siff buzz fall 2014 final bigbuzz
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Here we have it - the official wrap up of our 10th season. Enjoy.TRANSCRIPT
ContributorsEditors Minraed Arzhel
Jorgha Haq
Staff Contributors
Peacemaker IC
Gus Rockman
Demeter Moon
Lunxi Weis
Nanami
CatKetty
official host of SIFF
simatography.webs.com
Follow Uswww.facebook.com/Simatography
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It all starts back up again soon
Season 11 - Spring 2015
Films premiere March 15
Watch for updates so that you don’t miss your chance tojoin in on the one and only Sims Film Festival
The buzz starts back up in late December
Well, here we are wrapping up our big 10th anniversaryspecial season. On behalf of the entire SIFF staff, we thank youfor sharing this celebration with us. We have had 5 years nowof SIFF, with ups and downs, trials and errors, and ins and outs.It has been challenging and rewarding all at the same time,but in the end the rewarding part always wins and this is whywe keep coming back for more.
A big part of the reward is knowing that we are doingsomething for the community and of course, in seeing theoutcome of all of the hard work.
Letter from the Editors
This issue is our final of theseason, the one you have beenwaiting for with the wrap-up andthe announcement of thewinners. It is always an emotionaltime because we are excited toshare the results, but we are sadto roll up the red carpet also.Thankfully there will be anothergreat season again soon. Expectthe buzz to begin again at theend of the year for SIFF Spring2015. Oh it is going to be filledwith even more exciting newfeatures, so stay tuned.
Minraed and Jorgha
Our poster challenge each season marks theofficial kickoff of the festivities. This year the talentedAusaugi, well known patron of SIFF for many years,and master machinima maker in her own right, showsus that her talent is not limited to films and photos inthe sims. The fans voted, a difficult vote this season tobe sure, and her poster came out as the winner.
Congratulations!
We hope that many of you will consider contributingyour graphic design skills to our next season’s poster.
Special thanks to each of the graphic
artists who contributed.In order of appearance from the previous page…
Titus Linde, Gus Rockman, SM4, Morathami
Meestor Mark, PeacemakerIC, Demeter, Jorgha Haq
Tender Wolf, Demeter, Jorgha Haq, PeacemakerIC
Gus Rockman, Logan Worm, Demeter, Gus Rockman
TenderWolf, SM4, Jorgha Haq, TenderWolf
PeacemakerIC, Lunxi, PeacemakerIC, Titus Linde
Jorgha Haq, SM4, Titus Linde
The complete collection of posters is available fordownload for The Sims 3
Find them HERE
Promo Videos
A HUGE thank you to all of our machinima makers that tooktheir time to create promotional videos for SIFF this seasonand for showing their support. We put the videos out to the
fans for voting and ….
Congratulations to Gus Rockman of Brainstrip Pictures
And a shout out to each of the other talented machinima makerswho contributed
Check them out by clicking on their banners
Or click HERE to see the promos on YOUTUBE
Ansett 4 Sims - previously known asRomerJon
White Blue Cherry
Apocalyptic Dog Films
Steph Klein aka Lunxi Weis
OMG that Girl is Psycho
Coming in October
Patrons of SIFF
Long-standing patron and participant of SIFF - Anches100 - wasunable to complete production in time for SIFF this season, but shehas a new story prepared. This new production intrigues us as it will
include Sims 3 and 4 footage.
Thank you for fol lowing this season’sweekly SIFF Buzz updates. We hope youwil l be back nex t season when the SIFF
Buzz starts back up again. You can expectto see new SIFF Buzz issues early in
January, as we kick off our nex t seasonof festivi ties.
In the meantime, while the SIFF Buzz istaking a rest, the team is not. Watch for
magazine issues in a new format, comingsoon. Our plan is to bring you celebri ty
insights, a showcase of community talent,and helpful tips and tutorials throughout
the year.
Hi there, Tabby Lloyd here, SIFF’s media director andEditor in chief for the weekly SIFF Buzz.
I am proud to also have such a great team of reportersbacking me up - Filmore Noir, Shantel Potins, Newt Davies,
and Grace De Luca.
Together we take on the celebrities of SIFF and presentyou with the dish, the dirt and the scandal.
Tabby is by Minraed, Grace DeLuca by PeacemakerIC, Newt by Jorgha Haq, and Filmore and Shantell by Demeter, Nanami and CatKetty
To the left we have the lovely GraceDeLuca and the wild and wonderful New tDavies. This team of musical prodigies
take on Battle of the Bands and the Simsmusic scene.
Below we have Filmore Noir and Shantel lPotins, getting you the celebri ty dish anddirt and keeping you informed on who is
hot in movie scene and more.
Click HERE
To find us on ISSUU
ISSUU is where we publish all of ourmagazines and other publications. Follow us
and don’t ever miss an issue.
Tabby is by Minraed, Grace DeLuca by PeacemakerIC, Newt by Jorgha Haq, and Filmore and Shantell by Demeter, Nanami and CatKetty
Winning Film TrailersWinning film trailers are awarded by Viewer’s Choice vote.
We encourage our film makers to create trailers to help promotetheir films and to build excitement and anticipation.
Gray Lee Studios’ Cinder seriesreleased episode 5 for SIFF this
season. Even though the series wasalready underway, this trailer is anattention grabber. Powerful music,strong voice acting and gorgeousimages - all of the elements of a
winning trailer.
meridiangray.wix.com/cinderseries
www.youtube.com/user/GrayLeeStudios
Viewer’s Choice
Apocalyptic Dog Films has a knack formaking promotional materials that
resemble what we might see for a real-life trailer. A catchy song and just a
little bit of a tease and we arecaptivated and anticipating this new
series from a long-standing SIFFparticipant.
https://www.youtube.com/user/ApocalypticDogFilms
https://www.youtube.com/user/TwistTVShow
Twist TV threw us for a loop with thistrailer that took us on a tense and
drama filled ride - a completely differentstyle than what we have previously seenfrom her. The tension that is built from
the music along with snippets ofintriguing scenes is punctuated by a fewdramatic spoken lines to give this trailer
a powerful drawing power.
