Spring SIFF 2015 - My faves

Sorry for the delay with this guys, real life has been busy! :O

Here are my favourites for Spring SIFF 2015. I must say, I it was a great SIFF this season!

As a result, I have five favourites instead of three this time :D

Top 5 Favourites in no particular order:

It Only Hurts by JuliLux3
My god, this was gorgeous to watch. Stunning cinematography, beautiful editing and emotional story. The sims are damn sexy too! I don't know how she does it, but it's awesome!



Tangled Wires by Tali Sims Morgan
This film. Wow. I know this list is in no particular order. But in terms of story, this was my favourite piece of storytelling at SIFF. Tali has an amazing imagination and she has created a deeply moving, disturbing and emotional film. This needs more recognition. Seriously.



Truce by Apocalyptic Dog Films
Another well-crafted and emotional story. I was blown away by the dialogue in this film.  It also had great voice acting and a creatively used indie soundtrack.



Actor by Machinima Will
This was an intriguing story about acting and jealousy, creatively told through a use of black and white and colour. This story was loosely inspired by "Rope" by Alfred Hitchcock, and so, has a wonderful "hitchcockian" atmosphere.



Unbreakable Fate Episode 1 "Prologue" by DNL Films
The production value on this machinima was just outstanding, probably one of the most professionally polished machinima's I have ever seen. A great start to what looks like an intriguing series.

Honourable Mentions

Best psychedelic fight scene - "Shura" by Bahariawans

Best "omg-is-this-a-movie?" - "Tomb Raider - Lux Veritas" by vinnyvis

Sweetest Grim Reaper story  - "Shinohana The Death Flower" by Bahariawans


Overall impression of Spring SIFF 2015 in GIF Format:

Thanks for reading! :)

- Ballantyne

SIFF Spring 2015 MEPS!

Hi Guys,

Here are two MEP's I participated in for the Sims International Film Festival (SIFF). I am very proud of both MEPS and the creativity of all machinima makers involved.

"Oblivion" hosted by TitusLinde

"Sky's Still Blue" hosted by JuliLux3

Also, I forgot to post a link to the full SIFF playlist. Please visit the link below to view all films in the festival :)

http://simatography.webs.com/siff-archive-spring-2015

- Ballantyne

SIFF Spring 2015

Well guys, it's that time of year again! :D While I won't be submitting any machinimas, I'm proud to announce I will be participating in two MEPs this SIFF! One for JuliLux3, and the other for TitusLinde

At long last, I can *finally* say that I have participated in SIFF!

I will make a new post with the two MEPs as soon as they are available, as well as voting links, once they're up! Wooooo!

By the way, SIFF is only a few days away! Films premiere on the 15th of March. I will be posting a link to the full playlist on the day.

(And of course, I will be posting my personal faves from the festival in a week or two, as usual ^_^ )

Stay tuned :D

MEP soon

Just finished two MEP parts!

(I'll post a link to the MEP once it's up.)

EDIT: It's up! You can watch below :) the MEP is hosted by JuliLux3 and I am very proud to be a part of it :)

Arghhhh!

Glitch glitch glitch. I have like two more shots to film, FFS game!

Every 15-30 minutes man. And don't forget those 'delightful' error 12 messages.

SIFF Fall 2014 - My Faves

Well, it took me a while to get though the SIFF Fall 2014 entries (11 hours worth - whoa) but I've listed some of my top-picks below.

While there were certainly some very good ones, there were also others that weren't as good as I had hoped, or that I felt suffered from a long run-time or too many technical issues (I will not be listing these, of course).

Also, I'm personally not really a fan of series. I find I simply can't get into most of them. I much prefer one-off short films and this list reflects that.

That being said, it's great to see so many people participating in this festival, and it is also quite pleasing to see people's machinima-making skills improve from one cycle to the next :)

Top 3 favourites- in no particular order

"Kodaline - All I Want" by Dummond Machinima
I found this one quite sweet. Really lovely cinematography & editing too

"Lolita" by TheElonianCass
It was cool to see some Sims 4 machinima at SIFF, and in my opinion, this was hands-down the best. The editing really makes this one "pop" :)



"Bring Me Back To Life" by JuliLux3
I really enjoyed this one, I thought the editing was fabulous, the characters looked gorgeous and the plot was interesting. I am a fan of JuliLux's editing skills! :)

Honorable mentions

Best Original Story - "The Sixth Born" by Tali Sims Mogan (spooky, but quite original!)
Best Recreation of a TV Ad - "I Still Call Australia Home" by Ansett 4 Sims 
Best "Cinematic" Production Value - "Cinder EP 5 "Just a Mechanic" by GrayLeeStudios (yes, it's a show but the visuals/soundtrack is great)

Anyway, that's just my opinion :) feel free to disagree/agree in the comments. 

Thanks for reading

- Ballantyne

10th Sims International Film Festival

The Sims International Film Festival (SIFF) is coming up again!




This is "the big one" - a.k.a. the 10th anniversary of the festival. Anyone who is interested in joining, please check out the rules in the link below. Remember to get your submission form in no later than September 1st, 2014.  Films premiere about two weeks later on the 15th of September 2014.

http://issuu.com/simatography/docs/siff_rules_guide_all_seasons

Not sure if I will be able to get something done, because I am bloody awful at finishing machinimas (and real life has been busy lately). But.... I just got Final Cut Pro X, so .... who knows.

One thing I am certain of: IF I have something brewing, I'm gonna keep my mouth shut until I've got a finished product, because I've learned from experience that showing off "tidbits" or "previews" before it's done tends to kill off  my motivation for it. Yeah.