The Challenge of Filming A Home Party
by Sue, HSM team writer and videographer
“Dreams are extremely important. You can’t do it unless you imagine it.”- George Lucas
If there is one thing which everyone involved in Home community media can agree upon: it’s a staggering amount of work.
If you opt to spend what can be a considerable amount of time contributing to a Home community media organization, there are really two primary reasons for doing so: because you enjoy the act of creative expression, and because you hope that — in some oblique way — your input might help shape the future of this virtual reality we all share. It is interesting to note that HomeStation’s editors place far more emphasis on the former, believing that if the product itself is sufficiently compelling and infused with that mix of passion and intellect, the latter will simply take care of itself.
Norse once wrote about how HomeStation uses the journalistic equivalent of Bill Walsh’s “West Coast Offense” — that it is a game of finesse and strategy instead of clumsy brute force, emphasizing a cohesive system which takes on a life of its own and becomes something that everyone believes in. And, just as Walsh’s approach was as polarizing for its ideology as for its strategy (made all the moreso by its remarkable success, which was adapted and copied throughout much of the NFL over the ensuing thirty years), so too has HSM’s approach to Home media won its share of detractors and champions.
HSM's first magazine cover
For those who opt to be a part of it, though, it is an amazing experience.
In January, HomeStation Magazine held a small gathering at its clubhouse to celebrate a milestone – the one-year anniversary of its first magazine issue. Granted, HSM had an active web presence longer than that, but it’s the magazine issues which are HomeStation’s signature product, and serve as proof that HSM is truly Home’s finest literary journal.
This gathering also presented an interesting challenge: how to film a party and make it look…well, interesting.
Partying in Home isn’t that complex of a formula. Select your location, start dancing, and pleasantly chat the evening away. Bonus points if music is somehow involved.
The catch, of course, is how to film something like that in such a way that it might be narratively or visually interesting to an outsider.
The party itself was a private affair; rather than blow out a public space (or two), as had been done during the six-month anniversary party, the idea was to hold a private celebration just for the team. The concept of team is very important at HSM; “me first” glory hounds, so prevalent in today’s internet blog culture, typically edit themselves out of the picture fairly quickly. And so, team members and guest contributors alike arrived at the HomeStation clubhouse; one developer contributed gift prizes to the affair, and another was kind enough to celebrate with us in person.
Even though the website had been up and running in 2010, the first official HomeStation Magazine publication was not released until January 11, 2011 and the tenth issue was published exactly to the date one year later, featuring Richard Garriott de Cayeux. Consider that for a moment; the last two magazine issues featured the man who invented the video game, and the man who more or less invented the modern RPG and the MMO. This is territory hitherto undreamt of for a Home publication.
HomeStation journalism.
The staying power of HSM is a testament to a rigid adherence to a high level of product quality, and an accountability of one’s personal conduct; being a part of HomeStation means being a part of a team which actively wants to help you develop your skills as a writer, filmmaker and artist, but with the expectation that you won’t behave like a loose-cannon fanboy out to satisfy a personal agenda. It doesn’t work for everyone, but one cannot deny its remarkable success; HSM has succeeded in its vision of becoming a platform that allows Home community thoughts and artistry, expressed intelligently and rationally, to be shared amongst those people who are looking for commentary on the social end of virtual reality.
Once one goal is achieved, however, you have to move on to the next. If you stagnate, you die. The core of HomeStation will always be its journalism – but that journalism can take on more than one medium. And if you are a regular HSM reader, than you have undoubtedly noticed that HomeStation is branching to include a new mode of storytelling: machinima.
Filmmaking in Home is a somewhat daunting proposition. Whereas the barriers to entry with Home journalism in general are fairly low — write an article about Home and chances are decent that somebody’s bound to publish it if you shop it around — Home machinima is a different story altogether. Forget trying to put something together that actually looks like a polished film; just overcoming the shortcomings of the medium itself as well as the technological and economic barriers to entry can be a real challenge. This has abated somewhat what various LOOT commodities, which have dramatically opened filmmaking possibilities in Home, but it still remains a considerable challenge, both in terms of time and skill, to put together something that other people will actually want to watch.
