Well, last month we officially passed the three year birthday of Smooth Few Films. That’s right, in August of 2007 we first started posting Leet World episodes, and the rest is kind of history, I suppose. A good or bad history? Who knows. In fact, thanks to Matt and the trusty Web Archives, we actually have a snapshot of the old Web site, in that first week of posting.

It’s funny thinking back to those first few weeks. We’ve told the story several times in a variety of different ways, but we honestly thought we would only make a few episodes and then stop the whole thing. It was unplanned, partially spontaneous, and then the support for what we were doing was ludicrously overwhelming, which helped us through some of the more brutal production runs. Interesting fact: we came this (imagine me holding my finger and thumb really close together) close to quitting during the production of Episode 11 of Season 1. Two series and a few years later bring a bit of perspective, and it’s been a mostly nice ride, though it’s had its own share of bumps. Which is why the current break is rocking our faces.

Anyway, I’m curious: of the people left that are still faithfully checking this site (thanks so much, by the way), how many of you were here since the very beginning? If not, when did you first stumble across our humble abode on the Intertubez? Answer away, commenters and lurkers.

P.S. Stay tuned for more free tracks of the TLW Season 1 soundtrack.

I apologize for the lack of updates. As you guys know, we’re on kind of a break for a bit, enjoying some good books, movies, video games and the like. You know, normal life stuff. But as I said before, the creative fires won’t be quelled for too long, and hopefully we can give you something on that front in a bit. You’ll be the first to know. Or something like that.

Anyway, last post I promised some cool content, and I’m here to deliver. You may have noticed that we decided to take down the TLW Store a bit back, or maybe you didn’t because you loathe stores of all kind. Either way, the TLW Soundtrack was being sold there for about two years running. Since so much time has passed, we thought we would be nice and give out a few of its tracks for free, starting with the TLW Theme Jam that you’ve heard on a couple of videos here and there. It’s basically the normal Leet World theme, but with some extra sauce from Jace. Anyway, it’s one of my favorite tracks on the album, so I hope you enjoy it.

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Right click and save as to download. More coming soon.

In other news, who’s seen Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World? I’m hearing fantastic things about it, and I can’t wait to see it.

Man, it’s been quiet around here lately, eh? Since Web Zeroes ended a few weeks ago, the wheels have been turning a bit slow around the SFF wagon, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped altogether. The biggest and most frequently asked question that we’ve seen in the last month or so has been: what’s next? I wanted to answer for that you guys as best as I could so you know that we haven’t hitched a ride on dragons out of the country or something.

The short of it is this: we’re not quite sure what’s next. That’s not for a lack of ideas at all. In fact, we actually have a surplus of them. The tricky part is narrowing it down, which will only come with time to weight out their pros and cons, and also time to chill out a bit. For real, we’re just starting to get used to having our weekends back for the first time in several years, and we’re going to enjoy that for a bit before we throw ourselves onto the content skillet again. It is a hot and buttery place. OK, that metaphor got kind of weird.

Anyway, the only thing I can really tell you is this. Our next ideas aren’t exactly small potatoes. They’re big. Orca fat, I guess you could say. Up until now, we’ve done everything without a budget and without a huge supply of time. Everything has been quick, free and dirty. The last episode of Web Zeroes is something we were able to throw a bunch of time at, and I think the effort really shows. As a result, we’re going to make sure that whatever we do next we tackle with both time and money. Just think: if we’ve pulled off the stuff we’ve done so far without a budget or ample time, it’s tough to imagine what we could do with just a little of both. Or a lot of both, which would be preferable.

And no, these do not include TLW. In conjunction with wanting to do our next project with the aforementioned time and money, we also want to be able to own it. TLW is the opposite of that, as we’ve discussed on many a fine occasion.

So, stay tuned. I promise more info is coming, along with regular updates. Some things that we’re hoping to have on the docket in the next few weeks include more lost TLW factoids, some Web Zeroes features and other cool things I can’t say just yet. In the meantime, check out GamerSushi, where we’ve got cool gaming news and podcasts.

In other machinima news, have you seen this Gears of War 3 trailer created by a variety of producers including The Duo Group, Treadster Media, Kootra and Sound Wizardry. I love it.

Discuss, gents.

Over the weekend, we had the super awesome series wrap party for Web Zeroes, where we had drinks and food while hanging out with fans and friends. It was a nice way to close the chapter on what was a long and grueling year for us. The highlight of the evening for me was probably when we all watched the series finale together at the close of the night, and everyone sang along to the WZ theme that ended the episode.

Releasing stuff on the Internet, we get so used to just putting a video up and moving onto the next thing. Viewer reactions are just words on a screen, so it’s just a really nice break to see people face to face who love the show and to hear their laughter while we watch in a big group. Nice to know that there have been some folks enjoying it in that way at their own homes. Or at least, that’s the hope.

Anyway, we’ve put up a time lapse video of the entire series wrap party. Check it out. Many thanks to our buddy Ryan Johnson for putting it together. Music is by Jace, of course, and it gets pretty rocking by the end. He’s the one whose face appears about halfway through, by the way.