Winning Film Posters
Winning Film Posters are selected based on Viewer’s Choice votingby the fans, and this season we have a tie for first place.
Congratulations to
Gray Lee Studios for her poster for Cinder - Just a Mechanic
and to
Apocalyptic Dog Films for the poster for Reconstructing Abbigail.
What both winning posters have in common is a layout thatappears much like a real life movie poster. Posters that are
presented this way almost always come out on top in the polls.
Our second and third place posters go to Sims Three MusicVideos for the stylish Super Bad poster and to the duo of
Apocalpytic Dog Films and Twist TV for their Afterlife poster.
Viewer’s Choice
Here are a few other staff and fan faves…
We love movie posters that have a real-life film poster style, with animage that really gives an impression of the type of movie it will be.We also love music video and band posters that are eye catchingand vivid and that show the personality of the band or the feel of
the music that we will be hearing. Great work on posters everyone!See you next season.
Music Videos
Winning Music Videos are selected based on Viewer’s Choice polls.Music videos are always popular and often get more votes thanany other category. They are also often watched over and over,
and it doesn’t hurt when you have a popular song.
Viewer’s Choice
Bring Me Back to Life
By JuliLux3
https://www.youtube.com/user/JuliLux3
This song is very powerful, but it isnot the song that wins the voteshere. This machinima has all ofthe elements of a professionalmusic video production. The
lighting, editing, set and costumedesign are near perfection andthe nearly 1500 views proves it.
JuliLux is well known for herinvolvement in MEP videos andalso has entered one into this
season of SIFF.
The unfortunate fine print. In the name of fairness and honesty we have chosen to openlyexplain a troubling issue revealed and captured in the polls. Please take the time to read our
message on the last pages of this magazine.
Super Bad
By Simsthreemusicvideos
https://www.youtube.com/user/SimsThreeMusicVideos
Our second place winner takesus in a completely different
direction, but with an equallypolished and professional
production. This machinimamaker is well established on the
music video scene with over7,000 subscribers an a huge
collection of spectacular simsmusic videos worth watching.
Enchanted
By Alittlemid
In third place is Enchanted,a Sims 2 production thatgoes to prove that evenwith Sims 4 in our toolbox
now, The Sims 3 machinimamakers are holding their
own.
Choreography or performancE
in a music video
This new category was opened up to Viewer’s Choice becausewe wanted to recognize this most important component of a
great music video. Dance routines, choreography, bandperformances are all something that we love to see in a greatmusic video, so any that had this component were put on the
polls and the fans cast their votes.
“oooh this one has that Bri tneySpears' Womanizer vibe hahaLOV E IT”
theElonianCass
“Thank you so much for joiniung SIFF.I’ve been waiting for this day tocome and now you’re here and I”mjust dying, dancing, and in awe atyour video and the colours. UGH theOMG”
TwistTVShow
“That was amazing! Great camera work,use of animations, editing. Simplyperfect! Good Luck!”
CatKetty21
Viewer’s Choice
Honourable mentions go to…
Bring Me Back to Life by JuliLux3 and Get Lucky by MJSimKat
Super Bad blew away the polls with this hot and sexy dancenumber. I’m guessing that many of us were dancing in our seats
watching this one.
Super Bad by SimsThreeMusicVideos
Check out more like this on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/user/SimsThreeMusicVideos
Choreography or performancE
Winning Films
We put out all of the films to be voted on by the fans in ourViewer’s Choice Polls. These polls represent faves of fans and
followers. Each year we have such a wide range of styles of films itmust be impossible for people to vote, which probably explains
why the votes were so close this time around, but here you have it.And the winners are…
Viewer’s Choice
2nd place goes to Love Potion by SixDegrees Separation - new tothe machinima scene and HERE on YouTube
3rd place goes to Silenced by LittleAngelCake with this dark teenthriller - HERE on YouTube
Honourable mentions go to
Always by khcrazygirlsHERE on YouTube
and Alcatraz byCatKetty21
HERE on YouTube
So Happy I Could Die
by Insirium
That was intense! Very interesting story,and outstanding camera angles!
xoxardnekoxo
This was visually stunning. You really have yourown unique filming style. The flow was soseamless. I loved it :D Good luck at SIFF :)
Tali Sims Morgan
https://www.youtube.com/user/Insirium
This season’s winning entry is an intense, beautifully filmed thriller ofa story, driven by a powerful soundtrack that tells the story with out
words or dialogue.
This has been the stand outmachinima for me at this fall'sSIFF. It is so well done!! The firsttime I watched it my jaw literallydropped. Your storyline isabsolutely enthralling and yourfilming makes me go, "I wish I haddone that!"
ApocalypticDogFilms
why the votes were so close this time around, but here you have it.
Storyline and DialogueViewer’s Choice
As part of our plan to recognize more than just simply fan faves, wewanted to showcase some of the specialized talents shown by ourmachinima makers. This season we have added a poll for the fansto vote on their favourite storyline. In the case of the machinimamasters, we ask that fans consider the dialogue writing as well as
this advanced skill is not an easy one to do well.
In the Machinima Masterscategory we expect to see
advanced machinima makingskil ls, but we don’t often
enough stop to consider theskil l that is needed to wri te
good solid and realisticsounding dialogue. Many of ourmachinima masters set the baron this one, and Afterlife didn’t
dissapoint the fans.
Afterlife by
apocalyptic Dog Fims and Twist TV
Love Potion by Daisy Dude Productions
So Happy I Could Die by Insirium
This adorable love story caught the attention ofstaff so we are not surprised to find that i t also
captivated the story-loving fans and viewersalso. Love Potion is a wonderful li ttle story that
combines the messages of “be careful what youwish for” and “don’t judge a book by i ts cover”.
