Lord Komo is machinima based on the MMORPG SWTOR, which I am still playing at the time of writing this. I am a sucker for story-driven games so this was right up my alley. SWTOR was also a source of inspiration for Aronoke, the Star Wars fan-fic flotsam I am currently addicted to writing.
Lord Komo originated when Jord and I were adventuring on Taris, wreaking destruction and havoc and generally getting quests done, when we happened on the NPC Lord Komo. And with one thing or another, we were soon singing that Beach Boys song, Kokomo…
Everyone else in Universal Exports refused to sing it. I considered hiring someone, but decided it was too bothersome. And so, a terrible exercise in self-torture and vocal expression was born. Especially since Kokomo is not happily inside my vocal range. It is far too squeaky. I can’t watch the video now, it makes me wince too much. *hides under pile of MMO subscriptions*.
Since making the movie I (and the rest of Universal Exports et al) decided to swap servers, due to the dwindling popularity of the game, so some of the characters involved in the film are no longer named the same thing.
My second attempt at LoTRO machinima. This one still has some IClone4 models in it (Sauron’s milk herd, anyone?) and lots of IClone effects, but it is heavily based on snippets of movie taken directly from the game. It was inspired by an excellent (dreadful, by most people’s standards, no doubt) pun made by Wingwoz (who stars in the film). This one was a great deal of fun to make, although I did have the song stuck in my head for about three months during and afterwards.
This is a much more recent video project, one I made when I first got IClone4. I learned lot of things while making it. Mainly that realistic looking animations are really hard to create without expensive equipment. Now I have IClone5 and some other cool stuff to record animations from live actors, I will have to make another animated movie, although at the moment, I feel a bit wilted at the thought of how much work that would be….
Anyway, Orcs is a short screenplay based upon the MMORPG LoTRO which I played for far too many years, and will probably play again. You will probably not get some of the jokes if you have not played the game. The IClone characters are made to try and look a bit like the LoTRO toons they are based on. Which was hard for a nooblet like me, since all the armour and things had to be modelled and built in IClone or adapted from existing things.