For the love of all things RIDICULOUS

First off, my Frag Doll Application is finished! This time around, instead of me sitting in front of a camera and answering questions, my boyfriend suggested that I should read a story. I loved the idea, and spent the next few days creating my storybook; laying out all the pictures, deciding what videos should be displayed as I spoke and when, and creating the storybook text. Jason (my boyfriend) and I spent the next week setting up lights, filming scenes, and trying to find time to sleep somewhere in between it all.

I submitted the written portion of my application on Friday afternoon, and my fantastic boyfriend spent the entire day editing my video interview. Now, you might be thinking "But Kim, the video interview is only a 3 minute movie....what could possibly take him so long to edit it?" WELL - aside from horrible traffic, sleep deprivation, and crashing computers, we also had to deal with creating a "living storybook," complete with videos and green screen captures. Here are pictures, just to show you how massive this "video interview" undertaking was...

 (Lights filling up my Living Room)

 (Massive Green Screen)

(My mom on the green screen) 

(My boyfriend, the talented director) 

 (Me, being a princess)

(Me, being a Space Marine Princess)

(Test Run!)

(The Set - look at all those controllers!)

(Opening page of my storybook)

(Reading beneath the camera)

(So many controllers)

(Last day of filming)

As you can see, we put a ton of effort into this film. Little did we know that tragedy would strike just before the deadline. When we tried to render the final product - Jason's computer crashed! We didn't realize it at the time, but one of our green screen film captures was causing the problem, so every time we tried to run the 30+ minute render, it would crash. Running out of time, Jason thought quickly and rendered a copy of just one film take - that of me in front of the camera reading the storybook (sadly, all his hard work editing would not be submitted). After that was rendered, we only had a little bit of time to send the video through yousendit.com - and just sending the video took many hours. At this point, I wasn't even sure if my application would be accepted, since the video interview would probably be received after the deadline.

We were pretty bummed, but this whole experience has inspired me to do better and plan ahead for these applications. I've already started thinking about what I'll do next time...

And just so you all can see the difference in the movie we did send to the Cadettes and the one we should have sent in, here they are:

Film (no green screen captures or editing):

Film (edited, final version that should have been sent in):

Grrrrrr

I'm super frustrated with my Frag Doll Cadette application this round. I have every block imaginable - writers block, creative/artsy block, GAMING BLOCK....It suddenly feels like everything I think or do isn't correct in the slightest. Ugh.

Sorry, I had to let some frustration out here. I'm hoping to have it all done by Thursday night (due date is midnight Friday). I think the worst part is knowing that no matter what I do for the application, the final decision still comes down to a random drawing.

Curse you chance, curse you.

Favorite Openings

As you can tell, I haven't been in the mood to write anything deep or meaningful recently...so I will continue my random blog posts with my favorite video game openings!



Chrono Cross
I distinctly remember hearing this song before I even knew what this game was. I had a demo cd for this game with only five songs on it - this song being the first track. I would listen to it on repeat for the longest time, and I didn't care what the game was about - I knew I had to have it. I still have my copy of the game, and I'm tempted to go back and replay it....and for the record, the OST for this game is amazing.



Final Fantasy VIII
"Liberi Fatali" is certainly one of my favorite songs by Nobuo Uetmatsu (although, I tend to love all his songs), but the video for this fits so well! Of course after I saw this opening I knew I had to get the game...I believe my cousin had it, and after a while he was kind enough to give me his copy :-)



The Legend of Dragoon
Not the greatest intro movie, but it certainly had me hooked! Well that, plus the cover of the game box. This one just brings back good memories...



Dynasty Warriors 6
"Ok, first I'm going to throw my cape and distract you. Then, I'm going to run on water, do some flips and stuff, nearly sink the ship when I land on it too. Next I'm gonna fight a little bit, but as soon as Lu Bu shows up I'm going to get super-human strength in just my hand and rocket-launch my weapon at him...finally, I'll fight Lu Bu one-on-one, while in fire, in the middle of the sky. Sounds like a plan!" - as told by Zhao Yun. I love the extreme ridiculousness.

Thats all for now! I'll probably have another post at some point in the future with more fantastic Video Game Openings!

Love [CG Style]

I usually don't write about this kind of stuff - but I read a blog post recently (written by an amazing woman and dear friend) about love and, specifically, favorite famous couples. I've decided to write a similar blog post about my favorite Video Game Couples (sappy, I know). So, here we go! (In no particular order...except for this first one)

Tidus and Yuna from Final Fantasy X

Nothing says True Love like Tragedy. Tragic romances are certainly my favorite, and the love story of Yuna and Tidus is no exception. I certainly don't want to give away the story here, but it is well worth playing the 80+ hours of Final Fantasy X just to find out what happens to these two reluctant love birds. Not to mention that they have one of the most beautiful love themes - I consider both Suteki Da Ne and To Zanarkand their themes, To Zanarkand being my favorite (Listen here!)

Zelda & Link from The Legend of Zelda

I don't know a single gamer who doesn't love, or at least know of the love story between the elf-boy Link and the Princess Zelda. Classic and timeless; a young boy gifted with strength, determination, and a sweet set of weapons is chosen to save the land of Hyrule and its Princess, Zelda, from the evil Gannondorf. "Zelda: A Link to the Past" was one of the first games I ever beat, and being the impressionable young girl that I was, I couldn't help but love the game and the couple the story centered around. Ah, young love :-)

Nate Drake and Elena Fisher from Uncharted

What's not to love about this couple? He's the sexy 'tomb raider', she's the cute but gutsy reporter, and both kick some serious booty. Nothing spells romantic like a nice night searching for hidden treasure while dodging traps, encountering big bad baddies and engaging in mass shootouts....::sigh:: Some girls have all the fun...

Dart and Shana from The Legend of Dragoon

Such a sweet story! A love that grows between childhood friends... after Dart returns from a war to find that Shana has been taken away for mysterious reasons. Did I mention that they get to turn into neat Dragoons with sweet armor and wings? Oh, and don't listen to those haters talking about how this is a carbon copy of FFVII, they just don't get it ;-)

Wakka and Lulu from Final Fantasy X

I like this relationship, if only because it makes little sense. He is the happy-go-lucky Blitzball jock and she's the gothic magic caster....so how'd they get together? I dunno, but I like this representation of opposite-attraction.

Serge and Kid from Chrono Cross

In one world he was meant to die...but in another, he was meant to fight, search for a long-lost past, switch bodies with the big baddie, and of course - fall in love! A story about what should have been and what is...Twilight could learn a thing or two from this couple (just kidding ladies, just kidding...)

Amy and Raphael from Soul Calibur

What is one thing that I love more than fencing? It's a slightly creepy, slightly disturbed, possibly undead fencing couple! Raphael, the gentleman fencer turned vampire, has decided to take a young woman, Amy, under his wing....to which he trains her to fight and at one point, even promises to change the world for her so that she might fit in...creepy, but I love it!

Lu Bu and Diao Chan from Dynasty Warriors (and history)

Now this is a power couple. An invincible general of warn-torn China who falls in love with a servant girl and ends up killing the man he considered his "father" for her (among other reasons)....ahhh, such a love as to be known throughout history as the "Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

Largo and Jann from Valkyria Chronicles

Largo

Jann

As much as I would love for these two to be an item...they're not. But, anyone who has played Valkyria Chronicles should get the reference.  "Oh Largo, you're the only man for me!"

Well, that's all for my favorite video game couples. But which ones did I miss? Let me know :-)