So Happy I Could Die had an intense storyline that was told without the useof words or dialogue. This is a special skil l in i tself. Using only the music and
lyrics, the story captivated us and the fans too as we can see in theoutcome of this fan pol l.
This is interesting because i t primarily uses one song to tel l the story, yet i tis clearly not a music video. This goes to show that a great story and a great
machinima does not have to rely on voice acting to stand out.
Our heroine learns a bi t of bothof these lessons as she
stumbles accidental ly on a lovestory that didn’t turn out exactlyas she had imagined, but turned
out better than expected
Afterlife by
Sims Series FavesViewer’s Choice
Sim Series are a creative phenomenon that really expresses thetrue underlying talents of this great community. To create a series aperson has to have a long standing dedication and commitment,
and also the ability to keep a storyline going and going, whilecreating characters that the viewers will love and hate.
Due to the massive number of Sims Series submitted and the factthat there is a very different feel and advantage to an established
series compared to a new series with a first episode, we will beseparating out the categories into…
Fan Faves Established Series’
Fan Faves New Series’
Roseblood Episode 6 by
XxLi ttleAngelCakexX andDiamondCrystalMovies
Rose Blood - a Sims 2 voice overvampire series. “Love, Passion,
Action, Romance, Humour”is what the directors promise and i t
doesn’t dissapoint.
Cinder - Episode 5 - Just a Mechanic
By GrayLeeStudios
Recognized by Marissa Meyer, authorof The Lunar Chronicles on which this
series is based, this series is wel lworth fol lowing.
TIE
Simgrassi High - Family Portrai t
By ClassOfSimgrassi
Simgrassi came to SIFF with the 4th seasonpremiere, This long standing series is going strong.
Daemons - Transformation is Complete
By McflyVampire
Only in i ts third episode, this fairly new series ispicking up momentum and fol lowers.
Radioactive - episode 1
By IreneDancingLover
This new series is off to a great start with asuspenseful end that has us hanging on for
episode 2
Blood - Purebloods Ep. 1
By Ki ttyAddict
For her first attempt at a VO series KAis off to a dramatical ly good start.
Dog x Bunny - Bright Eyes - ep 1
By Kanonlul labies
An absolutely adorable, funny, and ful l of fun newseries that we are sure wil l have many fol lowers.
Fave MEPViewer’s Choice
MEP, for those of you who may not know, stands for Multi EditorProject, and as Sims machinima goes this typically refers to a set of
clips made by individual machinima makers set to a song and adesignated theme. You get to see a variety of styles and
interpretations of that theme in a wonderful collage of talent.
This was our first season opening up an MEPs category so we reallyhope to see more in the future. We only had two, so we had the
viewers vote on their top pick.
JuliLux lead this thoughtful MEP with the themeof Anti-bul lying. She wri tes
“I t has been proven that bul lying have seriouslong-term consequences apart from the short-term ramifications. The insufficient capabili tyof entering into a new relationship and buildingconfidence is only one of many. A human being
can become damaged beyond repair.”
Let’s not forget to credi t al l who participated
HemeraSims, xXGhettoZombieXx, andTheOneUnbreakable
Go HERE on YouTube for the video and be sureto read the information.
With contributions by…DiamondCrystalMovies, Toshitio, TheWhiteDeer, SilverLuciena, Breanna1b1, Simfinito, Amy
Vega, and Alice Leavey
The sims 4 ShowcaseViewer’s Choice
LolitaBy the Elonian Cass
Flying from The sims 2 directly to The Sims 4, The ElonianCass didn’t miss a beat. This Sims 4 machinima almostmakes us forget all that we are missing when starting witha new platform. If The Sims 4 machinima can look thisgood already, imagine what we will see when things reallyget going.
Honourable Mentions
Try by SagaWorldProductions
Save our Cowplants by Jorgha Haq
Next season we will be bringing The Sims 4 machinima directly into the spotlight,so if you are dabbling in Sims 4 machinima already, start preparing for your nextSIFF submission now. We can’t wait to see what this new wave will bring our way.
https://www.youtube.com/user/theElonianCass
With contributions by…
Special Recognition AwardsJudges Choice - Presented by Tabby Lloyd
Moving on now to the Judge’s Choice, let meexplain a bit about how these work, and why wehave this category.
There are two ways to look at SIFF - one is theattention of the viewers and fans, and the followersthat mean so much to our machinima makers. Onthe other hand, us, the staff, also feel that thereare other important aspects of the SIFFsubmissions that need to be recognized. These arethe certain skills and little bits that make up themachimima, each requiring a certain talent toachieve. Very few are able to achieve them all, butmany do very well in some areas and we want it tobe known that these bits are important and shouldbe recognized.
In the past this was done by a small panel madeup primarily of Staff, but we have always hoped tofind a more fair and unbiased way of doing this. So,this year, for the first time, we have a full panel ofspecial judges. There were 18 judges in total,including staff, machinima masters, and patronsof SIFF (people who have been involved in orsupporting SIFF for a long time and know whatgood machinima looks like) and finally a few wellknown machinima makers from the community.With this group we can be sure that there were awide range of opinions and talents looking in andcasting votes, so we feel that we have thebeginning of great system for awarding these veryimportant talents.
About the nominees
Nominees for each category were determined by a panel of adminstaff. We collectively reviewed all submissions to determine which onesfit into the particular categories. Also, we asked several machinimamakers, community partners and patrons of SIFF to send us theirnominations, so we took those into account also.
We debated sharing the list of all nominees, but in the end decidedagainst for this season until we have more time to consider how this willbest be presented. We will review the outcome of this season’s trial andwill build and improve on it for next season. We will also considerpresenting a list of the judges.