Highly recommended.
There’s been something of a recent explosion of Home machinima, by a vast amount of people experimenting with filmmaking in the virtual social network. I am elated and humbled to be part of a group that got sucked up in the mania. Last year I was able to purchase a Hauppage 1212 PVR (personal video recorder), Sony Vegas 11 editing software and a Samson condenser microphone, all for about the same price as a PS3 bundle. I had no clue what I was delving into, but I have a friend who does this for a living and if she can do it, well, I thought I could too. So I chose to take the red pill.
The PVR was a simple plug and play set up which took maybe five minutes to install. The Vegas software is easy to use, and I was directed to YouTube for instructions on how to use the Sonar LE audio program (many thanks to Kozzzmo, from PSTalent, for his advice). I record video via a Toshiba Satellite laptop and then I transfer the data to an HP desktop. The desktop computer can crunch all the data for advanced video editing smoother and more efficiently. The nice thing about using the Hauppage is if you can overcome the time lag, you do not need a TV or a monitor to record from the PS3.
While being a member of a Home machinima group, I studied on how to act first. That’s not easy. It requires more than just standing there or walking to a certain point. For me, it was about anticipating the director’s needs and trying to be aware of where the camera was pointed at. Just as learning journalistic writing via HSM (which subscribes to Gay Talese’s concept of New Journalism) was a challenge, so is filmmaking. Having my emotes cued and ready to go, and either by being on time or arriving to a casting call in proper wardrobe was something I took pride in. Keeping chat to a minimum and waiting until called upon was something that was always prevalent.
I watched Home movies on YouTube to see how people were making their videos. Studying what camera shots worked and what didn’t became my focus. I started to camp out at the LOOT Space Station and watch Film Riot on the EOD constantly, for it not only made me laugh but I found the program to be very educational and informative. I even went as so far – because of Film Riot – as to start taking online classes to expand the knowledge I needed to achieve the results I was aiming for. I am a sponge for the knowledge of machinima.
One of my first attempts was to partially direct a video showcasing the second-year birthday party of PSTalent. That was fun: directing the shot selection and editing the video to a concept was becoming very addictive to me. Then I was exposed to the digital cinematography of Alex Roman and have been humbly playing Cecil B. DeMille ever since. I still continue my education today by happily serving as an intern for another proficient machinima maker on Home: HearItWow.
So when HomeStation Magazine announced they were having a small private party to celebrate their one year benchmark, I began planning out a shot sequence by creating a story board. Listing what sounds I wanted to capture and where to find them became the next goal. I did not want this to be another party video of someone walking around in circles with chat bubbles everywhere.
At the party I spent most of my time capturing video and collecting sounds. I wanted to work first and party later. The final product below was achieved after approximately 37 hours of recording with post production, and that’s not including how long it took Olivia to create the invite.
The video concept was to have me spending a lazy day watching videos aboard my yacht, The Hades Passage, and receiving an invite from Olivia via the PDA to attend the HSM birthday party. I decorated the space by keeping the focus to an area I used as my office. By installing several layers of video into the timeline, I was able to tediously crop down selective shots to fit into the virtual laptops and TV screens. The PDA sounds used were found on the Internet. Using the LOOT telescope over the the video camera, I was able to keep the PlayStation watermark out of the video but discovered that it appears in the pictures, and that was okay.
