Speaking of making excellent machinima, "Pioneers" by Huckleberry Hax has mood, style, and excellent photography in spades. It was inspired, he tells me, "Partly [by] Elon Musk's announcements about Mars colonization (it got me thinking what that would actually be like) and partly Blade Runner 2049!" But as you'll see after you see "Pioneers", Hax's Mars trip isn't as cheery as Musk might want:
"Yes I agree it's a gloomy vision; I'm actually very interested in space exploration and excited by Musk's ambition, and there is a feeling right now amongst commentators that some of the things talked about for the last 60 years in science fiction - like a moon base - might actually be on the verge of finally happening. But that sense of 'this might just now be a real thing' made me realize that however much I might be excited by the idea I sure as hell don't want to be a Mars colonist myself. I would just miss Earth too much. And I do wonder to what extent really the thrill of being a colonist would make missing Earth bearable: would all of that eventually fade away to be replaced by a longing to go home and a realization of all the things lost? The other aspect of colonization addressed in the final minute is that it would also be incredibly dangerous."
To achieve the gorgeous Martian haze, Hax used a special WindLight filter called "[TOR] FOGGY - Peach Peche" in the Phoenix/Firestorm viewer. Which was where the inspiration from Blade Runner 2049 came from: "I came away from the cinema wondering if it was possible to make something in SL that was that orange!"
There's another way the Blade Runner sequel inspired him, which involves an important insight in editing worth learning:
"I saw a review of the film by UK critic Mark Kermode in which he talked about a technique used for teaching film students about pace - they have to clap every time the scene changes (eg, a cut to a different angle): do this with a film made in the 70s and it will be a slow clap; do it with a film made today and it will be a frantic one. Blade Runner 2049 has a very slow pace compared to most modern movies; my feeling is this places you in the scenes more - it gives you a sense of location within the space of the scene (you just can't achieve that if your viewpoint is constantly changing). Accordingly, the pace of my little film is deliberately slow and many of the scenes 'place' the viewer at a certain point... my hope is that this has added a level of immersion and made it feel more real."
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