About the Judging process Once the nominees were determined, the polls were created andposted in a hidden location. The polls were separated into all exceptthose for the Masters of Machinima and then a second page with acomplete list of polls. Masters judges who were participating this seasonwere not voting on categories that their own submissions fell into. Wemay not have gotten the process perfect for this first time, but we dofeel confident that the voting and polls were fairly presented and votedupon.
Judges were asked to take time to really consider the detailed andspecialized nature of the polls in question and we believe that, withtheir collective experience and trained eye, that we have a wonderfulnew system for recognizing and celebrating the various skills andtalents that are so deserving of our praise.
I would like to thank everyone who participated in this first seasontrial of our Special Recognition Judges Panel.
723 by Twist TV
Regarding the Dreams of Lisa Centryby marty Dawson
Outstanding Set Design
Set design is often overlooked by machinima makers, but the best machinimamakers wil l pay very close attention to getting every li ttle detail just right.Everything from the far off background, to the up close details, from the
colours to the lighting, from the furnishing style to the décor props - al l of thisreal ly does make a difference in setting the tone and theme for your film.We recommend that you take a look at these videos again and see what
tricks you can learn about setting a great stage.
GrayLee has a knack for creating a set thattakes the viewer away to another world. InCinder her set design shines in the details oftextures and colour, in the details of the cityscape and the workshop, and inside thecastle. The set is simple, but she doesn’t
neglect to capture details that make the fantasy come to life. A trulywonderful example of beautiful, thoughtful and detail oriented setdesign that fits the theme perfectly.
nominees selected from all submissions
Fabulous Costume Design
Costume design is more than just dressing up your sims in current fashion, i tis about thinking careful ly about colour, style, and character development.
Good costume design can make the difference between being swept awayinto the story, or being distracted by pieces that don’t seem to fi t the theme.
Costume design takes time and qui te a bi t of thought and planning, so we areexci ted to celebrate this often under appreciated talent.
Costume in this machinima plays an importantrole in separating the classes of royalty andworking class citizens, but it does more, it alsocreates a believable fantasy where androidsand robots take on human form. Like so manyof the other important details, the costumesin Cinder play a magical role.
Sixth Born
For my Royal Love
Both of our runners up usedcreative costume to fit into their
magical Asian themes.
nominees selected from all submissions
Regarding the Dreams of Lisa Centry
opening Sequence and title design
This li ttle detail is often overlooked, but there is something polished about amachinima that takes care in this detail.
Ti tle design may include the graphic design skil l in the logo of the film makerand/or the graphic creativi ty of the film ti tle splash. Also considered here wasthe opening sequence and the special edi ting used to create that polished and
completed feel of a wel l done machinima production.
I think we are starting to see a trend here withCinder showing up yet again. This is atestament to the fact that GrayLeeStudios isa master worthy machinima maker - payingattention to and painstakingly crafting eachdetail to create a polished final production.
Sixth Born
723A powerful opening sequence ortitle design can be extravagant
or simple, but the key is to create
a sense of intrigue to draw us in initially, an introduction into what we arewatching, and a transition so that we hold our breath awaiting what is to come
nominees selected from all submissions
Exceptional Dialogue WRitingnominees selected from all submissions
Writing dialogue is an advanced skil l that we recognize is not an easy one byany means. One aims to wri te spoken words that highlight emotion and
drama, pain and joy and al l other emotions in between. Another goal shouldbe to have the dialogue sound realistic and natural rather than scripted anddry. Our nominees, winners and honourable mentions, we fel t, al l had these
elements in their wri tten dialogues.
Dice Smith, director and writer behindApocalyptic Dog, has long been known to usas an exceptional dialogue writer. Her linesare fluid and realistic, allowing for thecreation of believable characters that wecan come to relate to.
Regarding the Dreams of lisa Centry
Cinder - Just a Mechanic
Best Soundtrack
When selecting the nominees for Best Sound track we did not consider MusicVideos, because the point of a music video is the song, i t is not the same asa sound track. A sound track considers the use of music to drive a story, setthe tone, provide mood and ambiance and tension etc. A good sound track
flows with the film, and does not distract from i t. We nominated al l films thatused good basic use of sound track and let the judges decide.
nominees selected from all non-master submissions
Cinder once again stands outas taking care in the details of allelements of a great machinima.The soundtrack here createsdrama and mood, flows with theaction of the characters and neverdistracts us from the story.
No Regrets
So Happy I could die by Insirium
Best Cinematographynominees selected from all non-master submissions
Cinematography in our case can be described as beautiful filming techniques.We considered scenery, camera angles, and other beautiful things that we seevisual ly in the filming. I t is a combination of Cinema and Photography so think
of i t as beautiful moving photography. Good cinematography takes intoconsideration the basic rules of photography theory and because of that we
see something on film that is beautiful to behold.
https://www.youtube.com/user/Insirium
This is truly a visuallystunning machinima withbeautiful images thatallow you to almost feelthe heat.
Bring Me Back to Life byJuliLux
And
Icarus bySAgaWorldProductions
Best General Editingnominees selected from all non-master submissions
Edi ting skil ls are another important aspect of machinima making. Edi tingincludes things like transi tions between scenes, opening and closing
sequence, use of ti tles and logos etc. Good edi ting provides a smoothappearance where everything flows together nicely, creating a professional
looking final production.
Well, I have a confession to make. I (Minraed for the record) made aslight oops in these polls. I included Cinder in the Masters PostProduction Editing poll, and she came out on top, but she hasn’t beeninducted into the Masters yet. OOOPS! Then, we have case of twoothers having come in 1st and 2nd in this correct poll with a whoppinglyclear number of votes placing them into this position, and only 1 voteapart between them. Due to my error, I am awarding all three of theseas a three way tie. All are well deserving, and clearly faves of the votingpanel of judges.