A north shore beach on Oahu
I collected the sounds of the birds from outside my bedroom window here in Hawai’i and utilized the wave/beach sounds from the RedBull Air Race space and a CD titled Renewed By Nature. Even though I live less than 200 yards from the beach, those sounds after being recorded were not coming through as usable. The audio used for the Sodium Tele-Pads was recorded from one of many Force FX lightsabers we have here at the house. By keeping the decorations to minimum for that sequence, I wanted to focus on the event happening, not the surroundings. Because I love everything by Lockwood Publishing, using the Mech Jet allowed me to achieve excellent tracking and panning motions. I made the attempt to integrate still photographs into the video by installing a simple transition with a pre-recorded camera sound.
My choice in music was pretty simple and straightforward. The first and last songs were chosen for background sounds coming out of the yacht’s stereo system and the boom box by the poolside. I opened the video with a light guitar tune from the The Gipsy Kings. I opted for the song Jungle Boogie by Kool and the Gang for the party sequence because it works. The last song was a very tranquil piece inspired by Gabriel Favré called Claire De Lune performed on a ‘ukulele by Gordon Mark.
The spaces I utilized were Lockwood’s Dream Yacht and the Mansion’s infinity pool. I decorated the pool area with the concept of it being a pool bar. I placed items I thought were appropriate for that area, including wine bottles, decanters and various stemware/glassware. If you look closely you are able to see the reflection of the Mansion in the side of the baby grand piano. One idea I tried to constantly implement was to have some form of movement in all the video shots. Its purpose was not only to serve as background, but to sometimes direct your eye to a location.
I look forward to what 2012 brings to HomeStation Magazine, and the genre of Home machinima. With the development of 3D technology, I eagerly await the next generation now under production by the Home community. HSM has a team of people in place that are truly interested in pursuing this art form and wish to not only entertain you, but to educate and enlighten as well. I hope you enjoying watching this short video clip and if so compelled to, feel free to leave some feedback down below.
February 13th, 2012 by Susan | 15 comments
Susan is a team writer for HomeStation Magazine, co-founder of the award winning media group-AvatardProductions, a PlayStation MVP and a Home Guide. PSNID SCEA/xx96791DEATHxx-SCEE/oXx_EnIgMa_xXo. An avid PlayStation Home user, she is most often found setting land speed records at the Sodium 2 velocity racetracks, sitting at the Pier Park or playing with the R/C vehicles at Acorn Meadows Park.
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Awesome!!! Nice insight into what it takes to make these videos. And it gives great info on planning out what you are going to do. Plus it was a great party!
Heads up.
The Hauppauge DVR is $170 this week at Best Buy, save $30-$40 =)
Absolutely great video, Sue!
Mahalo Nui Loa Keara
I had a great time there with you all…
just to signal a marvelous proffesional software,superior to vegas,open-source:
http://www.lightworksbeta.com/!
it exist for linux,mac OS & windows…
enjoy it!^^
I’m pretty happy with Vegas and I’m not yet ready to delve into 3-D just yet..I haven’t really seen that much difference between the two minus one is free and has a couple extra goodies..Vegas has been very reliable for me..I am sure everyone has their own personal preferences on software.Thanks for sharing what you like to use.
That really is a remarkable video; all sorts of impressive stuff in there.
Thank you Norse, I could have spent even more time cleaning up the little details but I am happy with the end results..
Wow! That was so… wow! I’m a writer at loss for words (again). Awesomesauce, Sue. Keep making machina, please!
Thanks Kass…that’s the plan..and you at a loss of words???? To funny…
It really is a challenge to compile and edit. Very Nice Sue!
Great video, great party, what more could you want? Good job Sue.
Thanks Burbie..Like Godzprotype said..it is a challenge but I really enjoy making and editing these….
I know it takes so much to do even the simple standard home video but this was excellent and very well done. Above and beyond is rarely done but here it is. nice edits as well. I enjoy seeing all Home video’s. Great article and your video’s are always a pleasure to view. Thank you Sue!
Thank you Jersquall..you get a reprieve on the Battlefield….now if I can just capture that magic that NorseGamers’ videos seem to have .I am in love but not the gushy love he has right now…