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Cosplay at SIFF I couldn’t resist getting in on the Comic Con cosplay since we are doing this joint issue of SIFF Buzz and Simatography Magazine, and what better excuse than to get my Star Wars geek on! With SIFF underway and keeping us busy I have decided to put Simatography monthly together with this week’s Buzz so that you, our SIFF fans, can see what we are up to besides SIFF (and admittedly, also to make it easier for us to make the deadline.) Simatography magazine has something new each month so not only can you join in with your themed creations, but you could submit an article that features something relating to the theme, or share something from the community that fits - we are always looking for more ways to showcase what everyone is doing out there. (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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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.
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Photo by Sophia Wright
Cosplay has been a big part of our Simmer community roleplay and story telling over the years. Often we re-enact our favourite pop-fiction, graphic novels and tv series’ and movies with our Sims. At other times we are creating our own Comic-Con worthy characters and stories. Whatever the case, Comic-Con and Cosplay can be found inspiring many Simmers world wide, so here are but a few examples of that inspiration
Join us for our next theme for September and October
Inspired by your favourite Sims Expansion Packs Get the details
in our forums
Misty4m
Above: Sailor Family Below: champions By imeloynyan
By TenderWolf
Kenleigh embraces her love of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles without shame
Left: by TenderWolf Above by Jorgha Haq
This month’s cover artist Misty4m Each month we select an image from the theme gallery for the cover and one for the theme introduction. Thank you Misty for your continued contributions.
Golden Fantasy Castle by in the gallery
Gothkittymimi has a way with creative building. Most of her lots can be described as fantastical, unique or otherworldly Be sure to check her out in the gallery, and on Facebook Click HERE
Everything Nerdy Comic book store By Maddi Aka Pixelbunnys on Tumblr
Clementine Ambrosia goes to Berry Con By Minraed When I saw Pinot being featured this issue in character study I could not resist sharing this very old photo set.
Berry Sweet Sim Clementine Ambrosia’s crush on Merlot PinoNoir led her to Berry Con and her imagination and fantasy ran wild, but sadly, he was not interested. One of the many broken hearts Pinot has left behind.
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)
SIFF Memories 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. Our very first SIFF seems so long ago, and I am always surprised when I look back and realize how much I have forgotten. I love revisiting these old memories. Of course, no one knew I was around back then either, I was just a lowly paparazzi photographer who was lost in the crowd.
Vampire Vincent, wife Lunxi and his agent Ausagi have been Patrons of SIFF since the very beginning of it all.
Berry Sweet is making a showing this issue as they did back in season 1 - be sure to check out the Character Study in this issue. Does anyone else remember Rex like I do? He was no Vincent Weis, but he was a lady’s man in his ow n right. His creator will be returning to SIFF this season - watch for Molly!
Another fun memory was the antics of Mr. Gnome - the first and last Gnome ever to star in a SIFF Film,
With Callum Janes (aka ProfKranc)
Scripting Professionally
Basic Film Scripting Something that has been a constant theme throughout all of my advice to writers, directors and producers of online content is: Be Professional. Now this doesn’t just apply to your attitude towards your fellow contributors and content creators, but also in how you conduct the production of your content. This doesn’t mean you have to go all gung ho on being super strict. In fact, a large part of making yourself seem more professional comes down to your appearance of both your content and everything that pertains to creating that content. People will be much more impressed and think you know what you are doing if you look the part and everything you produce coincides with that. We aren’t going to cover every aspect of professionalism within a production in this article, it’s more of a theme through, but today we will be looking at “ ”.
“You already know what it looks like.” You probably know what a film script looks like, but probably not how it’s formatted. Truth is, this new form of writing can be quite daunting for people. But it is quite simple really, especially with software that does it for you! You are probably wondering why the film industry has a standardised format of scripting in this way. Inevitably, a script isn’t the - be all end all of what’s going to happen. A script is the basis of the story, but has to be blank enough so that the director can interpret it visually by himself. This is so that an expert writer isn’t creating bad visuals.
In this case, a lot of sims directors will be doing both: writing and animating. But the same applies to actors. By making sure the script is formatted in a certain way, it not only instils confidence in the production, but also leaves the actor’s performance open and mouldable rather than leaving in stone and hard to direct. What I’m about to show you is an example of a film script. There are various different formats for a script, but because sims machinimas are typically a visual medium, a film script format is the most relevant formatting method.
