta agree with Toriel on this one... I wanted to multi-select many (if not ALL) of the options.

NO FAIR!

I guess "Other" will have to suffice. Each movie I make (barring the sequel to 'Underpants Man' that I'm working on now

) is usually different to the one I made before it. I enjoy breaking my own 'boundaries', as it were.

I use 'The Movies' (hi guys from TMO, I can SEEeeee YOUuuuuuu!) and have been unable to work out a way to make this ONE PARTICULAR story (series, really) that I've been tinkering on for YEARS (as a series of short stories that I never finish!)

I need fantasy stuff... and children. My main character in this 'story' (the first one, anyway) is a young boy. I simply CANNOT do the story justice in 'TM' using an adult actor.

So anyway, apart from waffling on about my stuff, I really cannot select just ONE thing. I want to do LOTS of things... and in no particular order!

I agree with most everything (re: The Movies) I've read... I answered "Full-length drama / action / comedy" because it was probably closest to how I think... (I would like full-length sci-fi / action /comedy... that would do me WELL!

I would like to have the ability to make something a couple hours... able to swell music in and out... and chose where in a music file to start and end... and easily place animations within the movie.

Reading that you would periodically come up with upgrades just jazzed me!

I'm anxious for this product!!!

Moviestorm can potentially allow you to make almost any kind of movie

The things that attract me to moviestorm are the licensing issues, smooth camera moves, easy lip synching & I am sure there will be many other features I have yet to discover.
I don't expect at the current state of development for there to hugely adaptable sets, (or gigabytes of props) that's not realistic...
..but just how adaptable is this going to be?

Are we going to be able to make our own clothes and curtains?
Will there be animated hair?
Will there be dancing / cleaning the bathroom / paying the milkman animations?
Will there be children / babies/ dogs/ elephants?
Can I make a circus film with acrobats?
Could I have a fight on an airship and have one of the characters fall into the sea and have him sink down through an underwater kingdom complete with sharks and a Britney Spears Mermaid?

Will the characters be able to cook, eat ice cream, jump on a trampoline?

Almost any kind of movie?
Are you sure?

Good list, very thought provoking.

The real issue is "how much effort and cost should we apply to providing solutions that have one, narrow, specific application for a 5 second scene as opposed to first creating general and flexible solutions that have applications in scenes that account for over 90% of screen minutes in the top 10 genres?"

the other REALLY important question is: how fast will modders take this up and do stuff for you

So, breaking the iron rule of "never tell anyone what you are planning on because you always look like a fool when something changes", here I go:

q: Are we going to be able to make our own clothes and curtains?
A: textures yes, animation and cloth physics unlikely in immediate (1 yr) horizon

q: Will there be animated hair?
A: unlikely to be physics based in immediate horizon, also might require a rethink of our base spec hardware

q: Will there be dancing / cleaning the bathroom / paying the milkman animations?
A: yes and pretty well immediately, probably in next couple of months, perhaps depends on demand

q: Will there be children / babies/ dogs/ elephants?
A: teenagers first, then younger (but with fewer animations), animals perhaps later this year but depends on demand

q: Can I make a circus film with acrobats?
A:animated, perhaps next year, but unlikely to be physics based in immediate horizon

q: Could I have a fight on an airship and have one of the characters fall into the sea and have him sink down through an underwater kingdom complete with sharks and a Britney Spears Mermaid?
A: what are you smoking, man?

The last one is quite interesting in itself: it you wanted it all in one set with one camera and one take, probably not. Could you edit a series of scenes together to fake most of it? probably yes, in a year. Water environments are not planned, but painted backdrops are ...

q: Will the characters be able to cook, eat ice cream, jump on a
trampoline?
A: yes and really quite soon, yes (well, "eat"), and probably not in the immediate future

I still think the original answer was fair, almost any genre will be possible, but there will always be a reasonable limit on the specific sets and actions that are available. That limit will get bigger and bigger as we ship more and more content and as modders get involved. Our props list is already destined for "several gigabytes", and that is before we involve modders, sponsors, commercial partners and IPR owners.

Did that help?

Am I going to look like fool when the future changes everything?

Wow, that's actually a lot more than I expected.

how fast will modders take this up and do stuff for you

That's a question I've been asking myself.

Textures:
this is good news, will you provide guides for recolouring?

Animated hair (and cloth):
I have been impressed by the animated custom content created by the community for second life, though I am not desperately disappointed not to have this here (yet)

Animations for characters: I agree with the 90% statement...it is much better to have a range of basic animations, so long as these can be performed in any part of the set and with a variety of props it's amazing how one thing can end up looking like another.

The airship and the underwater scene:
It's not necessary to have these things for real, just be able to fake it somehow. The sims works very badly looking 'up' & I spent a lot of time trying to create an airship scene that I had to bin in the end because of graphical issues.
Underwater... fake underwater swimming against a painted backdrop would be great.
The best program I have for underwater machnima is roller coaster world but the in game characters will only swim on the surface.

There are always technical issues to solve but your answer has surprised me, I did wonder if this program was simply going to be a more adaptable version of "the movies"..which would be a good thing in itself..but it sounds as if you have much more planned than that.

Even if some of it doesn't come about...or takes longer than planned this is such a worthwhile project