Akting Out

Legacy of Kain (Crystal Dynamics) was onto something.
I confess that I was never really into the gameplay (I’m not much for puzzle-ridden games), especially in the first Blood Omen. But the story was incomparable, expertly spoken by a top flight cast that included Simon Templeman and directed by Kris Zimmerman.

Legacy of Kain was the first (and only) game I ever played strictly because I wanted to know what happened next. Blood Omen may not have been that impressive, but its follow-up, Soul Reaver, heralded a benchmark for storytelling in videogames.  Here was a character that had chosen the ‘wrong’ thing at the end of the first game, damning a world he now ruled. The story was now told by his doomed first lieutenant, Raziel, voiced by Michael Bell.

Considering that the first Resident Evil’s voice-over became comedic fodder, Soul Reaver’s narrative was so well-executed that behind-the-scenes were made available as extras on the games themselves. Even now, considering where modern Machinima is, the Legacy of Kain series still looks pretty good when placed side-by-side with modern efforts. I can spend whole hours ranting about the story, but if you’re interested, you should really check out Joudas’ playlist on YouTube and see for yourself.

The series, to me, defines what Machinima can be when done right.
I’ve been studying Machinima for years now; since it became popular in the late nineties. I can tell you almost anything you want to know about it, save for how to put one together. I’ve never tried. I’ve been afraid of screwing up.

But I’ve wanted to try for years, and for the first time, I’m in a position to; I have a little money, and my storytelling is gaining ground. Eventually, you have to get off of the bench and play the game if you ever hope to score.

So no more procrastinating; I’m actually going to attempt a Machinima within the next month.
Although I plan to use Realillusions iClone to tell Universal Warrior’s story (because they’ll let me make money off of it), I purchased the Sims 3 to get my feet wet. I figured that if I actually spent money on the ambition, that’ll motivate me to take it seriously.

I’m not going to attempt anything huge my first time around, and seeing Black Widow Garden gave me a lot of inspiration; one can do a decent film without using any voice-over work. I’m going to attempt a music video for either the old Mike & The Mechanics song “Can You Hear Me” or the more recent “Second Chance” by Shinedown.

I’ll make a decision by the end of the week, and I’ll post weekly updates on the production. Wish me luck.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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