Young Moviestorm animators encouraged to apply for Future8 Awards

Young Moviestorm animators are being encouraged to apply for the Future 8 Awards in association with The Guardian newspaper.
The Future8 Awards are designed to reward and recognise the very best 7 to 17 year old emerging digital talent in the UK and Ireland.
The awards are working with leading brands and experts across the industry to provide life changing prizes and support to help get future careers off to a flying start.

Moviestorm are supporting the awards with free use of our software through extended trials, and are calling existing Moviestorm users aged 7 to 17, and any potential new users, to apply for the awards.

Moviestorm CEO Andrew Kennedy said:

 "I would encourage young Moviestorm users to enter the Future8 Awards for the journey as much as the reward. 

"If you have a passion for something, then rather than just being a consumer, try being a creator. 

"Kids are great at adopting new technologies, and there are tools out there that can enable anyone like never before.  

"It is never too soon to get involved - we are born with unrestricted creativity, and though education unfortunately tends to erode that potential, awards like Future8 are rewarding the young for developing themselves through utilising technology and expressing themselves.  

"The more we can make stars of these innovative students, the more students will follow."

So far, only three prizes for the competition winners have been announced so far, including trips to LA to be a WeMo Engineer for a day with Belkin, a chance to be mentored by one of Penguin Random House’s top talent and an opportunity to shadow a top music video director on the set of a Sony Music artists video!

Charlotte, community manager for Future8, said that today, kids and teens today are far more technical and digitally skilled than any generation before them.
She added:

"We designed The Future8 Awards to support and inspire young people into becoming digital creators; to develop their skills and share their creative projects so that we can connect them with incredible opportunities they couldn't find elsewhere. 

"We celebrate creative and technical talent and are extremely excited to find the next digital stars in the UK and Ireland.”
 

THE CATEGORIES 

1. MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT 
What are they looking for? Original App Developers with a love for all things mobile and technology

2. COMPUTER GAMES 
What are they looking for? Game designers and developers who have created or thought of great concepts for new games

3. MUSIC 
What are they looking for? Musicians, singers, producers with passion. Original music and covers welcome

4. ANIMATION 
What are they looking for? Animators with real skill and originality. Stop motion/hand drawn graphics/computer graphics...you name it - they want to see it

5. ONLINE VIDEO 
What are they looking for? Video creators who know how to tell a story/speak to their audience. It’s all about great video content

6. MAKER (INVENTORS) 
What are they looking for? Inventors who want to make life easier/better using technology. Invention ideas of all kinds welcome.

7. BLOGGER 
What are they looking for? Music, food, fashion...any topic you love to shout
about. They’re looking for someone who is passionate about blogging and their readers

8. WEB DEVELOPER 
What are they looking for? Creative web designers and coders with big ideas

Where to download?

Entrants who want to enter the awards but have not yet downloaded Moviestorm can download the software from the following links:
Aged 14 and over - http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/hub/download_edu_unlimited - contains adult themes
Aged 13 and under - http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/hub/download_edu_junior - content suitable for all ages
As part of the installation process, entrants will need to register to get a Moviestorm account and a free 14 day trial.
If entrants wish to extend their trial beyond 14 days, please contact us at support@moviestorm.co.uk and say that they are planning to submit to the Future8 awards, and we will extend their license to well beyond 14 September.

For more information about the Future8 Awards or to apply, visit their website here  like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.

Submission period extended for the Harb 40 Passion Competition

The submission period for this year's Harb40 Passion Competition has been extended.

The competition urges contestants to make a film set to a specific theme of passion. There are usually some restrictions on content, but films could be made using any animation program, video game or live action technique.

This year, the specific theme for the competition, 'objectify' was released on August 2, and the submission period has now been extended to October 25.

Watch the third promo video for the competition by Moviestorm user Joseph Kwong, aka JosephKW, below:

All submissions will go through a specific thread on the competition forums which will be opened at theme release.

Competition winners aim to be announced on November 22/23 during the Machinima Expo (which is run by a group that includes Kate Fosk, aka kkffoo, and an actor named Richard Grove, aka Ricky Grove).

