Lots of work, I’ll tell you that.

I was very grateful to get more exposure on campus and to have the opportunity to act in as many films as I did. It allowed me to grow more as an actor and as a filmmaker. So much work goes into a film, it’s insane. I’ll admit that I just don’t understand what makes audio so difficult, or why a gaffer wants a light a certain way, or the procedure grips go through to make sure the set is safe, or all the incredible amounts of pre-production goes into making a short film.

Seriously, film crews deserve all the respect. They earn their jobs with so much work.

Anywho, I’ll be uploading and posting the films I’ve been in this past semester in the days to come.

EDIT: New short films-
“The Review“
“Coffee Buzz-Kill“
“Communication”

Machinima-
“Madvilladrex: The Medicine for Gamers”

It’s been a while.

Several factors contribute to my extended hiatus from updating this site. Starting with login issues, I was, for a time, unable to login to the Blog Dashboard. My information was correct, but I kept receiving an error of sorts. I have also been very busy school-wise, what with my acting career and general academics. However, all is well, and I fully plan on uploading and linking my new videos here.

Lets get back to business. Since my last update, I have acted in a few more short films.
“The Review“, “Coffee Buzz-Kill“, and “Baked Sale” are all short films I have acted in during my ’09-’10 semester. Links will be posted shortly.

“Communication” is my best video to date. Written and Directed by yours truly, I made this video as an entry for the 2009 Campus Movie Fest. The film revolves around a college girl who is ‘connected’ to her online life yet lacks a personal connection in her day to day life.

This film was screened as one of the Top 16 films of my university and was Third Runner-Up for the AT&T Wildcard Viewer’s Choice Award.

Machinima-wise, my newest film is Madvilladrex: The Medicine for Gamers. It is a parody of the medicinal commercials we see nowadays on TV, but now, it’s for you, the gamer!

Currently, I’m still toying with various scripts and different ideas. I’m thinking about creating a gaming-oriented show, not necessarily machinima, where I discuss topics that relate to gaming as a whole.

Additionally, I have been interviewed twice to date for my machinima work. The first interview was conducted by CEUnited.com for the CEUnited 20 Questions segment of October 2009. It is a 20 question survey regarding basic machinima FAQ, my interests, etc.

My second interview was conducted in January of 2010. This interview was for Phillip White, a student at the University of Winchester located in London, UK. His project is to

…Question whether gaming holds the social stigma it once did, to compare this to the representation today and ultimately suggest whether the increasing attention and exposure to this medium is necessarily a good thing (i.e. is this continually evolving for better or worse?)

This was a very in-depth interview, in which I discussed gaming culture, the significance of machinima, film-making and what it has to do with gamers, and much more. You can follow Philip White’s progress and analysis of gaming stigma at his site, http://www.Player2PressStart.weebly.com/index.html.

I will be updating this site with links to the aforementioned videos and interviews shortly.
YEAH!

EDIT: Interviews-
“Critical Reflection, Social Gaming Stigma, & Machinima’s Impact on Gamers”, conducted by Philip White of Player2PressStart.Weebly.com

“20 Questions with Mad Villager”,
conducted by Willy of CEUnited.com

1,000 Subscribers, baby! BOOYAH!

Party at my place.
Feel free to bring your own refreshments.

“Machinima, Explained.” has been featured at our affiliate site TheRunningRiot.com as well as being named “Machinima of the Week” and featured at Hawty McBloggy’s gaming blog. Awesome! Please be sure to check these websites out.

EDIT: “Machinima, Explained.” is also featured on the Bungie.net Blog,
the “Tuesday Afternoon at the Movies” news post on Halo.Bungie.Org,
and the “Featured Videos” list at Machinima.com.
Woohoo!

In other news, I’m working on scripts for future Mad Thought of The Day episodes.

Video after the jump.

Obviously, I have more time for machinima now that I don’t have school to worry about for awhile. Expect to see Mad Thought of The Day: Episode 5 out soon. I’m also writing a dramatic machinima simply titled: Inquisitor.

In other news, I picked up Sims 3 yesterday and I’m quite tempted to make a machinima or two using the Sims engine. Who knows, maybe it’ll be a series one day!

Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube and visit my fanpage on Facebook!

YouTube Channel
Mad Villager on Facebook

The new Mad Map Tour is online. Like all of my Mad Map Tours, I take players on a comprehensive tour of the map. I cover everything from Weapon Spawns, Basic Strategy, Objective Spawns, and how players are able to grab Sandbox’s skull.

Mind you, if you don’t want to know the skull location in the video, and you would rather find it on your own, you can stop watching after the credits roll =D

Click the picture at the top of this post to be directed to the video page.

