HomeStation Presents: The Nautical Saturnalia, A Lockwood Dream Yacht Film
by NorseGamer, HSM Editor-in-Chief
I imagine working in the video game industry could be a thankless job.
Sure, you’re fulfilling a childhood dream — exercising your creativity and getting paid to do what you love. But when the work is done and finished, that creation you spent months — even years — nurturing and bringing to life, much like a parent does with a child, is now thrust out into the world. And sometimes, that creation can get lost in the shuffle; the world can be a cold and unfeeling place, after all.
What you had spent genuine emotion and sweat equity into creating gets picked apart by unfeeling critics, like some frog in a high school biology class. Even if it becomes a megahit with the fans, there’s always going to be that group of people that go apoplectic over some sort of minutiae that they take offence to and demand that it be changed, else they’re not going to play anymore.
(Wasn’t it Jack Kerouac who said something to the effect that a critic is someone who once attempted to do something creative, failed miserably, and now only lives to tear down others who attempt to do the same?)
Even if you ignore all that, the most public recognition you’re likely to get for your contributions is your name listed amongst a sea of other names, shunted to the back of the game when the credits roll after its completion. Credits that, in this ADHD age, barely get looked at. Now if you’re the type who is quite happy to work in the shadows like a ninja, you have no problem with this. But everyone wants to be recognized for the work they do once in a while. And this is exactly what we’re doing here now.
Lockwood fanboy.
I make no secret of the fact that I’m a Lockwood fanboy. I honestly don’t think any other third-party developer has had as long-term an impact on Home, consistently, over the last three years. Were it not for first impression left by the Sodium Hub, I might not have returned to Home back in 2009.
Lockwood just has a knack for getting things right.
Have they had some duds? Sure. So does everyone. But when you consider the sheer volume of product they keep releasing every week, and the staggering percentage of it that’s more awesome than Caroline Munro in the 1970’s, there’s no two ways about it: Lockwood might as well change their company name to Like A Boss Publishing.
So now then. How best to help showcase their work, and the work of other awesome developers in Home?
There’s no sense in just cutting and pasting PR announcements. HomeStation’s mission is to offer unique journalism, and there’s no shortage of outlets all basically saying the same thing. It’s a valid community service, but it’s not our path.
Same goes for virtual tours. Sure, I could slap on the digital equivalent of Vanna White and wave to the camera, but there are already well-established players in that game, and they likewise provide a valuable community service. Onward.
The one thing that HomeStation’s really experimenting with, as part of our overall game plan for 2012, is machinima. No, we’re not at the level of, say, PSTalent, the HomeCast or Alinea3. Those guys are pros. They specialize in this stuff. But as a publication, we need to stretch ourselves into new areas. And so we’re experimenting with video storytelling.
Here’s our theory: a year from now, if you had to pick a handful of Home machinimas to watch, what would they be?
Our goal is to be on that list.
The key to that is making a lasting impression. The last HSM film, Periselene, received enormous positive feedback. But it was a tightly contained affair: two performers only, with very long cuts. How would we fare with the challenge of filming an entire ensemble, in an up-tempo story featuring faster editing?
There’s only one way to find out.
Lockwood’s Dream Yacht provides the perfect backdrop for this latest HSM film, The Nautical Saturnalia — it’s a truly huge personal estate, with multiple distinct areas that help to tell a story. And, as we want to help Lockwood showcase the yacht, it’s the ideal setting to embark on a new cinematic endeavor.
Tonally, we decided to go with a very different feel than Periselene. Whereas that video is an intensely heavy and personal story, The Nautical Saturnalia is a parody of 80’s “wealth worship” programs and TV schmaltz; think of it as a tongue-in-cheek cross between Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous and The Love Boat.
Many thanks to the HSM team members who are featured in this video: Terra_Cide, Burbie52, Olivia_Allin, Susan, Estim20, Orion_NGC1976, SealWyf, CheekyGuy and Johneboy1970 (see if you can spot him!). This video, like virtually everything at HomeStation, is a team effort — and would not exist were it not for the hard work of a lot of people.
And, of course, a special mahalo nui loa to Lockwood, for being all-around awesome, incredibly generous with HSM, and providing a fantastic personal estate which I happily bought. We’re just a bunch of amateurs, but we hope we’ve created something that shows how much we appreciate your work.
January 4th, 2012 by NorseGamer | 10 comments
NorseGamer is the product manager for LOOT Entertainment at Sony Pictures, as well as the founder and publisher of HomeStation Magazine. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, he holds a B.A. in English/Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and presently lives in Los Angeles. All opinions expressed in HSM are solely his and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sony DADC.
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ROFL! That was too funny Norse, we had fun making it too. That last bit with the cannon was classic, now I see what all of the work we did was for, thanks for letting me be a part of this craziness.
The only thing missing was an intro voice-over from Robin Leech! Wish I could have stayed longer, but happy to have been shang-hi’d into service, heh heh.
Very nicely put together Norse. Thank you for including me as a part of this. Great video.
@Burbie: With a lot of modern filmmaking, and especially with machinima, it’s hard for the performer to visualize what the final product is going to be. Think about what those poor performers had to go through when filming “Sky Captain” or any of the Star Wars prequels: they’re in a giant room full of nothing but green, and the actors are reacting to nothing.
With machinima, so much of the whizbangery has to take place with effects and editing, which is why I’m exceedingly grateful to the HSM team for putting up with my fumbling attempts at shooting an ensemble for the first time.
@johneboy: It’s actually *really* funny that you just sort of videobomb the movie, like Johnny from “Airplane!” did. Epic win.
@Orion: Hey, thanks for *being* a part of it! As soon as I saw your avatar on the bridge, I said aloud, “Holy crap, it’s Toshiro Mifune!”
That was great! I hope you keep up the drama. I’m watchin. 8)
Well done norse! Glad to see HSM delve more into machinima. I like the focus you are taking with it. It’s like… Machinima with purpose!
Seems like you’re having fun! That’s what’s important there!
@Godz: Thanks! I’m not much more than an amateur with a crap editing program, but it’s certainly fun to play around with. Tell ya this, though: I have a new level of respect for the pro filmmakers in Home’s community. Editing, in particular, is a crazy logistical process.
@Gideon: Most of the Home machinima I’ve seen just isn’t very…well, *interesting.* Virtual reality is by definition a soulless medium, and most machinima produces a sort of Uncanny Valley effect in me. It takes a really good filmmaker (or team) to produce a final product that’s genuinely entertaining to watch for the general public, and not just the people involved.
My biggest hope is that HSM can put together machinima which other people might actually enjoy, and look back upon a year from now as a good piece of work. If we can achieve this — and so far I think all the filmmakers on the team are doing a great job with this — then we will have realized our goal.
So you waited until Granny was out of town to stage that kind of frivolity! For shame. Give back the keys and get OFF my yacht!!!
lol Keara,,,, Awesome job NG. The first segment of the (project in development’s name deleted by editor) is almost complete,
That was a superb production….I loved the names that were chosen for all the actors…Lady Vodka???? hahahaha XD. Boris Pasternak couldn’t have thought that one up for DR Z lol…All of you are awesome!