November Update

New month, new update! This will probably be the last update post for this year, as ARENA's release is coming closer and I'm extremely busy with the finishing touches. As I most likely won't start any more new projects during the remainder of this year there's not much use for another update. There will be a dedicated release post for ARENA, and of course a christmas wish/2022 recap from my side somewhere next month. With that out of the way, let's take a look at where I am right now.

A PIXELATED POINT OF VIEW WEBSITE

For the past year and a half I have been teaching myself how to code. I've been able to work with HTML and CSS thus far, and I am currently deeply progressing into JavaScript. There's a lot more languages left to learn as some are extremely convenient for web design, machinima making and videogame modding for instance. Think about the Source Filmmaker, which supports custom Python scripts. Or, for instance, Javascript, which I will be using for the RNG protocol for DepthMap Disconnected (more about that next year - I am not ready yet to create a full fledged RNG algorithm with my current knowledge). I have come to the conclusion that programming is not only extremely helpful in my ever lasting quest to create more machinima, but also a great skill to master professionally for my career.

As my knowledge of programming and coding is progressing, and my arsenal of machinima films and client-based work is slowly but steadily growing, I really want to have a own place on the world wide web where everything A Pixelated Point of View related can be found. I've shared a bit of a teaser about the website earlier this year already when I made a first sketch, but now I'm in the process of making the actual mock-up design in Photoshop. I use the mock-up design as a reference to code the final website. I did this as well back when I coded the website for ARCTIC LIME AudioVisual and in most cases, apart from a few last minute changes and some adjustments here and there, the website and the mock-up are almost exact copies of each other.

Once the mock-up design for the A Pixelated Point of View website is finished, I will start the coding process when I have familiarized myself a bit more with JavaScript and similar language and their use in responsive front-end web design. The website will be a long-term project. I see the website as a side project which I spend a couple of hours on every so often.

Eventually, once the website is completely up and running and finished, it will replace my Behance page, my blog and my SoundCloud page. YouTube, Vimeo, FilmFreeway, LinkedIn and Instagram will remain. I am also using this opportunity to give the APPOV-style a bit of a redesign in certain places. I will share a couple of photo's from the mock-up design and tell a bit more underneath:

This will be the Index page. On the right are direct links to the social media platforms that remain. The square in the middle will play a loop video containing various shots from different projects and machinima.

FILMOGRAPHY leads to a project index which contain links to all of my machinima projects released under the A Pixelated Point of View label. Every single project has its own dedicated project page containing further information. The CURRICULUM VITAE page contains a concise summary of my achievements, what I do, skillset and clientele. It also offers a link to download my full curriculum vitae. CLIENT-BASED PROJECTS is similar to filmography as it also contains a dedicated project index for my commercial work. In this index, projects are arranged client-based which means that all projects for a specific client will be merged onto a single page for that client. Now. THE MACHINIMA VAULT. It is really something I'm really proud of and I can't wait for it to be fully working and up and running. Since so many people have been so supportive of my work I decided I want to do something back for the machinima community and for all people who enjoy my work. The machinima vault will contain a dedicated guide on machinima-making for all of the videogames I have used thus far for my own projects or I'm familiar with. It will be a complete vault full of extensive guides on games such as The Sims, Grand Theft Auto, Valve's Source Film Maker, Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Animal Crossing New Horizons and Quake III Arena that should get you up to speed in terms of machinima making, including a few post-production tips. Of course, games and additional information will be added as I go, so the vault is truly never complete. The Vault will also be regularly backupped to the Internet Archive once it is online; so in the dreadful event that something were to happen to the website, the Vault will always live on for (hopefully) generations to come and enjoy! In the end I will still also release a dedicated book about the Machinima Vault, but that is for far, far, far in the future from now.

Let's continue. MISCELLANEOUS contains other projects that are not directly found in the category of Machinima, such as APPOV Talks, the recent released album Pixelated Soundwaves, NFTs and such. ABOUT APPOV is basically an 'about me' page, which in great detail explains the establishment and history of A Pixelated Point of View. RESEARCH contains dedicated pages to my research, such as the research I am conducting on the 'practice of distortion'. CONTACT & NEWS are what they say they are. The NEWS page will be a dedicated News CMS and all of the content posted on the blogspot from the past two-three years will eventually also be found there. 

Let's end this part with a couple more sneak peeks and after that let's move on to ARENA!

Project page template, in this example I've used REGRESSION 3

Entering the Machinima Vault

Partial homepage of the Machinima Vault. The guide for Quake III is selected.

ARENA

ARENA is now fully complete video-wise. The grading process was concluded a couple of days ago, and I've added all of the visual effects, titles and end credits into the video. The edit has now been locked, which means the only thing left to do for me is to focus on the audio spectrum of the film and to prepare the film for release! The film will be released somewhere between December 12 and December 23 if everything keeps going according to plan! I'll share a few more sneak peeks for the film underneath. I can't wait to share it!

 

REGRESSION IV

I've conducted a few more tests in Grand Theft Auto IV in order to check the feasibility of Regression IV at this moment. I've been able to find a decent balance between the distance of the camera and the prevention of the texture/lighting/entity popping that is present into the game. I'm glad about that since popping was a huge game breaker since no matter how immersive Regression IV would be, popping can always drag a viewer out of that movie-trance state which can really put the flow and overall perception of the film into a downfall. Also, I've decided that the entirety of the film will be taking place during cloudy/rainy weather as it suits the grading better I have in mind for the film. Grand Theft Auto IV really suffers from some weird color choices when the map is experiencing sunny weather which don't seem to be able to look nice in post in my opinion. Furthermore I believe the cloudy/rainy weather really fits the grungy New York City aesthetic I'm trying to pull off with Regression IV.

Scenes will be shot throughout the course 'of a day in Liberty City', so shots will be shot around the in-game clock instead of picking one set time as in the previous two films. This way there will be a more gradual transition from day to night (something that Regression 3 lacked) which should be an overall improvement overall. Happiness Island may be shot during the day for instance, while Rockstar's interpretation of Central Park may be shown during the night, etcetera.

I've conducted a few more tests camera wise by using a couple more plugins for post-production. One of these plugins allow for the creation of depthmaps which in turn can be used for depth of field inside of the shots. Since footage made in GTA IV lacks proper depth of field of any kind, this is really a welcome addition and in turn could benefit the cinematic aesthetic of the film. There's only two more things left for me to investigate, which are additional mods and texture replacements. The trainer I am currently using for various things does not respond well to keyboard input. I am not sure what's the cause of this issue. It could be easily solved, or it could mean I need to change my mods alltogether. Still a few hiccups that need to be addressed, but time should be able to squeeze these out. So far so good. I hope to give more information about Regression IV in the new year. 

Cheers!