Source: Writers Store
You may be a bit intimidated by the formatting of the script above. Honestly, I was whenever I first started reading and writing screenplays, however it is fairly simple once you get the hang of it. Especially if you get your hands on one of the following programs: Adobe Story (Online, Free with sign up, Multiplatform) Celtx (Free unlimited trial version for Mac, Multiplatform Browser version available) Final Draft (Multiplatform, used for professional Film and TV productions, however its quite expensive) Each of these programs does the formatting for you, so you don’t have to fiddle about with settings to make the script look like a script. Now I’m going to explain step by step what each of the areas mentioned above mean and how you can format a script without the programs mentioned above.
PROFKRANC’S GUIDE TO BASIC SCRIPT FORMATTING! First off, you have got your title page. Here you will have the title, writer and any rights or contact information. It will look like this (below) and then it should continue to look like the example provided on the last one.
Source: Writers Store
Despite what the above example shows you, FADE IN does not need to be the first thing on every page. Usually films will fade into their first shot, but this should only be added if you actually intend to fade into your film.
More for a shooting script, when you intend to have a title or credits appear in the film, writing where they will appear on the script may appear something like this: BEGIN TITLES or BEGIN OPENING TITLES followed by END TITLES or OVER OPENING CREDITS followed by END OPENING CREDITS.
FADE IN: EXT. KEY WEST MARINA - DAWN - ESTABLISHING Sailboats, yachts, and cabin cruisers all bob up and down in the warm blue water. EXT. BEACH - DAY BEGIN TITLES as hundreds of young, perfect bodies of college age kids frolic during spring break. You may also consider when you see that text appear in the lower third of the screen; explicitly tell you where you are. When the notation SUPERIMPOSE or TITLE OVER is used, text or an image is placed on top of the film footage. Most of the time, it contains information the director thinks the audience needs to know... like the place or time of the next scene. Example
:
EXT. BEACH - DAY Hundreds of young, perfect bodies of college age kids frolic on the sand and in the warm water. SUPERIMPOSE: Daytona Beach, Spring Break, 1966 Indent: Left: 0.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 6.0" Exactly what is said above. This is put down every single time a new scene begins or there is a change of location. It should only be one line and . The scene heading is also known as the “slugline”.
tells us that the scene is taking place inside
the hotel lobby, during night-time.
Something that people find useful is if you put a number beside the scene heading to name what sequence it is. Indent: Left: 0.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 6.0" … but is needed to identify a move into a new location without a new scene being created or to outline a certain action. Try to avoid using these as they are generally frowned upon. This may be used when you want to cut between two locations frequently throughout the sequence. Indent: Left: 0.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 6.0" This is the description of what physically is going on in the scene, written in the present tense. It’s ONLY the things that can be seen and heard in the scene. John moves towards the bookcase and browses the coloured hardbacks. He slowly takes one out and blows the dust off it. As you can see, there is no motivation, no other details than what is happening. You don’t provide direction for the actors here, only the things happening in the scene. Indent: Left: 2.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 4.0" It’s just as you see. The character’s name is always CAPITALISED above their lines of dialogue. LEON I left my phone. Something to also mention is that when a character is first introduced, the name is capitalised and usually followed by a brief description before coming back to the action. This literally means a few words, not a paragraph. DANIEL, a poor looking but happy and optimistic guy, is waiting for his friend in the line for the till. This is something you should consider if you want to be able to pitch characters to people anyway. You can have a long description of who the character is and their backstory, but you should be able to tell us about the character in one or two lines. Saves time and will help you if you happen to pitch a show to someone.
This would occur if you can hear the character speaking is off screen or the character is performing a voice over. For example: would be for and would be for In use example:
LIAM (V.O.) Damn, I forgot my phone.
Indent: Left: 1.0" Right: 1.5" Width: 3.5" That’s literally it. It’s what the character is speaking. But between the character and name and the dialogue, there is sometimes one other thing: Indent: Left: 1.5" Right: 2.0" Width: 2.5"
LEON (Apathetic) I left my phone. Though, I think most actors will be able to understand what they are supposed to be feeling if they know the context of the scene. Indent: Left: 4.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 2.0" This usually only appears in a shooting script, but they include instructions or outlines for editor to take into consideration. ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ ∙
You would only really use these in a normal script if you needed to outline something happening in the story. For example a may indicate a passage of time.