Cinder - Just a Mechanic by GrayLeeStudiosSuper Bad by SimsThreeMusicVideos
Bring me Back to Life by juliLux
Most promising New
machinima makernominees included all qualified participants
The cri teria for eligibili ty for Best NEW Machinima maker are as fol lows
Not more than 5 machinima over not more than 1 year
Not more than one previous season entered into SIFF
The reasoning behind this is that as one produces more machinima and hasmore time to learn we expect that they have had enough practice to no longerbe considered a newbie. We also recognize that as a newbie, these newmachinima makers are at a disadvantage. We want to celebrate these newmachinima makers because joining into a chal lenge with many establishedmachinima makers takes qui te a bi t of bravery. Also, SIFF is about learning andgrowing and improving and we are dedicated to encouraging new machinimamakers of al l skil l levels.
Roxy Red Cat - Laura Duck Saga
Daisy Dude Productions - Love Potion
Aussie Sims - Cancer
Loisy Voicy - Four Seasons of Willow
Thank you all for joining us thisseason at SIFF. We hope that youwill continue to grow with us. Visitour site often, ask for help, keep onpracticing and we’ll be sure to seeyour talents shine.
Cinder - Just a Mechanic by GrayLeeStudiosSuper Bad by SimsThreeMusicVideos
Machinima MastersJudge’s and Viewer’s Choice - With Minraed Arzhel
For those who are new to SIFF, let meexplain the Masters of Machinimacategory.
Masters of Machinima are inductedeach season based on a long list ofcriteria including excellence in all aspectsof machinima making such as editing,sound track, cinematography, set andcostume design and more. What wecan’t put a score to is the WOW factor,that feeling you get when you see a reallytalented machinima maker in action.
Machinima Masters as a category ismeant to help even the level of fairnessso that our less experienced and lessestablished participants don’t feelovershadowed or that they are not goodenough to compete. The other thingabout the Masters is that they are ourmentors, our inspiration.
The following pages will announce thewinners of the Masters of Machinimacategories include both Judge’s andViewer’s choice poll results.
And… don’t miss the pages of thissection where we announce our newinductees to the Masters of Machinimaprogram.
Viewer’s Choice
Best of the Masters
Persephone by Lyramia Movies
https://www.youtube.com/user/lyramiamovies Long standing SIFF participant LyraMiaMoviescontinues to wow us with the magical. Her beautifulcinematography and fantasy worlds are always adelight to behold.
23 by Twist TV ShowAfterlife by Twist TV Show and Apocalyptic Dog
Reconstructing Abbigail by apocalyptic dog
It is no surprise that this trilogy stands out yet again. These productionsdemonstrated a near professional quality, and the great thing is thattwo are series’ which means we will get to enjoy them over and overagain. Be sure to follow them so that you don’t miss an episode.
sound Editing in MastersJudges Choice
In sound editing in the masters we asked our judges to consider allaspects of sound, so not just sound track, but editing and transitions,and sound effects as well as voice over quality and sound level.
The nominees did not include music videos as they do not requireadvanced sound editing technique or skill.
The polls produced a clear three way tie, with each of the othersfalling close behind.
23 by Twist TV Show
Afterlife byTwist TV Show and Apocalyptic Dog
Reconstructing Abbigailby apocalyptic dog
Visual post ProductionJudges Choice
Visual Post Production is the advanced version of general editing skillsthat we apply to the Masters category. Our expectations are higherfor Masters so for this we asked our judges to consider all aspects ofadvanced editing including special effects, add ons, filters, editing,opening sequence and anything else that gives that polished edge.
As mentioned before, I (Minraed) made a big oops and placed Cinderby GrayLeeStudios into this poll by mistake and Cinder came out ontop. So, having counted that as the winner in the non-masters editingcategory, we are left with the remaining votes. What we had remainingis one clear winner and a tie all across for the others.
The post production in Reconstructing Abbigail is truly a feat to be celebrated.
There is no question that this machinima has that polished edge, and aprofessional quali ty to i t. Be sure to pay special attention to the openingsequence where the post production edi ting and effects real ly stand out.
From start to finish this production feels like something that came from a reallife movie studio. Bravo!
Afterlife byTwist TV Show and Apocalyptic Dog
Reconstructing Abbigail
Cinematography in a MasterJudges Choice
As with all of our Masters category polls, we asked our judges to bea bit more critical in considering their votes. For Cinematography weare looking for WOW factor - beautiful filming, scenes, and eye catchingvisual beauty. I think the result speaks for itself in this poll.
Romer Jon, the guy behind Ansett 4Films, is well known to SIFF for spectacularstories set to music videos. He is movingon to The Sims 4 for machinima now sohe wanted to go out with a bang. ThisHUGE production was his goodbye to TheSims 3.
The particularly noteable feat here isthe use of over 100 sims, sim children tobe precise. But to stay on point, thecinematography is stunning with scenerythat may rival National Geographic (wel lmaybe National Simographic at least) Yes,the cinematography left us breathless.
Good Luck in The Sims 4 Jon
Persephone by Lyramia MoviesThe Sixth Born by OMG that Girl is Psycho
Afterlife by Apocalyptic Dog Films and Twist tv
New MastersJudges Choice
CONGRATULATIONSTo each and every one of the newly added masters for this season.Your exceptional talents did not go unnoticed. We welcome you to
the Masters category, from this season on.
Over the years, the method used to select new Masters of Machinima hasevolved. Our greatest concern has always been fairness and bias. We alwaysstrive to be as objective as possible when i t came to our choices. We lookedfor a list of exceptional talent in edi ting, sound, set and costume, story tel lingand al l other individual machinima skil ls. Then of course the WOW factor that
cannot ever be measured.
