Collaboration Essay Contest, Write an Essay. Win stuff.

[AngriBuddhist]

Update: The winner and runner up have been announced in posts #2 and #3.


Collaboration Essay Contest

Currently, there aren't any tools in Moviestorm that allow for a collaborative process. Sure, two or more individuals can discuss ideas, and voice actors and modders can do their own work, but, ultimately one person has to create the entire film and manually add in the pieces that others may have supplied.

As Moviestorm expands it's content library, so does it expand the user's story possibilities. The recent inclusion of something as simple as Eating and Drinking animations, as well as restaurant-like props, has opened the door to scenes and locations that could never be realistically created before.

It's a small example, but, as more and more possibilities open up so does the opportunity to create longer films that can use the additional content and remain compelling. A film that was previously restricted to 3-4 scenes/locations, due to a lack of compelling content, can now realistically add a restaurant/bar/cafe set, making it 4-5 scenes/locations. In a year's time, this may be 10-11 scenes/locations that can be filled with animations and props that bring realism to a film.

Although this would mean that a Director, who could previously make a compelling 10-15 minute film, could now make a compelling 30-45 minute film, it also means that their workload and time-to-completion would triple, as would that of those offering assistance (voice actors, modders, etc.).

It's this eventuality that begs the need for some sort of Collaborative Tools or new or refined functionality within Moviestorm.


The Challenge

Imagine a time when Moviestorm has enough animations, character types, costumes, and props, to compellingly fill a 45 minute film. Also imagine that you'll be working with Voice Actors, Modders, Sound Designers, Cinematographers, Musicians, etc., and that you have functions within Moviestorm that will help streamline that process, offering them a way to take a more interactive role, and supplying you with the ability to benefit from it.

Requirements:

* Describe imaginary collaborative functions that, not including yourself, provide for at least 3 types of collaborators (Voice Actors, Modders, etc. ) and how those functions will work and be presented within Moviestorm.

* Take into consideration the file structure of C:/Username/Moviestorm, the save file for your film, and describe how the functions may take advantage of, or change, how it works.

* Put some thought into it. Be imaginative and descriptive.

* PM your essay to me by midnight, Monday, February 15th, 2010, PST . You don't want to post your great ideas for others to snatch.


Prizes:

Only one winner will be declared. Highlights from the others will be posted as will the entirety of the winning post. The winner will receive-

2000 Moviestorm Points - Donated to your account.

5 Google Wave Invites - The new and upcoming Dominate Collaborative Tool. Google accounts are required and I'll have to send the invites to you and the people you choose.


Disclaimer: This is a contest created by a Community Member, not Moviestorm Limited. The contest prizes are coming out of my pocket. Being so, I retain the right to cancel this contest if the level of interest is too low or if the entries do not meet the requirements listed above.

[AngriBuddhist]

The most imaginative & thorough of the few entrees, hecroaked's essay wins hands down. Congratulations! I'll be contacting you soon.

I would like to take a moment and point out that I am not a part of the Moviestorm Development team. Though this has been written as a press release for a new feature, this is in fact a work of my creative processes and is an opinion of where I think that Moviestorm should be headed.

Moviestorm is a program that offers regular people the chance to transform the stories in their heads into a visual medium that can be shared with everybody around the world. Easy to learn and use, this program has inspired thousands to become amateur film-makers in an open environment. However, the tools for the collaboration have been lacking, with collaborators stuck using archaic methods like email to communicate and share content. Online programs like Google Wave have come along, helping to simplify the collaboration problem, but it isn't tied into the program directly and thus directors are stuck with a powerful program that lets them create intricate 45 minute movies, but most of the voice overs, modding, and other outside help is cobbled together. No methods of hiring someone who has a knack with camera angles are easy, if possible.

That is why Moviestorm is now offering the Collaboration tool. It is an online service through Moviestorm that subscribers can access for 3 more dollars a month. It offers the full Moviestorm program, along with such tools as the Board Room, the Sound Booth, the Workshop, and the Typewriter, all online and accessible through your Moviestorm Account.

The way it works is this. A Gold Subscriber logs on, goes to the Collaboration option, and clicks 'Start new Collaborated Movie'. It then takes them into the Board Room, a Google Wave-like tool, where they can invite people to help them make a movie. Those other users will receive a personal message asking them if they would like to accept. If they accept, then they will be added to the Board. The Board will allow people to discuss, in a Wave fashion, the project. However, there will also be other functions for assigning people jobs, planning tools for getting parts accomplished, a calendar to keep things on track etc...

After inviting and organizing their crew/collaborators, the user is then taken to the Typewriter, where they can write the script. Also, they can assign people, via the Board Room, to be writers and help write the script. However, as director, the user will be able to veto and override parts of the script that others have written.

After there writing the script, the user then goes to the Set view. This will look similar to the Set view in normal Moviestorm, except that the user will have direct access to the Workshop, where they can find mods created by the modders that they have invited. Also, the user will have access to all the sets for all of the scenes. They will also be able to assign, much like the writers, set designers to make the different sets for the movie. Once again, the Director has the power of the veto.

Next up is the Character view. Once again, this will look similar to the Character view in normal Moviestorm, but the user will have direct access to the modders for clothing, hairstyle, and head mods. The user can also assign people with a better fashion sense to be Costume managers and create the characters.

Finally, there is the Directors View. This mode is just like the Directors view in normal Moviestorm, but of course with some modifications. The user can assign Assistant Directors. These Assistants can be assigned to certain scene's, taking a lot of the workload off of the user, allowing them to concentrate on directing key scenes.

