I made a feature-length Star Trek animated movie...

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-06-05 11:50pm

...using about $250 worth of commercial software. It took a little over 18 months, working 3-4 hours a day. It's about 90 minutes long. First time anybody has done this, so far as I know.

If you're interested, you can download or stream the trailer at http://www.machinima.com/films.php?id=2371.

I'm extremely curious about what folk on this board will have to say about it, in the same sort of way that a piece of beefsteak must feel extremely curious about what's going to happen when it gets shoved into a meat grinder.

Geoffrey James
http://www.geoffreyjames.com

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2006-06-06 12:30am

I'll give it a peek since you decided to put it here in fanfics instead of PST, and i'm no mod so I can't dictate whats right and what is not, but this is pretty sketchy pimping to me.

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-06-06 01:14am

Well, I thought about whether this was the right forum but, strictly speaking, Borg War isn't "PURE" ST because it's not canon. It's a fan film, which I figured was a form of fan fiction. Hence the forum.

Hey, for something to be "pimping," doesn't there have to be some money changing hands somewhere? Since I'm contractually obligated (by the game licenses) to not make any money on the project, that's not an issue.

In fact, the only money involved is money out of my pocket, in the form of the time I spent on the project. Of course, it's not as if I would have been working; I pretty much gave up gaming to do machinima.

Instant Sunrise · Post by **Instant Sunrise** » 2006-06-06 01:21am

There is a thread on New Voyages is in PST. And Wayne Poe usually posts a lot of his "The Movies" machinima is the appropiate forum (Star Wars stuff in PSW).

I'm working on a machinima myself, so I know the difficulties of it. But your first post here was to plug your own product, which reeks of just coming here to promot it and nothing else.

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-06-06 01:30am

I suppose it must look like that. Of course, your thesis assumes that there's some publicity value in having people tear my work apart, starting with giving me a hard time for posting in the wrong place.

Post by **Dalton** » 2006-06-06 01:45am

Ain't like he's selling it.

Moved to PST.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2006-06-06 01:45am

skyman8081 wrote:There is a thread on New Voyages is in PST. And Wayne Poe usually posts a lot of his "The Movies" machinima is the appropiate forum (Star Wars stuff in PSW).

I'm working on a machinima myself, so I know the difficulties of it. But your first post here was to plug your own product, which reeks of just coming here to promot it and nothing else.

Oh shut it. He's new and he hasn't been acting like a jackass so far so give it a fair rest.

Count Dooku · Post by **Count Dooku** » 2006-06-06 01:57am

What did you use to create that?

vivftp · Post by **vivftp** » 2006-06-06 02:00am

Heh, interesting... from the trailer I gather the Borg Collective has been assimilated by this new race (exomorph?)... heh, they reminded me quite a bit of xenomorphs with that whole chestbuster bit...quite good

Seeing Worf arbitrarily batting a lady officer over the head with his phaser rifle was hilariously unexpected. He definately does seem to be a loose cannon in this movie... maybe someone spat in his prune juice?

I really hope you didn't give away a huge spoiler at the end with the Enterprise though... (I'm thinking mirror universe, or creative editing).

Should be an interesting watch when it comes out

Laird · Post by **Laird** » 2006-06-06 02:23am

I saw this piece well I was at the machinima arts & sciences awards last year in NY. It wasn't bad.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2006-06-06 04:19am

skyman8081 wrote:But your first post here was to plug your own product, which reeks of just coming here to promot it and nothing else.

I must have missed your promotion to moderator. Even if he was spamming, it's not your job to call him on it. We have members who posted a fanfic with their first post and nobody said "boo"; this is nothing more than a more elaboarate, much more expensive version of the same thing.

Instant Sunrise · Post by **Instant Sunrise** » 2006-06-06 04:31am

I'm sorry that my post came off as me trying to play mod. That was not my intention at all. I was trying to be helpful and give him some pointers, and explain why his post could have been misconstrued as "pimping."

However, upon review of my post, I realize that the wording of it came off as harsh and acting like a mod when I shouldn't have been. I publicly apologize for trying to act like a mod with that post.

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2006-06-06 04:44am

NICE!

When will the whole movie be out? I do want to see it.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2006-06-06 05:29am

RedImperator wrote:
skyman8081 wrote:But your first post here was to plug your own product, which reeks of just coming here to promot it and nothing else.
I must have missed your promotion to moderator.

Ooh oh! Can I get a promotion to deputy?

Skyman8081 wrote:I'm sorry that my post came off as me trying to play mod. That was not my intention at all. I was trying to be helpful and give him some pointers, and explain why his post could have been misconstrued as "pimping."

Where's your badge? Eh?

@ kephren:

I downloaded your trailer. It's pretty good, I was wondering how you did it? It looks like it comes from a computer game.

Who's the blonde chick? She isn't wearing a uniform, so is she a civvie? Anyway, good effort!

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-06-06 06:23am

Count Dooku wrote:What did you use to create that?

I used two computer games: Starfleet Command 3 and Elite Force 2. All scenes were filmed with the artificial intelligence turned off; every action of the characters (including facial expressions) are controlled by a script. The raw footage is captured using a Dazzle 150 and then edited, pretty extensively, in Pinnacle Studio 9. The sound clips are repurposed from the game files. There's a more detailed description on the website. Please note that I have an open offer to help anyone who wants to make their own movie using the same technique. It would be nice to see someone really talented try their hand at it.

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-06-06 06:30am

vivftp wrote:from the trailer I gather the Borg Collective has been assimilated...

Seeing Worf arbitrarily batting a lady officer over the head...

I really hope you didn't give away a huge spoiler...