This season, and from here going forward, we have taken steps to ensurefairness even more so. We asked for nominees, then from there we put i t outto our panel of judges, primarily masters of machinima themselves, to vote
on who is ready. So, the resul ts are in
Dummed Machinima, SagaWorldProductions, McFlyVampire45
Persephone by Lyramia MoviesThe Sixth Born by OMG that Girl is Psycho
Special mentionsand How to become a Master
Amoung the Masters thecompetition is fierce, butregardless of who came out ontop in the polls, each of theseproductions is worthy ofwatching. At SIFF we believethat watching the Masters’submissions closely we canlearn and be inspired. They havetricks up their sleeves that wemight never think of ourselves.
If your goal is to be added tothe Machinima Masters list oneday, then here are a few tips onwhat we are looking for:
1. Set Design - take your time andput effort into the details
2. Costume Design - don’t justdress your sims up, consider howtheir costume fits into the themeof the film and their role orcharacter. 3. Cinematography and Camera Work -
aim for interesting camera angles andeye catching transition scenes.
4. Editing and Post Production - thatpolished look that you get from youropening and closing sequences, as wellas special effects, sound, and all theother tricks used to put the video clipstogether to create a professional lookingproduction.
If you would like honest detailed feedback to help youimprove you can email us at [email protected]
Every season of SIFF we review the happenings and ponder how wecan make things run smoother, make i t more interesting and ensure thatal l is fair.
This season there was something to consider in the Masters categorysubmissions. In our regular categories music videos are separated fromfilms for obvious reasons - they are two completely different things andwe cannot judge them on the same cri teria. The same should be in placefor Masters, so this is my proposal. . .
(short would include music videos - we can evaluate what else would beconsidered a short on a case by case basis)
As Masters, you have a number of skil ls that we would like to drawon. We are looking to fil l a few posi tions if you are so inclined to assist.
you would help us nominate and you would judge and vote
You would not be expected to contribute each and every issue, and would beable to choose what you wanted to contribute.
We have many ideas, but we need good machinima makers with a bi t of timeto spare to create mini-lessons and share tips.
Message for the MastersFrom Minraed and the Staff
Special mentions
Honouring the Voice Actors First, let us apologize for not going ahead with the plannedviewer’s choice polls for Best Voice Actors. We had NO IDEA whatwe were up against when we thought of this. With well over 100participating voiced rolls it soon became impossible to keep track,then to narrow it down to the finalists. We are not giving up on this,and we will explore new ideas on how to fairly award our voiceactors. Stay tuned for this next season.
Of course, we can’t walk away with just that explanation. Wefelt that we MUST find a way to recognize those who really stoodout in the films this season.
Male voices numbered far fewer thanfemale voices for some odd reason.
Over the years at SIFF there are a few who’snames show up in the credits quite a bit.
These 4 have become so prolific that we feelthey deserve a mention.
17StevenManz in Radioactive,Reconstructing Abbigail, and These
Monsters
Bloo Cerix in Purebloods, Bernadette,Daemons, Always, Silenced and Rose Blood
Tysonator in Daemons, RoseBlood, Always,and Afterlife
Gimbitman in Rose Blood, Simgrassi Highand Silenced.
GREAT WORK by the entire cast of malevoices. Just because you were not listed
here does not mean that we did not noticeyou. We hope to find a worthy way of
recognition for you over the next season.
I am not even sure where to begin with the female voices. Therewere so many that we simply could not keep track of you all. Asmentioned in the Male Voice list on the left, we did recognize all ofyou, and we do have plans to better recognized voice actors.
For the female voice actors there were also a few who appearednoticeably in several productions, so here are just a few that we
saw many times at SIFF this season.
StarsToShine in Radioactive, Daemons, Rose Blood, Silenced andSimgrassi High
MoonlightxStars in Daemons, Silenced, Radioactive
Twist TV in Reconstructing Abbigail, Simgrassi High and Afterlife
Assie Me in Reconstructing Abbigail, Simgrassi High and TheseMasters.
McFly Vampire in Rose Blood, Silenced and These Masters
LittleAngelCake in Roseblood, Silenced and Always
We have an idea and we hope both the voice actors andmachinima makers will like it.
Coming in January, we aim to produce a SimatographyMagazine issue dedicated to voice acting. We aim to include avoice actor directory, as well as tips for voice actors and voice
editing. All in time for your next SIFF project.
If you are a voice actor that would like to be in the directory, or ifyou are skilled at voice recording or editing and would like to
contribute to this production, please email us at…[email protected]
With Tabby Lloyd
We are always looking for newways to showcase the manycontributions to SIFF. This
season we noticed a numberof our film makers posted
collections of screens fromtheir SIFF films, so we thoughtwe would share some of them
with you here.
Dog x Bunny by Kanonlullabies
Daemons by McFlyVampire45
Silenced by XxLittleAngelCakexX
Silenced by XxLittleAngelCakexX
Cinder by GRayLeeStudios
Tabby Lloyd is a character played out by Minraed
With all of the focus right now on who’s winning what, Iwanted to distract you into thinking of some of the
many other fun and awesome things about SIFF so hereare a few of my favourite things…
People who keep coming backThe two reasons I love this is because it makes me happy that peopleenjoyed SIFF enough to return, and I love watching people grow andimprove from season to season.
Jorgha Haq’s WeirdnessJorgha has been on staff for a few years now, and even so I am alwayscaught by surprise with her hilarious weirdness and crazy creative ideas.This year we got National Simographic’s Urban Safari and a hilariousSave the Cow Plants infomercial. (her love of cowplants is a long standingthing). I am also always impressed with her weird and wonderful bandideas, Last year it was Cacophony - a band of mimes and this year it wasStaggered Injection - a band of bots and androids. Brilliant.
MEPsMEPs are such a wonderful collaboration of talents and there are somany of them out there in the YouTube Sims community. This is the firstyear we opened up this category, and with so much untapped talent outthere, I hope that we will see more of these in future seasons.
Roleplay of your Stars and CelebritiesWe see this in Rising Stars interviews, Red Carpet photos, and in theBattle of the Bands. We love the roleplay so don’t be afraid to really getcreative here. We want to see your stars in the spotlight and get toknow the celebrities up close and personal.
talk with Tabby Lloyd
talk with Tabby Lloyd
NewcomersWelcome and thank you for joining us. I hope you willcome back again.