Mad Map Tour: Sandbox Questions
Q: Why didn’t you tell players about the Sky Bubble and the Crypt?
A: My Mad Map Tours cover the default layouts of the Multiplayer maps as found in Matchmaking. I make these tours so players can learn a map easier, find out where everything is, so that when they jump into a Matchmaking game with the map, they aren’t lost and they’ll actually have fun. I will not be covering Forge-only aspects in the Mad Map Tours.

Q: I found the skull another way! Why did you show it the hard way?
A: To be honest, I was just messing around in Forge with a friend to test the “Guardian” lasers. We built a tunnel out randomly, trying to get as far as we could. By coincidence, we found the Skull =P

So through Machinima.com, I have been able to get myself a Director Page on Machinima.com’s Facebook. You should definitely head on over if you have a Facebook of your own.

Mad Villager’s Facebook Page
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mad-Villager-Films/56247063900

Don’t forget to become a fan!

With Spring Break coming up, I plan on tackling a few videos that have eluded me for some time. Mad Map Tours should be complete soon ( read should ), I’ve been “writing” the script for Mad Thought of The Day: Episode 5 in my head for months now, and a plethora of Halo shorts.

I also have another machinima series in mind. This time around, it won’t be Mad Villager helping players improve. No, no, no. It will be a plot-oriented, series machinima. It’s in the pre-production phase of script writing, but you can bet that it’ll be quite the leap from informational videos. No, it won’t be a silly little comedy like everything else out there. You’ll see it in time.

In real-movie news, Red vs Blue: A Campus Divided is still a topic to be heard amongst fans. To this day, I’ll have friends and classmates that recommend this short film to others. Haven’t seen it yet? Go on over and watch the video already!

There have been a bunch of film ideas darting in and out of my mind recently. I’ve been itching to make another short film, but I can’t put my finger on one particular script or idea. Hopefully I can get over this block soon and make a new film. We’ll see.

COMING SOON:
*Mad Map Tour: Episode 3 – Sandbox
(In Progress)

*Mad Map Tour: Episode 4 – Assembly
(Pre-Production)

*Mad Thought of The Day: Episode 5
(Pre-Production)

*Inquisitor
(Pre-Production)

This tour is the most comprehensive Orbital Tour you’ll find. I cover all the weapon spawns, Objective spawns, and even the secret skull! Mind you, if you don’t want to find the skull, you can still watch the video. I give players enough time to stop watching with “Spoiler Alerts”.

At the moment, I’m working on the Mad Map Tour for Sandbox. If there’s anything you specifically liked about this tour, of if you would like for me to add new things to the tour, please let me know. Also, I plan on releasing a video after all the tours are out that covers all the Forge items.

If you’re visiting this site for the first time, welcome! Be sure to check out my other videos, my friends & affiliates, and please read the FAQ before sending me a question.

Video after the jump.

Mad Map Tour - Orbital

Recently Machinima.com has uploaded my video, “Coming Soon: Mad Map Tours of Mythic Maps” to YouTube.com.  You’ll be able to watch the video at the bottom of this post, but in a nutshell it is giving viewers a heads-up regarding my new mini series. 

At the time of post-production editing for the video, Bungie had not released information as to when the maps would be on marketplace.  However, according to http://www.bungie.net/News/content.aspx?type=topnews&cid=17547, which was published after I finished the video, the maps will be available, “…weeks after the release of Halo Wars” for 800 Microsoft points.

So, if you pre-ordered Halo Wars, LE, nothing has changed. However, if you want the maps and not Halo Wars, you’ll simply have to wait a few weeks more.

Apologies if this has confused anyone, I was simply working off of the information that was released at the time. I’ll be sure to mention this in my next Mad Map Tours video.

Mad Map Tours Promo Video

Mad Map Tours FAQ

Q: Why do this, Mad Villager?
A: Its simple, really. With my first machinima series, Mad Thought of The Day, my goal was to help Halo 3 players improve by showing them all-too-common mistakes in entertaining machinima videos. With the release of new maps soon, I figured another way I can help Halo 3 players is by touring them through unfamiliar ground. I know it definitely helped me when I watched a video or two online that showed me where all the weapons were on a map when it came out. That way, players can spend less time learning a map and more time enjoying it =D

Q: What will you cover in you Mad Map Tours?
A: What I plan on covering in my tours:
1.) Weapon Spawns
2.) Objective Spawns
3.) Special Jumps
4.) Different Routes for Objectives
5.) Skulls
6.) Forge Items

Q: In what order will you tour the new maps?
A: Honestly, I’m excited over all of the maps. I’ll first tour viewers through the map I deem the, “WHOA. This is awesome!” map, and continue from there. Mind you, I’ll release all three tours around the same time, so stay tuned to my YouTube channel or Machinima’s channel.