Category Archives: News

More Community Spotlights

batman-spotlightOne thing that we love doing is watching things that dudes from the community have made concerning our ridiculous library of Smooth Few Films work. It’s baffling to us that people like what we do enough to spend their own free time making a tribute to it.

Before, we’ve posted some community favorites of ours, so I thought I’d repeat that again with some new links that we found recently.

Check these out:

  • Day in the Life of a Turret piano cover. Though sometimes YouTube can be a pit of despair, there are plenty of dudes that make it worth it to be there, such as David Debono, who has an awesome video of him playing Nine to Five, the song from our Portal video. We were hanging out last week during our shoot when Jace found this video and promptly freaked out, he was so excited.

  • TLW Season 2 trailer. A pretty impressively put-together trailer for our 2nd season. While it’s not heavy on effects and such, the guy just did a great job of researching through the season and finding some great lines. The clips are organized really well and the trailer kind of pumped me up a little for the finale, even though I know how it ends.

  • TLW Typography. This one needs almost no explanation. It kind of made me a lulz bandit.

So yeah, view those guys for some awesome tributes. We have some hearts for them. And if you have anymore things that you want to draw our attention to, send them over.

Oh, and if you’re wanting a TLW Finale update, our target is still this upcoming week. Probably later rather than sooner. Also, everyone dies. Not really. But maybe.

Reunion-ing

filmThis weekend marked the second time that Smooth Few Films has been together in the 2 years since The Leet World started, and we had ourselves a good time. A hard, busy, working-like-burros time, but a good time nonetheless. Mr. Dangerous, Jace Ford himself, flew down from California to bring his expertise and his music to the new project and the finale. Our webmaster and co-writer JJ also drove in from Austin.

We used the holiday weekend to beat the new project like it stole something from us (ex: our lives), putting in four consecutive twelve hour work days. We also talked Final Fantasy 7, video game music, argued about making a cooler of beer look awesome, and ate lots of queso.

Signing deals means deadlines, and we are rushing like crazy to meet them. In all honesty, we probably shouldn’t be working on the TLW Finale at all to make sure that we hit these mystical lines of death, but we are doing so whenever we can spare an instant, just for you guys, since we think you’re cool. We’ve barely been able to make much progress on it in the last two weeks. That being said, the Finale should be out some time next week. Or at least, that’s what we’re gunning for. Feel free to woot.

If you’re curious about what our weekend looked like, hit the jump to see some pictarz of our SFF Reunion. Jace is the wild one that looks like an animal.
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The Working Folk

workingThat is us. We are hard working dudes when we are not being geeks. In fact, in the midst of devoting nearly all of our time to the new mystery project, we’ve managed to accidentally finish filming the TLW Finale. Go figure. Does that mean it’s coming out soon?

Soon-ish. We’ve still got lots of post-production stuff to do, not to mention Jace writing the music. But we’re getting closer. I’ll let you know when we’re about a week out. Believe me, nobody wants this thing out worse than us. But as I’ve said, the new project takes precedence, so we’re doing all that we can to make sure we can work on both of those without hurting the new one.

We’ve put an extensive bit of time into the finale so that it offers a satisfying conclusion and doesn’t leave you guys hanging. We’re happy with how it’s going to end. It wraps up the story pretty well, since there’s a chance we might not get to work on the movie for a long time, if at all.

In terms of the new project, Jace is actually flying down to help us with it next weekend, and even JJ, our kindly Web master and TLW co-writer is going to join. It’ll be the second time that all of Smooth Few Films has been together since TLW started, so that is worth a hell yeah or two, if you’re feeling wild. I really can’t wait to do some show and tell with you guys, and I apologize for all of the vague language. Just know that we’re working hard and we appreciate you dudes for hanging out with us.

Also, Batman: Arkham Asylum is awesome. That is important to know, too. Just saying.

Screenshot World, Yeah

Thanks for all of the congratulatory posts regarding our news from last week. I really wish I could tell you guys some more, but unfortunately, that cat has to remain in the bag for just a little while longer. All I can say is that this new project is already starting to eat up all of our time, and will continue to do so for months to come. Funny enough, we are managing to put one time sucker to rest in exchange for a shinier one.

It is impacting the series finale (and already affected Episode 13) in a few ways, mainly in that it’s taking longer to make. We’re getting pretty close to being done filming it completely, and as I said before, I’ll let you guys know when we’re about a week away from release.

In the meantime, check out some new screenshots. They contain images of machinima ownage and dudes shooting at other dudes.

tlw214_ss4 tlw214_ss5 tlw214_ss6

Also, has anyone seen District 9? I’m planning on going this weekend and I keep hearing great things. I have a condition where I ache to see awesome sci-fi action, and the movie appears to be able to scratch my itch in a meaningful way.

Wheels and Deals

Exciting news! Hold on to your butts.

