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Welcome to SIFF the editor in chief for the SIFF Buzz. I will be here, along with an awesome team of reporters and staff, to bring you all of the important information you need for a successful season at SIFF. This issue marks our first of what we hope will be weekly issues. I want to apologize in advance, as my REAL LIFE self, in case I am behind schedule since I seem to have an insanely busy summer ahead, but I will do my best to keep to a reasonable schedule so that you will get weekly updates of some sort. Just be sure to follow us on various social media and subscribe to us on ISSUU.com so that you don’t miss anything fun or important. These issues are not only for updates, but to promote and celebrate the hard work of everyone who joins SIFF so we will do our best to include everyone in some way during the season because we LOV E YOU ALL! (a figment of Minraed’s imagination)
We are looking for fans of SIFF to share a few words about your SIFF experience. Email us at simatography@gmail.com and provide a full body photo of your sim on a white background and a few words that you would like to share. We would love to hear from you.
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to read our most recent magazine
Important dates SIFF Film Submission Forms OPEN NOW Deadline to submit your film to the playbill is September 1st.
Machinima Trailers and Posters - deadline September 1st.
Battle of the Bands Submissions now CLOSED Voting begins September 9th For more dates and reminders watch here in each issue.
Follow Us www.facebook.com/Simatography www.youtube.com/user/Simatographers http://issuu.com/simatography @simatography siffandsimatography.tumblr.com/
Thank you to Romer Jon of Ansett4Sims for producing this beautiful intro video for our 12th season of SIFF. If you haven’t seen it, be sure to check it out HERE
We have a winner! Congratulations to Jorgha Haq for being voted by the fans as the winning poster.
All of the posters are available as a Sims 4 wall art download HERE Thank you to everyone who voted and who shared their design creations.
We will work on getting them for Sims 3 and will let you know when they are ready.
Top left - Sylent Whysper Top right - Pcom1777 Middle - SimsBerrry Bottom left - LilSapphire Bottom right - Misty4m
Rules Summary Ÿ SIFF machinima must be a new production never seen before September 15th release date. Ÿ We expect everyone to be sensible and respectable in terms of content - be sure to read our censorship policy clearly. ( Ÿ Your machinima must be rendered in the Sims game platform. Editing for effects is permitted, but MMD rendered machinima is NOT considered Sims machinima. Ÿ Submissions are all accepted. Everyone must submit using the proper format via email as per the rules document. Ÿ Submissions will be accepted starting July 1st and the deadline will be September 1st (this is the submission period, films are not due until September 15th) Ÿ There is plenty of fun for everyone so follow SIFF on our forums.
Get Your Copy of the ESSENTIAL and complete rules on issuu HERE
SIFF STUFF is now available for download Click HERE to find it all in our forums. Red Carpet backdrop walls, T-shirts and posters - Sims 3 and 4 and some Sims 2 (we are not ignoring Sims2, we just don’t have the needed resources)
Fangirl gets a makeover Our previous Fangirl was Kenzie Howell - reporting on many different aspects of SIFF and celebrity sightings. Well, we can expect the same enthusiasm this season with Kenleigh Sims. She is the Sims 4 makeover version of our previous Fan Girl so be sure not to miss an issue this season.
Behind Fangirl is the simmer we know as Tenderwolf aka Kenzie Howell.
with
tabby Lloyd
SIFF is in it’s 12th season already so we have thousands of awesome memories. Each week I will toss in a few throwbacks to our earlier years. Throwback to Fall 2012 and our first season of Battle of the Bands which rocked it with some heavy hitting all-girl bands, One Erection and Toxic Dream
SIFF VEnues For hosting your next SIFF VIP Event As always we encourage creativity of all kinds at SIFF, not just machinima making. So once again we invited builders to create venues for use when hosting your SIFF parties and other events.
ajOya revamped a theatre created by Jools Simming on Tumblr, making into a SIFF event venue.
Munterbacon renovated a run down old colosseum into a massive venue for hosting Battle of the Bands parties.
LilSapphire created Snooty - a posh event and party lounge.
Pcom1777 went over the top and created several custom objects to download along with this epic venue.
Get all of the details and links for downloading all of these venues on our website in the forums. Each builder has provided links to all of the necessary items.
Throughought SIFF we are still welcoming more buildings so if you want to share yours just enter it into the thread linked below and we will showcase your build here too.