Exactly right about the Borg. If I were pitching this in Hollywood (yeah, right), I'd say something like "Think Star Trek meets Alien." (Egad, that sounds corny.)

Appearances notwithstanding, that's not Worf, although he might be a distant relation, I suppose. His name is Jureth and he can be a mean SOB. Personality wise, he's more like Worf's brother. In fact, I think the voice actor may be the guy who played the brother.

No spoiler. If you look carefully, the exploding warp core is coming out of a Defiant-class ship. What happens to the Enterprise is much more surprising (I hope!) than just an exploding engine.

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-06-06 06:37am

Who's the blonde chick? She isn't wearing a uniform, so is she a civvie?

Well, she's the eye candy, of course. Gotta have the eye candy.

But in the story she's Kleeya, daughter of Seven of Nine, and a civilian expert on the Borg. (The action takes place 17 years after the return of Voyager.)

The Aliens · Post by **The Aliens** » 2006-06-06 08:03am

Interesting- I'm very impressed with the dialogue, it flows incredibly naturally considering it has to have been hacked and mangled from its original form. Good work.

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-06-07 12:11pm

The Aliens wrote:Interesting- I'm very impressed with the dialogue, it flows incredibly naturally considering it has to have been hacked and mangled from its original form. Good work.

That remark, if meant seriously, makes my day. Remixing the dialog has, in my view, mixed results. Sometimes sounds perfect (if the tonality and rhythm are similar between clips) but at worst it can sound a little like Chef in his final South Park appearance. Still, it's better than 95 percent of machinima dialog, much of which is somewhat amateurish, and sounds like it's recorded on a $5 microphone.

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-06-07 10:51pm

Faram wrote: When will the whole movie be out? I do want to see it.

I notice that I neglected to answer this question. Sorry. The final part of the movie is in post-production. The entire movie will be released on September 8th, which is (I believe) the 40th anniversary of the first Star Trek broadcast.

montypython · Post by **montypython** » 2006-06-15 11:35pm

Looks promising, would like to see it when it's completed.

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-07-06 03:52pm

I promised to keep this board informed about the latest Borg War news. The world's largest distributor of machinima, the online video network Machinima.com, has agreed, for the first time in its history, to feature a machinima project -- Borg War -- as a weekly event. Here's the official press release:

Borg Assimilates Online Video Network

Machinima.Com To Distribute Borg War, An Animated Star Trek Feature-Length Fan Film

LOS ANGELES - June 28, 2006 (INB) -- Machinima.com, the largest machinima video distribution network, announces an exclusive agreement to host Borg War, the world's first feature-length animated Star Trek adventure starring the voice of Patrick Stewart as Captain Picard.

Borg War depicts the continuing adventures of the Enterprise seventeen years after the end of final episode of Voyager. In the animated movie, the Federation is invaded by a group of rogue Borg that has been infected by a predatory alien virus.

Borg War is unique among Star Trek fan films in that it recycles sound clips from the computer games, allowing the original actors to "reprise" their roles. Early episodes of Borg War were honored award nominations in the categories of "Best Series" and "Technical Achievement" at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival.

The online broadcast of Borg War will premiere on Friday, September 8th, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the first Star Trek television broadcast. Each following Friday at 6:00 p.m. Pacific, Machinima.com will release successive episodes and host a live forum, featuring the film's creator, Geoffrey James. The entire movie will span nine weeks, similarly to a cable channel series.

The exclusive agreement and weekly event is a first for Machinima.com which (with several hundred thousand downloads a month) is the community focal point for the rapidly- machinima, a filmmaking technique that harnesses the 3D rendering power of computer games to create a new type of video entertainment.

http://www.BorgWarMovie.org (link fixed)

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2006-07-06 08:37pm

Laird wrote:I saw this piece well I was at the machinima arts & sciences awards last year in NY. It wasn't bad.

They allow fan films in the Machinima awards?

kephren, this is the first time I saw this thread today. I'm currently at work, so I can't access Youtube until tonight. But I'll post more later this evening.

EDIT: Saw the trailer; good job! I am currently working on a Trek-related machinima right now, and considered using Elite Force 2, but I didn't want to use the original crew, and wanred more control over the "actors". So I'll be using "The Movies" primarily.

I may still use EF2 for some things; noclip out of the ship and you can get some great shots of the Enterprise E!

Check out my stuff here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/MrPoe

BTW, the link to the borg war website is invalid.

kephren · Post by **kephren** » 2006-07-07 09:04am

Wow, Lord Poe, that's wicked funny stuff. You sure don't like that writer.

Given the kind of subject matter in your videos, I can see why you might want to use The Movies rather than EF2. EF2's 250 animations are limited to what's needed in a typical Star Trek adventure -- there's not a lot of extra stuff that would be useful for satire or humorous effect. Although I did do a video of five Klingons dancing to the tune of YMCA and singing in Klingon.

Lord Poe · Post by **Lord Poe** » 2006-07-09 03:54am

kephren wrote:Given the kind of subject matter in your videos, I can see why you might want to use The Movies rather than EF2. EF2's 250 animations are limited to what's needed in a typical Star Trek adventure -- there's not a lot of extra stuff that would be useful for satire or humorous effect. Although I did do a video of five Klingons dancing to the tune of YMCA and singing in Klingon.

You should post that on youtube as well! I'm trying to see if a modder will make a greenscreen level for Jedi Outcast, so I can use the characters there.
I suppose the same thing can be done for Elite Force 2. Since both games are using the same engine, could you write speech scripts for Jedi Outcast?

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

I made a feature-length Star Trek animated movie...

I made a feature-length Star Trek animated movie...

Ah, well...

Borg War to be featured on Machinima.com