Home’s Forgotten Spaces #4: The Assassin’s Creed Apartment
by Keara22HI, HSM team writer and filmmaker
I agonized over the filming of this short video.
So many stories could be set in this location: first, I imagined a bordello owned by an evil Italian nobleman with young girls ‘rescued’ from starvation by a “madam” beaten down by life. Norse looked at the rough draft, choked on his Mountain Dew, and asked me if my brain had gone out to lunch or if it was just resting.
So. Back to the drawing board. And another great idea! It would be Michelangelo’s own palazzo! And I would load it with all those statues that are sold in the Home mall. But – I just knew that some HomeStation reader with multiple degrees in Art History would take me apart for even suggesting any of that stuff looked like David. Plus it’s Greek, not Italian. And not one of the dance moves or gestures allowed for our avatars could be made to look like someone painting or sculpting.
Then, next brainstorm: use the original footage of the madam and the girls (and their customer) and turn them into a wealthy widow seeking husbands for her three daughters! Norse asked, in his usual way, if I was hoping to attract advertising by Proctor & Gamble or other soap manuacturers. I had to go to Wikipedia and look up what “treacle” meant.
So… I dumped the the scupltor in the canal, cleaned up the widow’s intentions, and settled for showing off a spectacular personal space that really deserves being brought to the attention of those who missed it originally.
A funny thing about shooting machinima: because of the limitations inherent to the medium, stories have to be told through implication. The same footage which initially described a very sordid tale can (and was) rearranged into a much more PG-rated narrative. I suppose it’s how you can put the same action scene to two very different pieces of music and create two remarkably different results.
Speaking of music: the original music in this piece is from our own Olivia_Allin! Pretty fantastic stuff, don’t you think?
Home has no shortage of forgotten spaces, both public and private. Let’s rediscover another one right now: the Assassin’s Creed apartment.
April 10th, 2012 by keara22hi | 5 comments
Keara is also known in Home as DarthGranny. She is a wicked little old lady with a wild sense of humor.
Had a lot of fun doing these videos at the space. I don’t think people understand how demanding this process is on the film maker or the actors involved at times. It is still fun though. Good job as always Granny and I had to laugh at your way of putting Norse’s objections.
Quite incredible video of an excellent space.
Olivia_Allin‘s original music adds grace and feeling to it.
Really nice work Granny, and Olivia’a music set the mood of this piece. Very nicely done!
What a great video! We have no awards for machinima in Home, so I’m making one up. The Loot-ey goes to you!
Also Olivia’s recording was amazing. From someone who has been recording for over 25 years I am amazed at the lack of string noise in this track and I’m dying to talk microphone placement with Olivia.
Wonderful video Granny. It is beautifully done. Thank you for including me. Wonderful music! Great job Olivia!