Category Archives: News

Who Watches the Watchmen?

watchmenI started reading The Watchmen this week in preparation for the movie’s release, and also because I’ve been putting it off forever. I understand that it is a notch in the contemporary geek’s bedpost to say he’s read Watchmen, but I really have just never gotten around to it.

I’m trying not to get my hopes up about the movie too much. For one, I’m not sure how they are going to pull off the story, which in the graphic novel meanders on a slowly unraveling thread all around a generational mystery. Beyond that, there’s no way they could possibly cram everything into even a 161 minute outing.

And while the Watchmen trailers are actually shirt rippingly awesome, I do worry that it’s one of those trailers that will end up being better than the movie. Because yes, sometimes this happens. And I have quite a few examples where this has happened in recent years, Sin City being the most notable of the bunch, whose trailer pulled off something much more interesting than the end product:

Hit the other examples after the jump.
Continue reading →

The Wonderful (Leet) World of Television

oldtvWe here at Smooth Few Films are huge television fans, if you haven’t been able to gather that from podcasts, comments, or even bits and pieces of content you’ve seen in our videos. Personally, I gobble up TV shows like nobody’s business, and I’m following way too many to keep track of at the moment. My DVR is swollen and burning with righteous indignation at the suffering I’ve put it through recording Lost, House, 24 and Battlestar Galactica, to name a few.

Anywho, I say all of that because our love for TV no doubt reflects in The Leet World. Apparently, some very observant viewer thought enough of the show to put up a Leet World page on TV Tropes. Listed in the article are several recurring themes from the wide terrain of television that have made their way into our goofy Counter-Strike:Source machinima. They range from the “Big No” to the “Handicapped Badass” themes that we use.

The funny thing is, most of these are intentional on our parts, but some of them actually aren’t, which just means that they’ve been ingrained into our psyche as creative TV watchers. Anywho, it’s a really cool analysis of The Leet World, and if you click on each of the tropes, you can find more specific examples and analysis given about the show more in-depth.

This is probably one of the coolest things a fan has written about what we make, and it really made our day to see it. It’s cool to see someone recognize all the layers that are actually going on with the characters. We really do put a lot of effort into that. So to whoever did it, lots of thanks.

In other news, we’ve got a TLW short coming next week that I think you guys will dig. Stay tuned! By the way, what are your favorite TV shows?

Everything’s Amazing, Nobody’s Happy

Saw this great clip yesterday from Conan O’Brien and Louis CK. I find it to be an absurdly funny rant about the culture we live in. More specifically, I think it actually offers a witty, insightful, sobering depiction of the Internet in general.

All web content creators can probably identify with this in some way, in terms of people feeling entitled to things they weren’t aware of until 10 seconds ago. Create on you crazy web pioneers, with those megabyte wagons rolling along. Watch out for the dysentery, though. On the trail, it’s a killer.

EDIT: Our hosting provider is experiencing some issues tonight, so the site could range from slow to not working. Should be back soon!

Storm’s Coming

stormThanks for all the comments on Episode 5. Like I’ve said before, we’re really getting into the swing of things this season. It is getting rather served, as some friendly folks are wont to say.

The story is just starting to get to the good stuff. Two more episodes, and we’ll be sitting on the half way mark of the season. How I wish you dudes knew what was marching relentlessly towards you…

I’ve been playing the junk out of Civilization Revolution lately. For a console RTS, the controls aren’t bad, and it’s actually surprisingly fun. Also, for those of you that played Mass Effect, there is a sequel coming, and the teaser rules.

The last episode ended on a bit of an ominous note. The storm is coming, and we’ve even got a few screenshots to prove it.

tlw206screen01 tlw206screen02 tlw206screen03

Enjoy!

The List is in the Open

ChickenHere is Episode 5 of Season 2 of The Leet World, Return to Sender. In this episode, a surprise awaits the contestants as the Producer continues to influence the course of the season. And we finally get a glimpse of what the Terrorists have been hiding…

Remember, check out the TLW premiere page for a higher-res version of the episode. If it’s not showing the new ep, just refresh or clear your browser cache. See the episode after the jump!

Continue reading →

The CTU Connection

24Season 7 of 24 is swinging for the fences, and yet again, it is a series dominated by badasses. In the newest escapades of Jack Bauer and company, there are all kinds of crazy plotlines involving political intrigue, the machinations of an evil government, and the action cyborg Keifer Sutherland.

One of these new, exciting plotlines brought back a revamped and slightly more badass version of former CTU agent Tony Almeda, now a terrorist against the U.S. government. We believe we know where they got their inspiration for this character.

tonycortez

Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence speaks for itself. Tony, I know you’ve done some bad things. Cortez has done worse. He can kill you with a single burro multiple times before your body hits the floor.

Oh, and in other news- Episode 5 of TLW Season 2 is out early next week. Woot and such.

More Season 2 Outtakes

micSince Daniel was out of town this weekend, Nick and I did some general house cleaning in terms of production, so that was good. It’s really nice to be ahead this season, and you’ll probably hear me say that over and over again for the next couple of months.

If there was anyway to let you understand the amount of pure getting kicked in the nuts factor that last season’s workload caused for us, I would demonstrate it for you, believe me. But alas, these cursed Intertubes don’t permit that kind of data transfer.

As promised, here are the outtakes from Episodes 3 and 4 of the new TLW season. You know the drill. Us goofing around, messing up, trying to make each other laugh while recording audio, etc. Also, Daniel almost dies.

http://www.smoothfewfilms.com/extras/tlw203204outtakes.mp3

Enjoy! Right click and “save as” to download. And check out my Halo Wars impressions if you’re interested.

The Golden Arcs

l4dFebruary is kind of a weird month, as different people are out of town on different weekends, but we’ll do our best to manage. That’s how we roll.

Been doing some solid TLW work this week, both in Hammer and with some script-writing. In addition, you guys should have some audio outtakes at some point this weekend from the last two TLW episodes.

I’m kind of excited about this. Yay Left 4 Dead DLC and its zombie goodness. When I’m not working on SFF stuff, I’m playing it, or Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3.

When we released Episode 4, I mentioned that this season is being developed in 3-4 episode arcs. Basically, we are making one arc at a time, and trying to stay ahead that way. It’s essentially how we made the finale, as one gigantic episode split into 3 parts. Thinking about this, it made me wonder what everyone’s favorite “arcs” were so far in The Leet World. So, vote and tell us!

This poll is now closed.

The Big Cinco

snowThanks for all the great responses to Episode 4, dudes. Season 2 can be likened to a tiny snowball thrown down a hill, that just gets bigger and bigger until it demolishes some humble village down below. Only instead of snow, this ball is made of awesome. And instead of some humble village, it’s you people.

Over the next few weeks, we’re going to be filming some of what we do so that we can put together a nice little “making of The Leet World” feature. I’m really hoping we can show some of our process and have it be a mini-tutorial on Source machinima as well. Either that, or it’ll just be us acting like morons. I’m cool with either.

Speaking of the future, here are some screenshots lifted directly from some place later in our own frenzied timeline. Well, not really, but they are from Episode Five, so that’s kind of the future, right?

tlw205_screen1 tlw205_screen2 tlw205_screen3