Hosoi Ichiba Machinima Award 2008

Apologies for the late announcement, but we are proud to announce the winner of our first Machinima Contest.

Congratulations go to Pyewacket Bellman and Niten Altamura who produced the winning video and who received the L$50,000 prize.

For the complete announcement, please see our blog article at http://hosoi-ichiba.blogspot.com/2008/07/winner-hosoi-ichiba-machinima-awards.html

We would like to thank everyone who spent the time to participate in this venture.

Pyewacket Bellman and Niten Altamura did a great job on this film.

What really works for me is the close-ups of the actors, and some
of the animations, like the girl doing a little dance by the water.

Of course the sets/scenery are great too. The old boat...like a painting.
The Japanese village ala Kurosawa. =)

It's certainly a good machinima piece for me to study and learn from!

- Infrared Wind

Lovely camera work and composition. Love how the avatars are given personality without always talking..just by gesture, location and lighting.

Do wonder though if the jump cuts in the beginning work against the serene mood? I think it would be interesting to see if doing dissolves (longer duration if that is what they used) might distract less from the peaceful mood.

All in all, inspiring especially as a way to create mood and feeling in machinima.

Just noticed this thread here! Please excuse the late response.

Thank you so much for the kind comments. You made Niten's day with "The Japanese village ala Kurosawa. =)"

I agree.. the cinematography, scenery and animations were 100% first class.

The multiple types of transitions was perhaps not inkeeping for my own personal tastes, use one that works and stick with it. I would have used fused transition overlaps, keeping the scenes flowing, one over the previous one.

The use of sound and panoramic shoots, again 100%. Not sure about the significance of the floating lights.. perhaps a cultural thing that didn't hit me.

I would hope there is a sequel... as I want to know why, for the storyboard. Very enjoyable.

The use of sound and panoramic shoots, again 100%. Not sure about the significance of the floating lights.. perhaps a cultural thing that didn't hit me.

Thanks for taking the time to watch and give creative insight. Always welcome!

Here's the link to the Hosoi Ichiba page explaining the floating lights.
http://hosoi-ichiba.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html

Ahh, now it makes sense, thanks for the link, always good to learn new things, especially about other cultures