Another major tool in the Directors mode will be the Sound Booth. Voice Actors can go here to do the voice overs for their assigned character. When they open this tool, they will see the lines for their character(s), much like in the script in normal Moviestorm, and they can go down the list, filling in dialogue. They can also go back to the Directors view and watch the scene, if available, in order to get a better feel for what their character is doing and feeling in the moment.

Next up is the Camera View. This will functioned much like the normal Camera View, except that the user will be able to assign a cameraman to help with the filming, in case they have access to someone who has a knack for it.

Finally, the Cutting Room View. Once again, this will function much like the normal one. You can assign a graphic designer to help edit your movie and make it look incredible. One powerful tool in here will be a modified version of Sound Booth. Using this, contributing musicians and sound designers will be able to integrate their music and special effects directly to the movie, making the soundtrack sound amazingly integrated and natural like never before.

Since this will be an online service, exporting the movie might actually be a fairly straight forward affair of simply sending it to your profile page. Everyone who had a hand in it will get links to it in their profiles, and credits on the new Resume system for the profiles. If the video is going to be put on YouTube and other video hosting sites, the user can simply download the movie and then upload it to the site in the traditional manner.

As you have seen, the Collaboration Movie is a very powerful tool that will give Moviestorm users the extra boost to create content on a whole new scale.

Notes from the author:

-I believe that the Board Room view could possibly be the biggest tool to have come out since Moviestorm was created. It will allow directors the ability to plan, organize, and execute their ideas like never before.

-I would like to expand on the assigning of roles. Since everybody will use their profiles for collaboration, assigning roles may simply be as easy as dragging a pre-programmed role designator tab to the person's profile on the roster. Everyone must be assigned a role. A role will limit what you can edit. If you are assigned a voice acting role, you can look at the sets in the sets view, read the script, or watch a scene in the directors view, but all you will be able to edit is your characters lines. However, people may be assigned multiple roles (I believe that a lot of this will go on). The person who clicks the 'New Collaboration Movie' button will always be the Director, though, whether they work hard on the movie or sit back and let everyone else work.

-I think that the content packs to be used are the ones that the Director buys. I would also like to see a system within rental where the Director can buy/rent content packs for one Collaborative Movie.

-I think that non-subscribers can use the Collaborative Mode if they are invited to work on a movie. However, they can only do the parts that they are assigned and they will not be able to Direct a Collaborative movie. This might organize Directors in the movies extras department.

-I believe if a built in collaboration mode were to be built into Moviestorm, we would see the formation of companies of banded-together users within the Moviestorm clientele. This can be good and bad. Good, in that we will see a lot more complex and sophisticated movies, but bad in the sense that the independent spirit of the current system will be undermined. Also, we will see indie Moviestorm movies, created outside the collaboration system. I believe these movies will be treated by users much like indie movies are treated today by Hollywood.

-I think that, along with this, a Resume feature should be created for profiles. These will hook up to the Collaboration mode, and your Moviestorm Resume will be immediately updated if you help someone create a movie. If a Director is hiring, they could look at your Resume and offer you a position. Also, there can also be anonymous voting on the persons performance.

Once again, congratulations hecroaked!!

[AngriBuddhist]

Fitting very nicely with the winning essay, Jason3's essay is short but descriptive where hecroaked's isn't. Although I stated that only one prize would be awarded, it fits so well with the winning entree that I decided a 500 MS point reward was in order. Congratulations Jason3!!!.

My idea is to break with the concept of having a file on the user's PC. Instead, there should be a shared file (preferably hosted by MS). Obviously users should be able to use their own hard-drives instead if they want, but collabarative efforts would tend to be online.

So one person, who we'll call the director, creates a movie online. He then sends out invites to other people to join the effort. He would invite them under particular roles, such as a set designer, associate producer, director, musical director, camera man, editor or actor. People can be invited into more than one role if required.

So let's say I'm producing a film, and I invite you to be a set designer and one of the actors. You would then be able to create and change whichever sets I've enabled you for. You could also add the lines for your character, and change his appearance and add directions. You wouldn't be able to invite other people, or give other actors directions, or set up camera angles. If the system was really good then it would allow you to work on one scene while someone else worked on another, or maybe even the same scene.

It would also allow for a film to be created in its entireity very quickly, with minimalist sets and maybe just one person doing all of the acting. Then you would simply have the various lines, directions, sets, etc. "filled out" until you had the polished final product. That would allow others to get a better idea of the whole film straight away.

MS have already hinted at improving the editting features, and for this to work you would really need to be able to do most features in MS. Final effects could be added outside MS of course.

Ideally there would also be a history, so that if somebody either deliberately vandalised a film, or changed something in a way that a producer didn't like, it could be reverted.

The real point of this idea is that it lets you split the film up into a number of roles, and they can all contribute and bounce ideas off each other without one person being the time bottle-neck. Of course it would be a big break from how MS currently works, and might presumably require a lot of storage online. Then again, that is getting cheaper all of the time, and they could always charge rental (as long as they allowed us to download the files and stop paying).

I doubt that MS will be able to do anything like this soon, but it might provide ideas for them to gradually move towards.

[AngriBuddhist]

Only 30 hours left to go.

There hasn't been a lot of interest, so, there's not much competition. Write an Essay! Win Stuff!

[AngriBuddhist]

9 hours and 45 minutes left!

[hecroaked]

When are we gonna recieve the results?

[AngriBuddhist]

Posts #2 and #3 updated.

I'm running very late but didn't want you to wait, so, all I have time to say is Congratulations!!! and thanks for taking part.

[hecroaked]

Congratulations Jason3! I guess great minds think alike!

[Jason3]

Congratulations Jason3! I guess great minds think alike!

Congrats to you too. And thanks to AngriBuddhist for running the competition. Lets just hope that MS do some of this.