Get the Siff Venues
We are in the process of building a better connection between voice actors and Sims machinima makers. Throughout our websites and social media you can find more ways to connect - see the list of links below. If you are a voice actor for Sims Machinima and you want your name to be on our directory or if you have ideas on other things that we could be doing, then email us at
Voice Actor Demo Reels Playlist - click HERE
Casting calls playlist - click hERE Share your casting calls and voice reels with us and we will add you to the list
Forums - Voice Actor directory HERE Drop by our forums and add yourself to the directory.
Voice Actors at SIFF Bringing our sims characters to LIFE
It is still new for us, so we may have some things to iron out, but the most important thing is that we want people to recognize the hard word and dedication that goes into voice acting and to show how much we appreciate their talents and contribution.
So‌ if you are a voice actor or a machinima maker who has voice actors in your production, be sure to review the SIFF rules document (see page 9 in here for the link) to get the needed information on how to submit.
We have two experienced voice actors helping us out this season so watch for various features and showcases of the talented voice actors who submit to this season’s SIFF. Bree you will remember from last season, and this season we welcome Callum to the crew.
Meet The Bartender Zed Xavier Zed has been preparing some great recipes to liven up our SIFF parties so each week he will share a new one with you.
Spa Spritzer
A simple summer spritzer for those relaxing Spa Days.
- 1.5 oz. Gin (optional for a mocktail) - Two or three sprigs of mint - Fizzy lemonade, sparkling wine, lemon-lime pop - Optional fruit garnishes: strawberries; small pieces of orange and lemon If you have a creative inner bartender and you can come up with a creative SIFF cocktail or mocktail (non-alcoholic beverage) then email It to us at and we will find some fun way to feature it.
Re-introducing
Mercedes Vaughan
Hostess of
Mercedes was introduced last season; her creator is Jorgha Haq, but as we move into this season with a few new people on the team, her role will be taken on by Tinkerbelch, who some may know from the Tumblr/Simblr scene. Film Talk with provide brief reviews of each of the films submitted to SIFF to give you an overview of what we have in store on the playbill so be sure to read each issue to help you plan your machinima viewing when the time comes.
So let’s give a warm welcome to Tinkerbelch in her role as the machinima reporter for Film Talk Mercedes Vaughan.
Red Carpet Photo Prompt - Pampered Celebrity Each week we will share a new inspiration or prompt to help you come up with fun new ideas for your Red Carpet and Celebrity Paparazzi pics. While we always appreciate the celebrities on the SIFF Red Carpet walls and backgrounds, we also really want to see what they are up to behind the scenes. We encourage you to use these prompt to inspire some other fun ideas.
Celebrities are a pampered bunch, so now that we have Spa Day in The Sims 4, and so much CC for Sims 2 and 3, we fel t that our SIFF stars deserve a bit of that celebrity treatment while they are in tow n for the festival. Like New t Davies here, who knows that real men SPA too!
Playbill Update 68 Submissions already! 6 voice actors, 10Masters, 25 films, 3 music videos, 23 series, 1 MEP
17 countries Indonesia, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zeland, Portugal, UK/England, Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Zambia, Italy, Burma and first time representation from Bulgaria, Slovenia and Puerto Rico! Wow!
Click HERE to get it on Tumblr by Jorgha Haq
Bringing you the latest news, interviews and insider reports on the up and coming stars, directors, bands and musicians of SIFF Meet
Galia Rockman
Rising Stars is an ever evlovling project. We used to have full magazines for each feature, but as time went on and SIFF continues to grow we came to realize that giving you one full and exciting magazine made more sense. So here we have our new Rising Stars feature insert. Each SIFF Buzz will bring you something new and exciting, so that you can get to know the stars of SIFF up close and personal. We have a great team of freelance and staff reporters working hard to get the news to you. New to our team this season is Galia Rockman, the little sister to the Gus Rockman you already know and love. We know that she will be awesome in her new role with her enthusiasm for star gazing and celebrity stalking.
Watch for Rising Stars in future issues of The SIFF Buzz.
Rockin’ It with the Battle of the Bands Edition with Newt Davies New t, the punk-rockin’-est member of our team, is back again to showcase the awesome musical talents of our Battle of the Bands contestants. Each issue we will showcase one or more bands including interviews, photos or other promotionals that the bands, musicians and managers have created for the competition.