Indent: Left: 0.0" Right: 0.0" Width: 6.0"
∙ ∙ ∙ ∙ This tells us the shot expected to be used or a change in view in the scene. But again, this is used usually only in a shooting script. I’ve been saying shooting script a lot. It’s basically a script especially edited for when the crew goes out to shoot the film. For most Sims Directors, this may not hold any significance. But if you are looking for advise on making a shooting scripts, check out the sources listed at the end of this article. There you go! That’s the guide to script formatting. However, even though this is what a film script looks like, there are a few other things you can add to make your script easier to read for your actors that may go against typical script conventions. For example: At the start of the script, after the title page, but before the actual script begins, write a cast list and the amount of lines each character has. This will allow the actors to find their lines easily if they need to do it in a rush and plan their recording time needed accordingly. And if you really need to, add details for the recordings and any technical requirements. So the info page would look something like the example on the next page. * It’s very simple and small, but it certainly helps me when I have to fish through a script for my lines. I can literally just go
It just speeds up the recording process.
* example as noted *
John: ProfKranc – 72 Lines Emily: NikoruChan18 – 58 Lines Narrator: ChugFat – 9 lines Super Amazing Director: PleasentlyPerplexed - 20 lines Sassy Robot: Marina Elena Orth – 34 lines Audio Format: .WAV Deadline for lines: 25th July 2015 Please send the RAW recording with no editing, as I would appreciate bloopers and will perform the audio engineering myself. Send finished lines to: exampleemail@idunno.com Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
This article was written by Callum Janes (ProfKranc), voice actor, social media manager, writer, editor and producer in mainstream and online media.
@profkranc
www.facebook.com/ProfKranc
www.youtube.com/user/ProfKrancVA
With Bree Page Bree Page is one of many talented voice actors in our community and here she is to introduce us to one of her fellow voice actresses, Casey Sara AKA Ceesy5
Ceesy5 Female VA Voicing this SIFF in Black Sun and Lasting Evermore
Casey Sara aka Ceesy5 has been voice in the Sims community even longer than I have. She is an extremely talented young lady with a great voice. She is also kind and will gladly offer advice to newer voice actors. Casey is known for acting in various Sims projects including the popular, "The Real Simwives of Starlight Shores" as one of the main characters. She also was a supporting character in "Coming From the Heart" by machinima master WhiteBlueCherry. She was also the main character in last seasons "Overlooked" by alittlemid This season, Casey is voice acting as the main character in TwistTVShow's highly anticipated sci-fi movie, "Black Sun". Along with "Black Sun", Casey has a role in Robynasims' series "Lasting Evermore". All of us here at Voice Reels are excited to hear Casey in her upcoming roles.
Keep checking in as ProfKranc features different voice actors and actresses each week in the SIFF Buzz.
With each passing week, the anticipation of SIFF gets stronger! Submissions are still rolling in, and they all look super promising!
Focusing on the rest of the bands, K-Pop is a very popular genre each season, and this time is no exception. We have two K-Pop bands this time with newcomer Eunsung Yoon and the return of Hy-5 (formerly Hi-Five). I love Asian culture, and K-Pop music has such catchy tunes! It just makes me want to get up and dance (but I should probably refrain due to not being able to dance at all)! I look forward to seeing what these ladies and dreamy gentleman have in store for us! Eunsung is actually branching out on his own from a boy band to express his individuality, so that’s something else that will be awesome to witness! As for Hy-5, one member has been replaced, but I fully expect them to be just as lovable and amazing this time around!
Speaking of band replacement members, The Untruthful is also returning this season with a new drummer. And boy, is he dreamy! I don’t know what I’m hungrier for – the band’s awesome metal music or the new drummer’s debut!
I have quite the eclectic taste in music. Every genre appeals to me in some way, though my iPod probably has more pop and rock music than anything else. With that being said, I was thrilled to see some entries with those two genres, some of them even mixed with others like indie and RnB. One such artist is Tanya Kheseba, who participated in SIFF a year ago and is making a comeback! Pop Magazine reported her as being one who never gives up and is always ready to do something. I look forward to seeing what she brings to SIFF this time around! It’s great to see the African queen again! All hail the queen!