Foreign FilmsSome years we have more thanothers, this year we really only hadone, LUDO by NavyCISFan. We loveour foreign films because we are anInternational Film Festival afterall. Ihope more people making machinimain other languages will consider doingEnglish subtitles and join in with us atSIFF. We will even help you findtranslators.
Details Details DetailsI love the attention to detail that some people are sogreat at with their SIFF submissions. I really enjoy theopening and closing sequences that give a real-lifefilm production feel to the work. I love the painstakingdetails in the set designs, camera work, and costumedesign. Bravo!
Suspension of DisbeliefThis happens when someone puts so muchinto their machinima that you almost forgetthat you are watching The Sims. I found thisin 723, The Sixth Born, and Bring Me Backto Life in particular, but that is just to namea few. This is the WOW factor that we oftentalk about.
The Masters I am a big fan of OMG That Girl is Psycho and this yearwas no excpetion. I have seen her skills grow and her styleevolve over the years and I am always captivated. While thereis no question that all of the Masters’ work is outstanding, Iwant to declare that The Sixth Born was one of my faves,
Music Videos I always considered that it was a difficult thing to proveyourself as a machinima maker with a music video, but thisseason proved me wrong. So many great productions, manyof which got plenty of recognition already, but one that I keptgoing back to was Get Lucky by MJSimKat Ok, maybe it ispartly because of the song, but mostly I just found it fun andwhimsical and a nice break from the intense.
I can’t neglect to call Bring Me Back to Life by JuliLux3my fave in the music vid category, for all the right reasons.This is a spectatular piece of machinima editing and filming.Absolutely full of talent and skill and well deserving of thepraise. This is the type of machinima that we can all learnfrom.
Sims SeriesCinder - Just a Mechanic by Gray Lee Studios blew me
away. I tend to choose my faves based on filming, editing, setand costume design so this one was a winner in my books. Ilook for details and technical skill and this hit my wow buttonon all of that.
For new series’ I was surprised to admit that Dog x Bunnyby Kannonlullabies was on the top of my list.
It is totally NOT my style in that I am 46 years old and not afan of this genre, but I can’t deny that there is much to berecognized here. I saw great film work, creative editing, funand bright and vivid cinematography, and a really cute cast ofloveable characters with a wonderful story.
General Category FilmsRegarding the Dreams of Lisa Centry by Marty Dawsontook my vote here. I was incredibly impressed with thedialogue script, the set designs and such details thatreally allows you to forget that you are watching a Simsmachinima. Very well done and an exceptional exampleof machinima in my opinion.
My Overall ImpressionsAs I type out my picks and faves I find myself feeling a bit badthat I didn’t mention everyone. I say this a lot so it probablysounds corny, but it is so true. I am truly honoured by thepresence of all of this machinima talent. I really do wanteveryone to feel proud of their work. These may be some of theones that stood out most to me, but by no means should itreflect poorly on the others that I did not mention. I hope thatmy picks can inspire you, as they inspire me, to continue to growand learn and improve in my own machinima making.
With Lunxi WeisLunxi, our resident fashionista, joins us with a
recap of some of the noteable trends in fashionseen on the red carpet this season.
Sims 2, Sims3 and Sims 4 stars were all presentand each with their own sense of style. From ubercasual to full out glam with a little retro thrown in,
we saw a bit of everything.
Now this is one fit group!Boys, you look classy fromhead to toe and ladies, youlook hot as hell! I am lovingwhat you have done! Thedresses you picked suit youboth perfectly, and thesame goes for the men. Nicework making a glamourousfashion statement on thisseason’s red carpet.
The cast of Cinder byGrayLeeStudios
#selfie! I just loved this! itlooks like you two have nailed
it perfectly! Sims 4 Style!
The cast of Lolitaby The Elonian Cass
The Hawley Triplets by NotSoAngelic60
Fuko and Lucky of Baka Rabuby Fadhil of Bahariawans
It's nice to see some different and cool lookingpeople in the carpet! These two are set togetherperfectly and look like they are having fun doing it!P.S love the rainbow suspenders that's a winner ;)
Wowowow hang on 1,2…3! Now thats what Icall a triple threat! Boys you have nailed this sowell it's amazing! All 3 of you have got it going onand I know a few friends of mine who wouldswoon at the sight of you 3! LOOK out ladieshere they come!
Aimmie of Silenced by XxLittleAngelCakexX
The leading ladies of Afterlifeby Dice Smith
Now these two took their fashion anddressed it so well! I love the cool yetsmooth looking style ladies! I can totallysee others rocking this look in thefuture for Music Videos and Fashionshows! Totally owned it!
I really love this outfit! It is perfect for her! Thedress colour matches her eyes and hair and itmakes her look like a little stunner! I love this! Ill bekeeping a eye on this one in the future!
It was so hard to pick! So many ofyou put so much effort into your RedCarpet pics,. If you didn’t get shownhere, don’t worry, there is next time. Iwas amazed at all of the cool andfashionable outfits.
Lunxi
I am taking away all cover up of my Simscharacters for this message. This one comesfrom me, Crystal, the person behind SIFF andSimatography.
I am a 46 year old Dietitian and DiabetesEducator. I work everyday with people whoneed my help and guidance, but moreimportantly they need my empathy andunderstanding. They need me to listen tothem and trust me to guide them in theirhealth management.
Respect and non-judgement are two veryimportant principles to me. I try to stand bythem in my life outside of work also.