Our first showcase is an ex tensive interview with The Untruthful, a returning contestant from last season. We are glad to have them back and to have this opportunity to let you get to know them in great detail.
Watch for more great bands and musical talents in the future issues.
What do you think of today's music in general ? Jana: As to me, I have very mixed feelings. Speaking about heavy music, on the one hand, it seems that there are still great bands out there... But they're striving. It's really hard nowadays. It's all about being mainstream, commercial and moreover, making money, record companies just want you to be what they want you to be. If you say "when I'm older I wanna be a rockstar", you'll be told that it's not a real job, that it's too hard and thus you have to study hard. I may sound unequivocal but that's how I feel. Right, you are allowed not to agree with my point of view, I don't deny it... But that's what I think. I'm kinda worried. It was "easy" for us because we already knew the right people, but it's not the case for everyone.
You're very private about yourself. Is there a reason for this ? Blackie: You're asking this as if we even had a private life. We don't. Jana: It's simply because, I don't know... Personally I don't want everyone to know all about my life. There's one Jana onstage who doesn’t give a damn about anything and all “Don’t touch me I’m gonna bite you” and another one who makes her food burn, breaks the sink tap and bangs her head in the cupboard door. You don't want to know that, do you ?
So, Daven, as we don't know you yet, could you tell us more about you ? Daven: Well... I'm 31, I'm from Sweden and I formerly played in some kind of black metal band, but my band mates were more into making noise more than music, sacking everything and drinking more in a night than a brewery's annual production. I'm not saying this is bad, but, uh... we were not getting along, so I decided to move on. When Jana contacted me, I knew I mustn’t say no. I've been playing the drums for twenty years... And that's all.
How many tattoos do you have ? Daven: Not enough (He laughs) You really want me to count them all? Hem... One, two... Can you help me ? I can't see these ones... (He begins to take his pants off) Blackie: No, no, we don't want to see that. Please stop!
Rumors have it that you're working on a new album. Is that true? What can you say about it so far ? Blackie: Yeah, it's true. What did you expect ? We're a band, we're making music ! We have a couple songs which are ready to be recorded, and lots of other ideas and pieces of songs which still need to be put together though. It's going to be way darker and heavier than the first one. Yet I still will be technical and musical. I don't think it will be out till a couple years, though. Jana: Don't listen to her. We decided we'd only cover cheesy disco songs and give up on metal. Daven: What ? That wasn't stated in the contract! Jana: Shut up and go buy bell-bottomed pants, ludicrous sunglasses and an afro wig.
Any other projects for the future ? Blackie: Nothing special... Band stuff. Recording, touring, recording, swimming in a pool of little green papers with numbers on it, how are they called... Banknotes. Hauni: Yes, we've decided we would have a knitting show on TV and launch our own Q-tip brand. That sounds really metal. Jana: My personal project ? TAKING OVER THE WORLD ! No, just kidding.
This summer, you'll be headlining the new Heavy Summer festival for the first time. Your thoughts about it ? Jana: I'm pretty sure it's going to be awesome. I can't wait for it, I'm totally pumped, like a fan, indeed. Hauni: Lots of beer and music. That's enough to make me happy. And there will be lots of other bands which we like. Daven: It's going to be my first show with the band, so I'm a bit anxious. Everything needs to be perfect. Getting in my fellow drummer colleague Lenowe's shoes is really hard.
Talking about him, why did he leave ? Jana: Lenowe decided he would go back to normal life. His girlfriend told him to choose between her and the band. I respect his choice, and anyway we're still close friends and he told us he would probably help us.
What's your best festival memory, as a fan and/or a performer ? Jana: As a fan ? That time I was wandering around the stage after a show, looking for a friend who told me that he would be waiting for me. Then I saw my favorite band's guitarist, who obviously noticed my band t-shirt, his band's... He told me a young girl my age shouldn’t wait alone in the dark and brought me backstage, and I met the rest of the band, they even let me jam with them. My friend was beyond crazy and jealous.
