Moviestorm gets recognition at TEDx talk by Libertaria creator Sabrina Pena Young

Readers of this blog may remember an exclusive guest post in September 2013 from Sabrina Pena Young telling of the story of Libertaria: her virtual opera, created entirely online using Moviestorm.

Award-winning composer and published author Sabrina Pena Young composes works heard in Asia, North America, Australia, and Europe.

Production for Libertaria was entirely online. The cast auditioned virtually through Music Xray and other sites, the animators worked together using Moviestorm, communication continued through e-mail and facebook.

Libertaria has been growing in popularity ever since the world premiere screening in October 2013.

Recently, Sabrina shared her story at a TED talk, answering the question of how you stage an opera without an opera company, or singers, or a stage, or anything except your own ideas.

TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 25 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives.

Since 2011, TEDxBuffalo has taken place each October at Canisius College’s Montante Cultural Center. 

See Sabrina's talk at TEDx below:

    

Sabrina told Moviestorm: "I spoke about Moviestorm in the live presentation, and I am working on a new "rock concert" project that will be shown in music concerts this spring, also using Moviestorm.

"I will be giving an upcoming online presentation on machinima and music this April. It will be for an online music festival."

Sabrina added that she chose Moviestorm for the TED Talk because without the 'easy-to-use animation software' she wouldn't have been able to create her work Libertaria: The Virtual Opera. 

She said: "I have been using Moviestorm for several years now and have found it an excellent program for multimedia and music works, as well as presentations like the TED Talk.  

"For example, I am currently finishing up the commission Destiny: Eondwyr that incorporates live music performance with fantasy comic book panels created using Moviestorm.  

"I am also using Moviestorm for my upcoming virtual online performance Urban Night: Sounds, which is a musical performance of animated characters in a virtual outdoor concert venue, to be presenting online and in New York this spring. 

"Moviestorm has truly taken my artistic expression to the next level."

Sabrina said one of the reasons she recommends Moviestorm to musicians is because it is very affordable and easy-to-use, not to mention fun and easily customizable. 

She said that right now another Moviestorm animator, Matt Pittsinger, inspired by Libertaria: The Virtual Opera, is using Moviestorm to create a truly cinematic Baroque opera Aetius. 

Sabrina concluded: "My hope is that other musicians use machinima to explore innovative ways to share their original music with the world without any of the financial and societal boundaries of the past. Technology is truly the great democratizer of our age."

WATCH LIBERTARIA HERE:

Further links

Artist Website: http://sabrinapenayoung.blogspot.com/
Official Film Website: http://virtualopera.wordpress.com/

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQqnHt3a-Oo
Soundtrack : http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sabrinapenayoung4

Moviestorm in Education: Long Road College, Cambridge

Students from Long Road Sixth Form College recently completed their animation coursework videos using Moviestorm.

The Level 2 Media students were asked to come up with a short three to four minute moving image product using Moviestorm. The groups gave initial ideas into a typed proposal and from this generated storyboards and in some cases design sheets. They then moved on to producing their final videos, which can be watched here.

Two groups (3 & 4), one all boys and the other mostly girls, chose a scenario about teenage party life. Two groups (1B & 2) chose to do a music-based production, a music video and a reality music TV show. The last group (1A), ventured an ambitious first episode of a ‘Youtube’ style series.

 Long Road Media teacher Steve Thorne said:

"Great time and effort was spent adding the small details. One example was the music video group’s work to recreate the band to look the same as the real one! After working with Moviestorm again this year I think working in pairs generates the best results and group time management."
 
Before the final Moviestorm videos were produced, the groups of students worked on either the characters or settings and then brought them together to add the camerawork and action.

Steve chose Moviestorm to give the students the opportunity to work with a 3D animation software so they didn’t have the same limited scope of the usual video productions shooting scenes around the college. He added:

"This was their chance to use filmmaking techniques in a virtual setting. They also had complete control over every element within their production. I think the generated animations link well to game design and advanced 3D animation software packages."

"Overall it’s been a fantastic resource for the course. The students have really taken to it and enjoyed the production work very much. It’s definitely going to be built into the course more next year!" 

 The initial production stages followed the Moviestorm six-stage production process. All groups were very committed to the ‘Sims’ style character design stage and the production of the virtual settings. CEO of Moviestorm Andrew Kennedy said:

"The students at Long Road demonstrated a rapid development of filmmaking skills and final sophistication between their demos and final movies, and it is nice to see ideas that were formulated whilst they initially played with the software for the first time coming through in their final pieces. 

Steve Thorne needs to be congratulated in creating this module, as it is giving the students an opportunity to test and develop their individual filmmaking skills without the normal logistical and budgetary restrictions, from production design and casting, into scene direction and camerawork, and through to sound design and editing skills. We hope to see more collaborations and films from this group of students, and look forward to supporting Long Road Sixth Form College into the future."

Further links

Final videos here: https://vimeo.com/album/2367854

Demo videos here: https://vimeo.com/album/2302569

Flickr Album here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/30136544@N08/sets/72157633378985852/

What would we do without Jeff?

In previous posts, we've alluded to Jeff's design skills. Turns out, he's even more talented than that.

Over on the Photostorm page, under Scene, you'll see he gets a credit for music as well.

He's not just a guy in a suit, you know!

In the cantina...

So, our artists made us some lovely aliens, and expected us to create amazing space operas and intense science fiction. Errr, nope. We stuck them in silly costumes, gave them musical instruments and let them rock on. Because we can. Well, if Luc Besson and George Lucas can have rock'n'roll aliens, we figured you'd want 'em too.


All together now.... doo doo doo doo doo-doo doo, doodly doodly doo doo......

The Moviestorm Gr00ve

It's amazing to see what some of our users are doing with Moviestorm. Here's a great little music video by Spong3y, using Creative Commons music (we love CC!) available in lots of resolutions to suit all devices and connection speeds.

HIGH DEFINITION
Grandaddy of 'em all, say hello to Mr. HD 720p. Available on Spong3y's Vimeo Profile

HIGH QUALITY
Can't go for HD? A 800x450 will still be good. Available at his Hosting Server.

STANDARD DEFINITION
Need something on the middle class? A 640x360 could be enough for standard viewing. Get it directly on its Moviestorm page.

LOW RESOLUTION
Too impatient to watch it or just plain too slow? Youtube might offer the quick but dirty video, with the page here.

MOBILE PHONES
Need something on the go or are you rocking the 56K? You can access it either on your desktop or phone here.

And thanks for the dedication: "Dedicated to Moviestorm, its creators and its community for teaching me the ways of professionalism from when I left The Sims 2 up to this point." Awwww, we've gone all blushy now...