And yes, Ahmad and Leeroy are there in the fray. Happy hunting.

A few people have asked about some of the music in the Web Zeroes Series Finale that aired yesterday, most specifically the rocking Earth Angel theme that Jace cooked up. Because we’re such nice dudes, we thought we’d bring you guys a few gifts. Right click and save-as on the direct links to download them.

Earth Angel

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Web Zeroes Theme

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Techstrogen Theme

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We’re seriously getting tons of great messages about the finale so far, and we really appreciate all the support we’ve seen from all of you. Enjoy the awesome music.

Well dudes, here it is: the final episode of Web Zeroes, appropriately and unimaginatively titled Series Finale. If I could have chosen a subtitle, it would fall anywhere in the range of “Earth Zeroes” to “In Which They All Became Cylons”. In a happy coincidence, the finale is a huge tribute to Back to the Future, which happened to have its 25th anniversary last weekend. Funny how these things sometimes work out completely unplanned.

In this episode, the guys put everything on the line to get their show done in time to deliver it to Revision3. There is some battling, advice from war heroes, BttF-ing, and more. I think it stands as maybe the best episode we’ve done, and among some of our best work, partly because of Jace’s killer anthem near the end of the episode. Then again, I’m a little biased.

There’s not really much else to say to you guys about the episode, other than thanks for watching it. We always knew that we would lose a lot of viewers after Leet World ended, so those of you that continue to hang out, comment, watch our show and share it with others are among some of the cooler folks on the planet. If you’re interested in reading some more of my thoughts on the end of Web Zeroes, I’ve put a few over on my blog. And if you happen to be in the Houston area, you should come say hi to us at the WZ Series Wrap Party this Saturday, where we’ll be hanging out and having fun.

For now, hit the jump to watch the final episode! (more…)

After a couple of weeks off to catch back up on the show, we now return with Episode 24 of Web Zeroes, Adverse Effects. In this episode, we see the guys deal with the surprise of incorporating ads into their show, and what all that means for the road ahead. Naturally, there are schemes and jokes, and things continue to progress with Alex’s co-workers as well, which will lead up to a spectacular season finale, if I do say so myself.

Many big thanks to JJ, who penned a great episode yet again. Also, I’d like to give a shout out to Miguel, who plays Scott, and did a fantastic job. Give those two guys a hand, as well as Jace, who always kills it each week on the musical front. These people are like ninjas at their crafts, so it’s cool that I know ninjas, I think.

And now for some news…

The season 2 finale (Episode 25) will also be the finale of the show itself. Next week will mark the end of Web Zeroes. We’ve known that’s how it was going to be for a month or so now, but couldn’t really talk about it until the release of this episode. I wish we could have told you guys sooner, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles. I think it’s important to note that ending the show is our decision, mostly because it has just been too exhausting to do the show as a part time job in addition to our day jobs. We’re thankful to Revision3 for the opportunity to broadcast this show to a much bigger audience than we had before, and for allowing us the privilege of being their first scripted series.
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I don’t care if you’re a Harry Potter fan or not, this trailer is awesome. Very curious about where they’re going to be splitting this movie in two. Any guesses?

In other news, one of my favorite Halo 3 machinimas, Forecast: The Series has resumed with the premiere of Season 2. Check it out!

Several months back, I released a few articles about some of the lost storylines and little known behind the scenes details concerning our machinima show, The Leet World. In part 1, I went over things such as Player’s original identity and Chet’s father. With part 2, I shed some light on a few unexplored story threads like Darth Westy or Dead Leeroy.

Even though almost a year has gone by since the show’s end, we still receive plenty of inquiries about these features, so I thought I’d bring it back with even more tidbits that you guys never knew.

So let’s get started. Details are after the jump!

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As I said last week, there will be no new episodes of Web Zeroes this week or next week. We’re trying to get everything together so we can release the last two episodes of the season back to back. This thing has truly been a grind this season, and… ah, screw it, just blame Nick’s beard. That’s usually what I do in situations like this, and I’ve found it works for me.

However, in the absence of a good and proper new Web Zeroes episode, I’ll be releasing another post concerning some more Lost TLW Factoids, including the whole deal with Ahmad’s chip as well as some other lesser known gems. I think any Leet World fans out there will want to come take a look at it for sure.

Last week, I posted a cool fan video that re-created The Office intro with Web Zeroes clips. This week, I bring another similar treat in the form of the Law and Order intro re-made with Web Zeroes. This was a big hit with us during filming over the weekend, and we stopped shooting just to watch it once we saw that it was out. Much thanks. Stuff like this that you fans do is such a treat for us. The idea that anyone would spend time paying tribute to something I work on still baffles me.

In other news, this is E3 week, and we are covering it over on GamerSushi, so you should check it out. Nick has been tweeting the press conferences from the GamerSushi account, and it’s an absolute riot. In addition, we’ve recapped the Microsoft press conference, as well as the Sony and Nintendo conferences. The Sony one includes some Portal 2 information. Head on over to the site and join the community, it’s a great place.

What are you guys looking forward to from E3? Left4Dead 3? Lol j/k.