Blackie: Last time I went to a festival, I was alone (not with the band, I mean). The first day, it was pouring rain and the bands playing were utter crap. The second day, it was hot as hell and I was totally sun burnt. When I got home I felt like I had been thrown in a drying machine and promised myself I would never go there again. It was new, with bands I didn't know, so I thought, why not... Bad idea. Hauni: It's not a good memory, but... Last year, we were playing at a miserable festival, and on stage, I was playing the fool and... Unfortunately slipped. Hopefully I didn't hurt myself nor damaged my guitar... But everyone was just laughing at me, and to this day, some fans still mention it and members our crew keep telling me to be careful. Last Christmas they even bought me some grandpa shoes with anti-slipping soles or something like that.
How do you deal with fans ? Jana: Some are really nice and friendly. Some are creepy. That's it. The scariest fan I've met was a guy, yes, A GUY who was sporting the exact same hairstyle as me, with the white strand and all, and he told me he had named his dog after me. Hauni: They're slightly less nice when they've drunk too much. That's why I don't like after-show fan meetings. Blackie: I don't know, but they never come to me. They always greet Jana, and mostly girls are fangirling over Hauni, but they don't care about me. MY INSTRUMENT IS IMPORTANT, DON'T YOU KNOW THAT ? MAYBE YOU CAN'T HEAR THE BASS, BUT YOU FEEL IT ! Daven: They don't know who I am, so they don't recognize me. I like it.
Talking about fangirling... Is there any Mr. Jana or Mrs. Hauni ? Jana: No. It's great. I don't want a clingy guy to follow me around every time. I'm never home anyway. Hauni: Despite what some people think, there's nothing between this purple-haired girl playing the bass guitar and I. There's our manager who's blatantly hitting on me, she's nice and all, but... Blackie: You should ask her out. She's nice and makes lots of money. More than you. Daven: I had a son with one of my previous band's crew members. I haven't seen both of them for years as things didn't end well between us. I don't want to have something to do with a woman again, at least for now. The thing is that when you're with someone, either you break up at some point or you spend the rest of your life with this person. When your life is
not quite steady like mine right now, it's not worth it.
What is the thing you hate the most in your job ? Jana: Photos. I hate photos. Ditto for interviews. We always somehow manage to turn a serious discussion into complete trash and nonsense, no matter how hard we try to keep calm. And I feel like we're really bad at interviews. I apologize for this. Blackie: Only staying a few days in town, when we're on tour. I wish I could wander around, you know, stuff like that, be a normal tourist. Hauni: Not being able to sleep in whenever I want to. According to Jana and out manager, we're working better in the morning. I don't agree. But, yeah, on the bright side, I'm always aggressive and grumpy in the morning so I can let my hair down playing the guitar...
Do you have any "lucky object" you always have with you onstage ? Jana: Really often you'll notice I'm wearing black gloves with the fingertips cut off. I don't know why I still have these because they're completely torn and useless but I have had them for years so I refuse to
throw 'em away. Blackie: I don't believe in that kind of stuff. Hauni: Yes, I always wear this kind of hankie around my left wrist... My father gave it to me years ago, I think he got it at some concert when the singer or I don't know whoever it was threw it in the pit. Daven: I have this old ring with "666" engraved on it, I don't know where it comes from and it's not even silver nor gold so it's all discolored and disgusting but like Jana and her gloves, I can't get rid of it, I bought it (or maybe I stole it, I don't remember...) when I was a teen. It's way too small for my fingers now, though.
Something that has never been mentioned either by you or by any journalist or anyone... To you, what metal subgenre does The Untruthful belong to ? Hauni: Ah, this particular question... Jana: I don't like to put people in boxes. And above all I don't like to be put into a box. Our music is just a mix of what we like and of what works... You know, thrash and death are my everything, they're etched in my flesh, that's what I like, so that's what I make. My band mates probably think the same. Blackie: Jana's right, we are whatever you want us to be. We have lots of various influences so it's hard to put exact words on our work. Daven: Coming from the outside and from a totally different background, I would say that The Untruthful is definitely something between thrash and death because of the harsh vocals, the speed and brutality, and maybe with something progressive on the edges brought by Jana and Blackie's skills.
MEET THE REST OF THE BANDS Over the remaining weeks of the SIFF Buzz you will get to know all of the bands. We will feature each band in some way or another so that you can get to know them before casting your votes in September. In the meantime, each band has their own promotional gallery so be sure to drop in to see what they are up to. Band Program click HERE
Click HERE to get details
Click HERE to join in
THE Essential SIFF T-shirt Get your downloadable SIFF t-shirt click HERE