This is just a quick update to let people know I have finally had some real communication with Machinima.com and I THINK something is going to be able to be worked out so I can have more Freeman’s Mind episodes out as soon as possible (assuming this post doesn’t jinx everything). Besides trying to get ahead on FM episodes I’m also working on a side project that is directly related to Freeman’s Mind (and no, it’s not a different series) that I’ll announce later.

EDIT:

I’ve been told today (Mar. 22nd) that there should be an agreement proposal sometime by the end of next week. While I can’t discuss specifics, I’ll keep making timetable updates as I get them.

Unfortunately I still have no update on releasing new videos (speaking of which, if someone wants to make me an offer on Freeman’s Mind or Civil Protection, go ahead and email me). In the meantime, I’ve mainly been doing freelance voice acting work, but I want to work on future videos, whenever they come out. There are two key areas I could really use help in:

WEBSITE DESIGN / PROGRAMMING:
I’ve been wanting to make updates to the site for over a year now, but don’t have web programming knowledge myself. Some of the things I wish to do are update the FAQ, add extra info fields to the episode pages, and have some sort of Wordpress plugin system so I could manually generate new episode pages myself, etc.

AUDIO EDITING:
I have had some great audio editing help in the past, but it’s a real dice toss as to whether anyone will reply if I need help with a video. I’m looking for someone to add in sound effects, do some general reverb processing, and volume balancing. If you have examples of previous work you’ve done, please send me a link to them.

- - -

If you’re interested in helping in either of these positions, please contact me at [email protected]. They will have to be volunteer positions since I’m currently in Ramen noodle territory myself. For audio editing that I use, I will put you in the credits of the video, and for website help, we’ll find a way to credit you somewhere on the site.

Also I’d like to add that if you are interested in helping, try to sound semi-professional. If I get an email like this:

“
ya ill fix ur site wat u want

-Sent from my iPhone
“

it doesn’t inspire confidence in me as to your abilities. I’m old-fashioned like that.

I unfortunately still have no news on when / if I can upload new videos on Machinima.com. In the meantime, the whole situation has been making me nervous financially since I don’t know what’s going to happen. I’ve tried applying for an additional job, but haven’t had much luck yet. In the interest of me being able to pay rent in the future, I am now offering my services provided someone out there is interested in hiring me for something. Here are some areas people may want to hire me for.

VOICE ACTING:
I can do any voices you’ve heard in the existing videos, plus I’ve also recorded a voice acting reel as a sampler for additional voices I can perform:

Voice acting reel for Ross Scott (MP3, 4MB)

Please feel free to spread this to anyone you think might have an interest in hiring me.

SCRIPT WRITING:
Writing is generally one of the lower paid categories in movies in general, but I thought I would list it as a possible option anyway. I’ve obviously done a lot of comedy writing which you see in the videos, though I’m not strictly limited to that. I am likely to be a poor candidate for any dramatic dialogue however.

SOURCE ENGINE ANIMATION / MACHINIMA VIDEOS:
I’m really not anticipating anyone hiring me in these areas, since even at minimum wage, I couldn’t even afford to pay myself the hours I normally dump into machinima videos; animation can be incredibly time consuming. I also have some experience animating with the Unreal 3 / UDK engine, however I’m far less experienced with it than I am with Source.

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As for how much I’m charging, it kind of depends on what people want me to do. I found this article indicating how much voice actors typically earn, but I’m guessing most of those numbers are far beyond what I qualify for. Also it’s worth mentioning that I can’t do any jobs directly related to Civil Protection or Freeman’s Mind until things are resolved with Machinima.com, sorry.

I was hoping my next post on here would be a new episode, but unfortunately that’s not happening. Last week I found out by accident that Machinima.com is planning to change the terms of their contract with me. This may jeopardize every video I’ve released so far and all future ones. Or it may not. I’ve been finding it difficult to get an answer either way and the only thing I know right now is that I won’t have an answer before the start of 2013 at the earliest. I can’t give any more specifics than this because of contract reasons, but this situation has been frustrating the hell out of me, because until I have this resolved, I can’t release any more videos and I’m sure people are waiting on more.

Just so you know, episode 45 of Freeman’s Mind is DONE. I’ll probably be done with episode 46 before I hear anything from Machinima.com again. I promise I’ll do everything I can to get these out as soon as I can without having legal action taken against me or losing all rights to the videos.

Youtube

(Downloadable copy will be up later)

Here’s a new video that was meant to be simple, but I ended up spending entirely too much time on it. This was made for a film festival that Machinima.com contacted me about, saying that if I made a video for this, it would open up a portal to a new universe and humanity would transcend into a state of pure energy. The festival isn’t over yet, so I’m not sure how accurate their claims are, but either way, it was an excuse to make a new video. Part of the rules for the festival were that the video could not be part of an existing series, like CP or FM, so this is something else.

I’m expecting this video to be hit or miss with people. If you like surreal or mysterious stuff, then this should be right up your alley. If you’re expecting jokes or explosions every 10 seconds, then probably not. Personally I’m very happy with how this came out, it might be my own favorite of the videos I’ve done so far. The atmosphere is pretty much just how I wanted it and the voice acting and sound are great. I recommend watching it full screen in a dark room and not turning it off once the credits start.

This is the first video I’ve made in Source Filmmaker and will also be one of the last. I was originally going to attempt this using the Unreal 3 engine, but I wasn’t able to get enough functionality from the ported models in time, so the video was made in Source instead. As a result, this video just BARELY got done before deadline. For every advantage SFM has, it also has a shortcoming compared to Source SDK and the whole experience just strengthens my resolve to stop animating any videos in the Source engine. If you look for them, I’m sure you’ll see lots of flaws with the animation in this video. I’m fully aware of all the shortcomings, it was simply the best I was able to do by the final deadline. I may make some small improvements for the downloadable copy later, I haven’t decided yet. In terms of animation, I think it needed a few days more of polishing, but the vast majority of people will only see the online copy anyway.

Anyway, I hope people enjoy the video, this is the LAST one I’m going to animate in any form of the Source engine (not counting FM). I’ll still keep making videos, but Source is hell.

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You can vote for this video in the festival, but as I understand it, you can only do so via twitter, and then there will be a judge panel to decide who has the best vote (I am not making this up). What happens if a video gets the most or “best” votes? I DON’T KNOW. My guess is this.

EDIT:

Looks like my 36 hour sleep deprivation paid the price on the credits and I made a typo with the name of the LEAD VOICE ACTOR. It should be Kamran Nikhad, not “Karman.” It will get corrected on the downloadable copy.