Moviestorm will once again sponsor the competition this year. In the past, the competition has received other sponsorship from Sony and Reallusion.

Want to know more?

To find out more about the competition, visit http://www.harb40passioncompetition.com/
Visit the competition Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/groups/211515672195252/.
You can also follow the competition on Twitter @Harb40PassComp

Support needed by Moviestorm users for comic kickstarter project

Moviestorm users are being encouraged to pledge their support to an exciting new kickstarter project.

The kickstarter idea by Sam Midwood, or 'Zuckerman' on the Moviestorm forums, is for a comic based off an old Moviestorm short movie.



Sam spoke to Moviestorm recently to tell us about his kickstarter. He said: 

"I’ve written a mini-series called The Projectionist and I need your help, your generosity of spirit, to breathe life into issue number 1.
"That’s 24-pages of supernatural detectives, tough-as-nails cops, poltergeists, clairvoyants, goo-guns, and shadowy corporations."
"With this kickstarter we will be producing the first 22-page issue of The Projectionist six part mini-series in digital and print formats.
"The script is all ready for art, we've got a good price on a small but quality print-run, and we are beyond excited to get this first book out to you fine souls."

Sam created a short Moviestorm film entitled the Paranormal Transit Authority, which he based his new comic from.

Watch the video here

WHY MOVIESTORM?

Sam added: "Some years ago, before the story of The Projectionist fully came together, I began to play with the idea of the Paranormal Transit Authority. 

"I’d had these dreams where I was a ghost and was being chased by something. The dreams lead me to create The Paranormal Transit Authority which in-turn lead me to create The Projectionist.
"Around that same time, I was using Moviestorm quite a bit. I'd even entered a few contests with short films I’d made using Moviestorm, and won said contests.
"Moviestorm is an excellent 3D animation tool for hobbyists and professionals alike."

FIND OUT MORE AND MAKE A PLEDGE

To see more about the project or to make a pledge click here: http://kck.st/1mpDtEt

Moviestorm features in MTV teen drama Degrassi

Today we're posting to share some more good news - Moviestorm was recently featured on two episodes of MTV teen series Degrassi!
Degrassi: The Next Generation, which was renamed Degrassi from the tenth season, is a Canadian teen drama television series set in the Degrassi universe, which was created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood in 1979.

Screenshots from the Degrassi series

Degrassi is the fourth fictional series in the Degrassi franchise, following The Kids of Degrassi Street, Degrassi Junior High, and Degrassi High.
Degrassi: The Next Generation follows a cast of students at Degrassi Community School who face various challenges, such as self-image, peer pressure, child abuse, sexual identity, gang violence, self-injury, teenage pregnancy,drug abuse, death, suicide and more.
Moviestorm features in series 13, both episodes 33 and 34 of the programme.

The producers of Degrassi used Moviestorm to mock-up a fake fantasy game called 'Realm of Doom'. 

In episode 33, Moviestorm is featured in the time frames 10 minutes through the episode and again at 17 minutes and 35 seconds through the episode.

You can watch it here:

In episode 34, Moviestorm can be seen at the very start and 8 minutes 32 seconds into the episode. Watch that episode here:



Matt O'Sullivan from the Degrassi series art department said Moviestorm was chosen for the show due to its its 'combination of great looks and ease of use'. 

He added: "We needed a fast and intuitive tool to create something that looked like a real online 3D game, and our first thoughts were either to make machinima of some kind or to use a professional tool like 3D Studio Max, but then through some online research we found Moviestorm and realized it was the best of both worlds and perfectly suited to our needs. 

 "We loved the intuitive, movie-maker style and the wide variety of premade characters and locales. It all came together quite nicely. As a creator of “digital props” and various graphics and VFX for film and TV, I can say I’ll use Moviestorm again in a heartbeat if similar script requirements arise in a production I’m involved in. Thanks, Moviestorm!".

For more about Degrassi, you can visit the website here: http://www.mtv.com/shows/degrassi/series.jhtml.