Hey, did someone blow a fuse? I think we need a new fuse. Oh, we have one? Awesome! Yep, we have a new band this season called Fuse! Love it! The band consists of four members, two of whom are siblings, and their specialty is rock and indie pop. It will be interesting to see siblings working together in a band (though we’ve seen it before, but it’s still entertaining)! As an only child, I have no idea what to expect from that scenario, but I’m sure it’ll be awesome watching it play out!
I love rock and roll! Yeah, just like with Queen, Joan Jett is nowhere to be seen this season, but we do have a hard rock group! That would be the new band Seven Day Raid. Most of the members learned how to play instruments at very young ages, one even drumming to the beat of Nirvana since birth. Now that totally smells like teen spirit! No? Okay. Everyone holds such promise this season, and I get more excited every day! Can’t wait for September 15 to get here!
Click HERE to see the full Battle of the Bands Program
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.
SIFF Gift Shop by Minraed Details and download links HERE There are so many things I have wanted to do over the years and finally I have found the time to. One was to build more, and with the ability to now have retail stores in The Sims 4 I was totally inspired to finally do the SIFF Gift Shop. Along with this I have tried my hand at re-colouring objects to make my own custom content, so that was fun. Anyway, if you feel inclined to have your very own SiFF shop, the building and objects are now available.
The lot style is an old warehouse renovation complete with a small bar area for private functions and a SIFF photo studio to take pics with the stars. Upstairs is a work space, board room and staff kitchen. There is plenty of room for selling the many SIFF souvenirs that can be downloaded too
The SIFF souvenirs include Lunchboxes Tshirts Stacks of polo shirts Pencil holders Calendars for 12 months Posters and more‌
Red Carpet Photo Prompt - Red Carpet Romance The SIFF Red Carpet can, and should, include the usual celebrities on the photographer’s Red Carpet, but we always encourage you to think outside of the box with this. We will provide new prompts each week that may inspire ideas, or perhaps encourage a little story-telling along the way. We welcome all types of celebrity photos so get your Paparazzi on this season! Prompt ad photo credit (on the left) 1992Vanity
There is always plenty of love and romance on the Red Carpets so we will be looking out for your love triangles and more this season. Photo credit - right StarsAtNight Productions
Playbill Update 75 Submissions already! 9 voice actors, 13 Masters, 27 films, 3 music videos, 29 series, 1 MEP
18 countries Indonesia, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zeland, Portugal, UK/England, Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Zambia, Italy, Burma, Mexico and first time representation from Bulgaria, Slovenia and Puerto Rico! Wow!
The prompts do not have to be completed in the week that they are shared. You can use these inspirations anytime during the SIFF Red Carpet. Last week we invited our SIFF stars, producers and paparazzi to share some scenes from behind the scenes - let’s see what they are up to.
Above - the main actors from Obsessed and Take a Shot have been hanging out at the gym, trying to avoid the paparazzi and enjoy some privacy - oops, we caught you. (Sims Berrry)
Death’s Choir are not doing much to avoid the paparazzi cameras this season, of course we don’t want them to and it is great for publicity. We caught them recently on this photoshoot.
Klarissa shows Tristan how well the ratings are going so far. Maybe this publicity is paying off.
Photoset by DeathPoke
This is Mimi Lee from OK! Beat Magazine and I am here with the hottest band of the moment, Fuse! Led by lead singer Graham Bell with Lindsey Bell, Brandon King, and Jason Sandel. So Graham, tell me about the forming of Fuse. Graham: Hi Mimi, it's great to be here to do this interview for OK! Beat Magazine. Fuse started after I had been soloing for a while. My EP Firebird as a solo act was highly successful, but I realized I didn't really like going through the creative music process alone. . I wanted a group to be able to work with. My sister Lindsey at the time was in Europe doing a tour for Simnational Solo Piano Fest and I called her up and asked if she wanted to be in a band with me. Her contract was just about to end and she gladly agreed. Before she joined Fuse, no one except me and my parents knew Lindsey had a set of pipes. She was nervous about singing but she has really been amazing at it. So she joined as piano and backing vocals and we wrote the first song on our debut album, Missing You together. It was very reflective of our family at the time because a close relative had just passed away. I decided after we recorded that song that we needed another member. I had known Brandon since Freshman year at West Perry High School. Brandon was a techie who played Bass for the marching band. I knew he had skill so I called him up and asked if he stilled played. He said that he did and would be excited to join. Then Libby, Jason's manager, got in contact with xStarsAtNight Media, our recording company, and said
that Jason was great on drums. Lindsey had worked with Jason once on a photo shoot and said he was a nice guy, so he joined up and Fuse was born. That December we released our debut, Reflections and it cemented our group.
