Editing update

Firstly for the update of what we've been doing, we've been editing well and encountered few problems. My laptop was restored. I delegated most of the things we wanted to include to the editing stage, so now that we're here the film has changed drastically, so much even that I asked for scene 3.1 (or 2.2, Jonny has the storyboards) to be re-shot because we're going to add a new model from Gmod. I know this'll be the third time we'll have re-shot the same scene but that's how we're working at the moment. Having started with a storyboard, script, scouted out various locations in-game, and Jonny's research, we then made the first film which I suppose would be the draft, then I re-shot the scenes and that would be the 2nd draft, what we're working on now is far from the final piece, we still have some things to sort out:

1. Music. George is composing some for us but it might be good to get some from elsewhere.
2. Voice-acting. I have to stress that this is a majorly important thing and we need to get it right otherwise the effect of the film will be lost.
3. Sound effects. Can be found here, and I already have an account. It's at the bottom of the 'priority list' and we can leave it until later.
4. Gmod models. I'm really keen to do this because it gives variation to the characters. I aim to get them done by Monday (so that we can edit them in together in the lesson).

We also made our pitch to the class, I don't know when we'll be able to upload that. What we didn't mention in the pitch was that the entire film project was, and still is, a calculated risk. There was very little way of telling if we could create a realistic Sci-Fi film until we got to the editing, now it's clear that if we haven't managed to create one yet it's at least possible to do so.

We're still working on the 'copyright issue' with machinima as a film technique. It's probably not a secret to classmates that I'm opposed to copyright, I mean, last lesson I was handing out leaflets for the Pirate Party UK. That aside I did actually ask Garry Newman (Creator of Garry's Mod) if he was okay with us using it to make our film. He replied:

Sure I am, I encourage it :)

There, and now it gets more complicated because Garry's Mod uses the Source Engine, owned by Valve. Source originates in GoldSource which in turn is a modification of the Quake engine. The Quake engine is owned by ID Software. I'm not going to to follow that chain of whether something's legal by ID software as one of the reasons the Source engine exists today is because ID software didn't object to the Quake engine being modified. Valve also encourages people to build on their work and protects a strong modification community. Valve even release the Source Software Development Kit with every game based on the Source engine (it's under 'tools' on the Steam menu). If you've made it down to here you'll realise that by being lenient with their copyright both Valve and ID Software encourage innovation. And that's a good thing. I'm not here to argue for Internet Piracy, I'm pointing out that we don't need to get permission to use the Source engine for our machinima.

I also sent an email to the Bungie webmaster, reproduced here:

Dear Bungie webmaster,

We are Media Studies students using the Halo 3 Theater to make a machinima for our film project.

It is non-commercial but the exam board (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations) requires us to ask for permission when using copyrighted material.

The final work will be submitted to YouTube.

Are we permitted to use the Halo 3 Theater to make our machinima, and if so how would you like us to credit you?

Pierre Marshall and Jonathan Nesbitt.

I got an auto-reply saying that I'd reached the email address for reporting bugs and that they 'may not respond to every email'. I haven't got the wrong email address, it just might be a long time before I hear anything back.