Here’s what I can tell you: we just got a big deal to produce Smooth Few Films content. No, it is not TLW. I can’t tell you who we made the deal with or go into more details about it, but trust me when I say it was a pretty crazy moment for us when we found out they were interested.

This means the “band is staying together” essentially, and that all of us (including Daniel) are rearranging some plans so that we can invest ourselves into this project. As a bonus for you guys, it means lots more Smooth Few Films content after The Leet World is over, which wasn’t going to be the case before.

This is a huge opportunity that deserves all of our time. It’s the kind of thing that we’ve been working towards for the last two years. We’re kind of giving it all we’ve got. So it means there are probably going to be some more changes coming soon, and it is partially responsible for the extended time that Episode 14 is taking us.

We’ll give some more information when we can, but our hands are a little tied. Rest assured, you should stick around for all of this because it’s going to be badass.

The Dog Days

Texas Summers are like living on some distant star. The boiling, the heat, the humidity (for us Houstonians, anyway)… it just wears a man down to his bones, or whatever other endoskeleton that is used to construct geeks like ourselves. In the midst of all of that, we’re still toiling away at the final episode of TLW, one scene at a time.

Some of you may have noticed that there’s been a bit of radio silence for the last few weeks. There are a few reasons for that. Part of it is that there has been some vacationing going on, and another is something that we hope to tell you about soon. Still another part is that Episode 14 is the Godzilla of episodes. It is obese. All others bow before it. That hyperbole simply means that it is big.

I’d say we’ve got about a third of it left to film, but it’s the hard third (that’s what she said), so take that with a grain of salt. When we’re nearing about a week from release, we’ll let you know. It’s not that time yet, good sirs.

Maybe these screenshots will tide you over, but probably not.

tlw214_ss1 tlw214_ss2 tlw214_ss3

Feel free to speculate. Thanks for sticking around to see this thing through with us, dudes. You’re kind of awesome in that way.

The Homecoming

Ok, so I lied. It wasn’t this weekend, it was actually sooner. I doubt you’ll hold it against me for very long. Here’s Episode 13 of Season 2 of The Leet World, Army of One, available for your review.

In this episode, we continue to build up to the explosive series finale, which will be a rather exciting conclusion, if I do say so myself. Some guys argue, the Producer spills the beans, there are some cyborgs and perhaps a big surprise by the end. Re: the surprise, allow me to be the first to say it… Served.

To check out the high res version of the episode, mosey over to the TLW premiere page. Or just hit the jump to see the regular version if you’re not feeling up to its awesomeness.
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Return of Daniel-san

karate-kidDaniel arrived back in town this weekend, much to the joy of myself and one bearded compatriot. No, not Miyagi. We’ve got a lot of stuff on our plate right now, some of which you don’t know about, so it’s nice to have the team together yet again.

Episode 13 should be out sometime this weekend, so stay tuned for that one. As I said before, it’s the first part of the series finale, and you’ll probably be mad about where it ends. Just saying. Episode 14 will be out hopefully around mid-August, depending on how things go. I’ve got some vacation time coming up this weekend and we’ve got those other unmentionables looming over us, so there are all kinds of things between now and then that could derail that particular train like a crane kick to the jaw. Let’s hope not, though.

So, now that Season 2 (and the series) is almost over, what’s been your favorite episode of the second season? Go!

Unlucky Screens

Just wanted to stop in and give a quick update about the progress of Episode 13, part 1 of the series finale. It’s mostly in the can, with post production left in front of it. It should be out next week at some point. Don’t hold me to that, though. We all know how I hate magical binding contracts. Especially when it comes to picking release dates.

In other news, Daniel finally returns this weekend. He’s been living it up and having fun in other places (read: touching butts) while Nick and I slave away at Leet World. But don’t worry, we’re not bitter. Much. Regardless, we’ll be glad to have him back. There might be group hugs and/or beers to celebrate.

Besides all that, we’re already working on stuff for Episode 14, which is part 2 of the series finale and hugely massive. Anywho, here are some screenshots from Episode 13.

tlw213_ss1 tlw213_ss2 tlw213_ss3

Enjoy. Also, if you haven’t been reading Anthony’s Phantasy Star game blogs over at GamerSushi, you are seriously missing out on some hilarious video game writing.

Where the Magic Happens

tlwsetupNick and I have been hard at work on the series finale, parts 1 and 2 for the last couple of weeks. We’re hoping to release them close together, but we haven’t quite decided on how that will go down yet. We have a limited amount of time to finish all of this, and we’re working our butts off to do so. You’ll get the first screenshots this weekend or early next week.

I know that some of you long timers have seen some of our setup pictures before, but I thought it would be cool to talk about again. For those of you that don’t know, TLW isn’t made inside of a studio, but rather, in my spare bedroom, with a total of 6-7 computers, depending on what’s working at the time. That’s machinima for you.

Ideally, we’d show this in the making of video we’ve been wanting to do, but that’s been put on hold indefinitely while we try to finish this darn show. Anywho, there’s a general overview, with pictures, after the jump.
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