Mithrandiryod Productions

The Glue:
Just wanted to let you guys officially know, if you keep up with this page, that TS: RT: Episode 1 is now available on the net. I began writing for this season back during my hiatus in the fall, and it’s taken a bit of doing, but we’re finally back on track for the next act of Tango Squad. Recovery Team, is the middle part of the Tango Squad saga, and while it may not necessarily be an actual saga, being that the first two acts comprised 6 episodes each, I’m doing my best to set up the big final act for next season. I do hope you enjoy the little bits I put into the story and don’t get too bogged down on what you think or don’t think somebody may have done first.

It should first be noted that the title for this series has changed. The reason, Recovery 1 was already the title of a RvB series of machinima. While this naming was completely harmless in nature with no intention of plagiarizing RvB, as I had seen the series before I felt compeled to change the title. I had a feeling when I named the series that it was a little too easy thinking of the name, but when I did an initial check of the RvB site, I didn’t see any reference to it visible to me, so I went ahead with it. That said the new title was derived before the first episode was released and I hope to move forward with the series as scheduled.

To be honest when I released the promo for this series, I knew I had “borrowed,” one or two ideas from another popular series, but it was primarily because I felt it fit in the joke. The bit in question was something that hadn’t been used in several years, and I thought it was funny enough to reuse….if you don’t like it then you obviously haven’t watched many comedians and other shows who do the same thing with the same storylines over and over, while trying to add their own comedic spin. Machinima to me is Machinima, and while most people would be content to call anything anybody else does after the awesomeness that is RvB and Arby n The Chief stealing from them….they really shouldn’t be so quick to judge. Most Machinima directors need to start somewhere…and most will go with what they know and what they actually enjoy themselves. It takes a while to develop one’s own style. Some things work…some don’t, and to all who continue to blast others video’s with this continuous mantra…if you don’t like it….DON’T WATCH IT. To all who think Machinima has become FAIL or crap….DON’T WATCH IT!

Vote with your feet…er mouse….er browser. Better yet…develop your own story….take your own time and make something you want to watch and submit it to the world. Hopefully you’re successful and re-energize the genre, taking it in a fantastic new direction. If you do…congratulations…you’ve accomplished what all of us are attempting to do….if you don’t perhaps you’ll have a better understanding of what I’m talking about. I myself, as I’ve said before, don’t do this for personal gain. I don’t give out my real name, nor will I for any machinima (If you’re clever enough you know who I am by now anyways). I do this for the pure fun of it, it’s a hobby. To everyone who did enjoy my video and left encouragement thank you very much it was well received…or those who didn’t as well as any constructive criticism that actually made a valid point. Thanks again for watching, I hope to continue to produce stuff that you’ll enjoy.

Ok, rant over…now it begins. Act 2, Season 2, Time Waste 2….whatever you call it, it has released today, and I do hope you enjoy it.

admin MYP 2010 Season Bungie, Halo, Machinima, Microsoft, Red vs Blue, Tango Squad, XBOX 360

We’re working on it we’re working on it….

The Glue:
Wow things sure are slow on the site, but that’s to be expected when I won’t have anything to show till the new season.  There hasn’t been too much to write or twitter lately because of various reasons (school being one of them). For now I thought I would post a little something to show that I am not dead (rather you could consider my absence a brief “hiatus”), in fact I am very much working for next year.

I know that anyone who still checks this site, or my YouTube page is probably actually concerned when I’ll release something new and is still interested in what I’m doing. To those of you whom this applies to, “Thank You.” I don’t expect everyone to share this view. I know as well as anyone, that in the current climate of internet popularity (which I’m still sure I’ve never had), you’re only as good as your next project. With that I’d like to first say that I am indeed working on a couple of projects that I intend to start releasing starting in January (somewhere in there).  And after a long break from my last release, I hope to be able to produce a steady stream of decent content with only a few minor hiccups along the way. That being said, I thought I’d take a bit of time to give you a bit of behind the scenes content of what’s happening with MYP.