At SIFF I have similar principles by which I choose to run this festival and ourwebsite. I have always wanted Simatography to be a place where people of allskill levels and experience can come and explore their creativity and feel proudof that accomplishment. Creativity is a life force for me personally. I feel thatcreativity is what soothes my soul more than anything when I am troubled. Iwanted SIFF and Simatography to provide this for other people, because I knowmany of you feel the same. Admittedly I am not very good at some of the creativethings that I try out, but I enjoy it all anyway. To me it is not about being the bestor winning anything, but in being creative and feeling proud of my experiences.This too is what I strive to bring to SIFF.
This season, particularly noted in the music video category, our polls revealeda very upsetting trend that goes against all that we stand for. We have knownthat this has been going on for years to some extent, and each year we try tofind better ways to prevent it, but we do believe that the actions we have takenin the past, and our close monitoring of the polls has allowed us to feel confidentthat we have been awarding the winners fairly.
Let me explain… Be warned it is very long and detailed because I felt it wasimportant to be completely open and honest about what we are doing with this.
In the polls at the beginning we saw a trend that we expected. Random votescoming in at varied time intervals and for a number of different videos. Sometimessimilar choices were made by each voter, but that is a normal pattern when somevideos are expected to be voted on often.
As the days went by we noticed a very big jump in the votes for three specificvideos in a short span of time. Due to this suspicion we removed the original polland replaced it with a new identical one. We left the original poll open because ifit were a bot voting, then the bot would continue to vote for the original poll, butthis did not happen.
In our second poll we monitored every few hours, taking screen shots of thevoting trends. Over the course of a few hours, the same three videos jumped intheir numbers at a high rate, and at the exact same rate. This is to say that eachof the three videos received the exact same number of votes during this time.What made it even more obvious that this was a manipulation of the polls, duringthis time NOT ONE SINGLE OTHER VOTE was cast for any of the remaining SIFFpolls in any category.
At this point in time three videos with less than 100 views, had greater than100 votes, while one particular video by a person with over 7,000 followers, over3,000 views and a direct link to the polls had even fewer votes than these videoshad. (for the record this video was well in the running for 2nd place with verymany more votes than these three videos before this pattern began) Clearly,this is a case of manipulation. So, we closed the polls and reopened with themessage where we asked for people to revote.
We chose to use a different poll provider for this, we used Google Polls. InGoogle polls we don’t have to manually track the voting pattern, Google Polls doesthis for us. This is what we saw happening repeatedly in several sections of therevote…
Please note the timestamp on this voting pattern. This is NOT how fairvoting appears in a normal poll where people are watching and votingrandomly. Even if people are voting for their friends, it does not look like this.
A second pattern that we noticed in the original polls was a single vote beingcast that caused a rapid rise in one single video. This is to say that the personvoting was not choosing three videos as we request, but only voting for one overand over. We also noticed that at times these votes came in when no other votescame in to any other SIFF poll. This is what we saw in the Google Polls…
Once again rapid succession of votes coming to a single video. This was thesame video we suspected of this in the original polls. I will also note that thisperson emailed me to ask why we are forcing people to vote for three videos. Myreply was similar to this…
“ At SIFF we want people to watch all of the machinima and vote fairly on theirfavourites, not just come to vote for their friend if they have not even botheredto watch anyone else’s machinima. A big part of the problem in the polls and whywe reset them is because it looks like some people have been cheating.”
Despite this email message, this person continued with the action that wejust said was not a fair thing to do. So this brings up an important question…
IS IT OK FOR ME TO ASK FOR MY FRIENDS AND FOLLOWERSTO VOTE FOR ME?
The answer is YES! It is totally acceptable to do this. We hope that you will shareSIFF with your friends and tell your followers about SIFF. We then hope that theywill enjoy watching many of the great machinima, and if they vote for you that isgreat, but they will also fairly vote for other people who’s videos they watched.
What is WRONG about this example above? What do we notice in this pattern?The votes all came in within a few seconds of each other. This does not happenwhen your friends and followers watch videos and choose to vote when they geta chance. This is clearly a group of people sitting around voting, OR someonelogging in to several Google accounts at once and voting over and over.
All of this has created HOURS and HOURS of extra work for us. We are veryconcerned about how this affects other people who fairly participated. We hadto make an executive decision on the winners of the Best Music Videos poll.
� We looked back to the original trend before this all started and consideredthose who were coming out ahead from the very start.
� We reviewed all screen shots and discounted all votes that came in rapidsuccession voting for the same videos over and over
� We awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd based on these remaining votes, withoutactually disqualifying those who we suspected of manipulation.
Unfortunately we had to discount a large number of votes, but I can assureyou that we only discounted the sets that followed the above noted and VERYOBVIOUS patterns. We stand strongly behind our decision. Sadly this action bya few has tarnished the feeling of fair competition for all, and I hope it will serveas an important message of these points…
� SIFF is not a popularity contest. SIFF is a celebration of creativity, where all canfeel that they are competing FAIRLY.
�We want all SIFF participants to feel proud of their creative abilities and of thewillingness to practice, learn and improve over time. At SIFF we celebrate notonly the winners, but of EVERYONE who participates.
� You should always be proud of what you create because you put your heartand soul and hard work into it. If you don’t win, you should not feel any lessproud of yourself. Over time, if you continue to grow, you too may win.
� There is NOTHING TO BE PROUD OF if you win simply because you got all ofyour friends to sit at computers with you voting all at once, or if you repeatedlyvote for yourself to try to force a win. This type of winning is meaningless. It isunfortunate if you cannot feel proud of your work and must have a fake win tofeel good about what you have accomplished.
� YES people with a lot of followers, or who are “popular” are very likely to win,but NONE of the winners’ votes showed any unusual or suspicious patterns.They tend to win because they have many viewers and viewers then vote, andbecause they have made some very very good machinima. But the winnersare NOT always the ones with the most viewers. We have had many timeswhere winners have been really new to machinima and don’t have manyviewers. In the end, good machinima usually wins out - fair and square.
� If you do not believe in these principles of fairness, then perhaps SIFF isnot for you and we wish you good luck in other competitions you join.