Mimi: Wow, that is a fabulous story, you all seem so close. So Lindsey tell us about your song writing and classical piano playing. Lindsey: Okay, it's very nice to meet you as well Mimi! I began playing Piano at the age of eight and I instantly fell in love with it. I was very dedicated and I wanted to be the best at it. I begin performing in competitions a year later, and I won third place. I was excited, and I wanted to continue competing. My family was very supportive of my career as a pianist and my parents even enrolled me and Graham in a local musical school. Along with our school studies, the school we went to focused heavily on music. We went to that school until I was 12 and won my first Simnational Solo Piano Fest. I had only been playing for four years, so it was definitely an honor to win. I began touring the month after the competition and didn't stop until I joined Fuse. As for songwriting, I am nowhere near as good as Graham. I was mostly into poetry writing and compositions for piano. But as I was touring, I started songwriting and it was very emotional. It allowed me to express my feelings through song and word. I sent Graham samples of my songwriting and he feel in love with one song called Tommorrows. That was actually his first single as a solo act, so I am very proud of all we both have accomplished as writers.
Mimi: Amazing, both you and Graham are fabulous as writers. I must say, on your upcoming CD, I am very excited about Interpretation. It's such a fun, bouncy song. I heard that Brandon really influenced that song, so tell us about that. Brandon: Haha, That song. (Group laugh) Interpretation is just that, the way people interpret a certain situation whether good or bad. The song was based on this one time where this situation went terribly wrong and after I began thinking about all the ways the situation could have went. The lyric, "come on baby, this interpretation of me is wrong", captures the whole song. Some girl had a wrong idea about me, and it caused some funny things to occur.
Mimi: Sounds very funny! I hope that girl has a different interpretation of you know, Brandon. So Jason, you've been playing drums since you were
in middle school, but you started in the entertainment world as a model, tell us about that. Jason: Well, it's funny you say that Mimi, because modeling was not my first thing I wanted to pursue. I wanted to be a producer and audio engineer. My first year in college I was found in modeling. I was at the local cafe that all the college students go to and this lady walked in spotted me and asked me if I had ever thought about being a model. At the time, I had no idea about modeling, but a close friend of mine was a former pageant girl who moved into modeling. She convinced me that it was an easy job, so I called that lady back and took up her office. That lady turned out to be Libby and she has been my manager ever since. My height is definitely an advantage because I am 6'3". The modeling world really enjoys that. After modeling for a couple of years, Libby tells me that Fuse needs a drummer. I gladly accepted the position because I had been a fan of Graham, and Lindsey and I walked in a fashion show for AM, a couple of months previous. It has really been fantastic to play with this group.
Mimi: How sweet!! So Graham, tell me about Ella. Are there any secrets we need to know.
Graham: Oh wow, Ella? No, she's just a good friend. Her boyfriend, Markus, is a good friend of mine. I am a big fan of his acting work. Ella is a fairly newer singer and she wanted to collab, and I heard her singing and I knew we had to. I definitely could see her becoming a big name. She has a lot of talent and she is such a sweet girl.
Mimi: Oh, don't I know. I had an interview with Ella a couple of months ago and she is a sweetie. So Lindsey, you and Jason do a lot of couple s hots, particularly your perfume shot. Tell is about that. Lindsey: Jason and I knew each other before Fuse formed and everyone thought we were for great for couple shoots. Personally, Jason and I are just friends. He is a great model though. Jason: Yeah, Lindsey is a person I respect and love as a friend.
Mimi: Aww! How cute! Brandon, any romance aspects for you? Brandon: Haha, right now I am in a great relationship.
Mimi: Care to indulge?
Brandon: Haha, um. I don't care to indulge. Our relationship is private. Only certain people know about it.
Mimi: Oh, being cheeky! Thank you all so much for taking the time to answer my questions! I appreciate it. I know I will be picking up a copy on October 27th!! Heartbeat Faster is Fuse's third studio album. Look forward to next month's issue of OK! Beat Magazine issue with an interview with Hip Hop star J-C Fallin'. Graham: Thanks! Lindsey: Thank you so much! Brandon: It was fun. Jason: Thank you, it was a delight.
THE Essential SIFF T-shirt Get your downloadable SIFF t-shirt click HERE