The 2010 season for MYP, I’m happy to let slip, will be featuring the second act to my first machinima series: Tango Squad. I tinkered around with the thought of leaving this as a brief introductory series to introduce myself to machinima and work on technique. While I did learn a lot, during my brainstorming, I was able to develop a whole series of stories that span at least three acts. The first of these, act one, was guard duty. It was simple, and I tried to do several things with it, humor and serious wise. Act 2 will feature Tango Squad as they continue where we left them last…trying to recover the item they were guarding. I can’t promise that it’ll be the best thing you’ve ever seen, but I’m rather proud of where I’m taking the series as a whole, and hope that people will enjoy it. Act 3, is tentatively scheduled for 2011 and will be the finale of the series. I may do a one shot here or there based on it, but otherwise, that’s all I have planned for Tango Squad.

But wait, the fun doesn’t stop there. While Tango Squad was being released, I noticed that several of the comments, yes I read them occasionally (even if they are discouraging at times *shrugs*), were very disappointed that the machinima was “just another Halo Machinima” or simply stated, “why can’t there be machinima from another game, Halo’s been done to death?” I thought about this for a while, and soon after wards scrapped a Halo script that I had been writing (and wasn’t too happy with) and started working on something else. As such, I am also developing yet another machinima that is not made from the Halo 3 engine, that I hope the masses will enjoy. I don’t want to say what it is just yet, but hopefully you’ll get a kick out of it.

If you haven’t guessed by now, the bulk of my released work next year is going to be Machinima. No particular reason why, except that it’s the medium I’ve chosen to work in for a bit while I let a few other ideas stew and work on others that will take a bit longer than normal to produce. As you can see, now that I’ve gotten the scripting done, I have to actually shoot the game play prior to editing (side note: yes I know I don’t show my face in shots…there’s a reason for this, though I suppose if you’re relatively clever you can deduce who I am and what I look like). During that time I usually record the voice work and then proceed to primary editing. It does take a bit of time, but it’s usually worth it in the end. While it is only a standard procedure for most productions and I suppose if there is enough interest I’ll elaborate further. Though if you’re truly interested in how this is done in further detail, or just want more pointers, might I recommend digitalph33rs guide to making machinima? It’s fairly straightforward and offers several good tips for your machinima work.

Being on “Hiatus” has given me a little more time to think and work on what I hope will be an excellent season for MYP. Truthfully the hiatus was only necessary due to poor planning on my part, but with every problem one experiences, one also learns. As you can see, there is some work being done and I should have more to say on the subject soon. To everyone who is still staying with me during this “hiatus” I want to assure you that I am working very hard to ensure that I won’t need to go on Hiatus again for quite a while. Anyways, I’ll try to post more if I have some time or there is enough interest, but either way you should expect the next major announcement to be the 2010 Season starting, and a few promos being released *crosses his fingers*.

Till next time…..

admin The Glue MYP, Production, The Glue, XBOX 360

GTAIV…dang it’s addicting

The Glue:
Man that’s a long freaking title to this weeks post..but it’s semi true. I’ll explain in a bit, but first a flashback sequence. About three months ago, I was making the rounds at my local Gamestop, looking into what they may have. Ok the truth was I was bored out of my mind. I needed to kill a little bit of time waiting for a food order, so I stopped in. While browsing the shelves I noticed that there were several copies of a game that I would have normally avoided like the plague, because of the genre and what goes into it. Yes, I knew the game won several Gaming awards from IGN and had earned a high recommendation, but that didn’t stop me from stereotyping it previously, especially at a new games price. However, the price seemed VERY reasonable for a used game, and since my friend had been bugging me about it and had nearly hit me when I said I hadn’t played it, I decided to buy it on a lark.

The game I’m referring to is Grand Theft Auto 4. I brought the game home and tossed it onto my shelf and forgot about it, happily fragging away on GOW 2 and living my life normally. About a couple of weeks ago I saw it again, and my curiosity got the better of me, and well, I popped it in. At first I didn’t like it. The visuals, while good for the environment and art direction of the game, didn’t completely appeal to me. However, as I played I found myself getting more and more hooked into it, until I couldn’t put the controller down, and spent several nights working through the game.

I’m normally not a fan of the hip hop community by nature, but the point of the posting is that I’m here today to say to you, don’t turn away from a game, that everyone else says is good, just because of a basic prejudice. Give it a try you never know what you may like.

That’s all for this week, stay tuned for next week.

admin The Glue Grand Theft Auto, XBOX 360