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VCStudio is already been used in production. Few movies by J.Y.Amihud were done using this software, or it's previous iterations. We are counting the older Blender-Organizer here as well. Since VCStudio is just a re-implementation of the same set of features in a new language with a clearer code. The two software are perfectly compatible with each other. And you can continue Blender-Organizer projects in VCStudio seamlessly.
In this page is a list of movies made with the help of this software. If some movie is missing it's probably because we don't know about it. So if you made a movie using VCStudio, please talk to us.
I'm Not Even Human
In our world words like "mine" and "my" are synonimous with owning something. "This is my car", "This is my computer", "This thing is mine". You hear this all the time. And always people express this way a control over a peace of something they own. Unfortunatly people use phrases like "This is my child" quite often too. Simple non-carefull wording can hurt an otherwise well-intended idea. "Open-Source" is one of those examples. Trying to help the cause of Free Software. "Open-Source" was intended to be the phrase that eases big companies to join the Free Software. But instead people now mis-understand the definition of Free Software. The political ideas are lost.
I fear the same could happen to "This is my child". I fear that in a hundred years from now children will become property of adults. Think about un-intentionally promoting a form of slavery. That does not really exist now. But that people subcountiosly already percieve as "normal". Parents percieved notion of ownership over the children that they raise is already a thing. Control of thoughts. Censorship of ideas. Who you can be friends with and who you can't. All big things start small. And we need to do something about it right now.
In 2015 or so. I was thinking a lot about this idea. The movie "I'm Not Even Human" came to my mind. How about presenting the dystopian future to the audience. Make them think about it. Maybe I could manage to start a conversation.
For the film's production I utilized a lot of Free Software tools. GNU / Linux operating system. Blender. GNU Image Manupulation Program. But one thing I didn't have. It's was a producer. At Blender Foundation where they made Sintel and Spring. They have Ton Roseendaal to yell at them. To decide what to do next. To see how the project is going. In my situation there was only me.
I tried solving the problem using spreadsheets and paper. And it worked somewhat. But I needed something better. Seeing how I can build simple GTK applications using python. I started developing a programm that will manage for me stuff like checklists and folder creation. The programm was called "Organizer". It was a very simple thing. But by the end of the project it matured into a full on peace of software.
The movie "I'm Not Even Human" was released on YouTube on June 1st 2018. I know. YouTube is not the best place. Not the most Free Software one. But I didn't know any better back then. Now you can watch it on the new, decentralized, Free Software alternative to YouTube called "LBRY".
The Package, The Car & The Time Is Running Out
After I'm Not Even Human I had a movie project. I wanted to make an Israeli cinema movie. I thought that one 32 minute animated film was enough to go right to the cinema stuff. With budgets and real crew. And stuff. There were 3 problems with the movie.
Problem 1: I had in mind a structure to write which required hell of a lot of concentration. It's a kind of non-linear, but some what linear, story with a twists and a lot of crazy tension grabbing buildups. All to compensate the apperant budget of the movie. Which I knew would be small. Think of Christopher Nolan's Memento. Where the budget is tiny. But the structure is extreme. So to compensate for the lack of epicness on the screen.
I tried writting it a traditional way. Using Libre Office. And after multiple drafts of complite faliure I knew I needed some kind of clever solution. My solution was to extend the "Organizer" I had written for I'm Not Even Human to make a kind of visual story planning tool. I called it "Story Editor". It required writting new UI elements. For nodes and things like that. And I ended up rewritting the entire UI of the Organizer. Making it look some what more modern. And I also changed the name of the programm to "Blender-Organizer".
Problem 2: I had in mind a short, but epic car chase sequence that I wanted to make regardless of how small the budget will be. I knew I could pitch the CGI approach. But they could either think it's impossible. Or require me to use some "Industy Standard" non-free software to do that job. Which I didn't want.
My solution was to film something like this myself. Just a simple car chase thing. To be able to show something. And so the project of The Package, The Car & The Time Is Running Out started. Using the new Blender-Organizer. The short film was relesed later in 2018. And even re-twitted by Ton Roseendaal.
Problem 3: The companies needed me to have views before talking to me about a movie. I think it's good that I didn't end up making the film the traditional way. They would've taken it to Netflix or something similar after the Cinema run. And it would be released with DRM and require running non-free software to watch legally. Not good.
Solution? For now I'm thinking on maybe making it myself. It will require some hard work on the part of finding people and locations. And paying all the expenses. Also there is an idea of making it animated. The script is written. Tho I will not release it untill it comes out. Probably.
Moria's Race (Work In Progress)
In the begining of 2020 a friend of mine called me with an idea to make children cartoons for YouTube. I tried to explain her that it's not a viable platform. Especially for children's entertainment. Since their buisness is based on tracking people and selling their data. The law of the USA requires them to decrease the discoverability of children's entertainment.
I'm Not Even Human is not technically "made for kids". It's designed to look like "made for kids" to break in through the censoring. Which even tho worked to some extent. Made some parents pissed off at me. And I recieved a lot of hate for that kind of thing. My little brothers for example are not allowed to see my film. Because it's technically R rated. I don't like MPAA rating system. I used it to illustrate the point. Also I'm Not Even Human is not even rated at all. By any system. At least as I type it.
Returning to Christopher Nolan ( Who was born on July 30. As I am too. ) This time giving me another idea that I would steal. His war epic Dunkirk was rated PG-13. Which meant that the movie is not relying on shock value. But rather on the quality of the tension. In an interview somewhere he talked about how they watched a print of Saving Private Ryan in the pre-production to the movie. And he noticed that people turned away from the screens way too often due to graphical nature of the film. In order to make people see every frame of his expencive 70mm film he needed a solution. And his solution was not to show graphic images. But instead use film tricks to establish the most tension possible. Which worked wonderfully.
He basically made a kosher movie that makes you feel things. I thought about revisiting the ideas of I'm Not Even Human but presenting it in a way that will not make me yelled at by angry parents. I made a curse free script. Which has no violence or sexual references. ( Unlike I'm Not Even Human ). And started turning it into a movie.
At the moment of typing it. VCStudio shows about 60% of the film done. I have all the assets, characters, cars and locations done. I cannot start making the animation though, because I'm trying to get the voices recorded. I could maybe do the animation using a temp tracks of myself saying the lines. But it's going to introduce a huge amount of problems later to re-time all the recordings I'll do with the real actors. I have a few kids that can voice our main characters. But there is a logistical nightmare now with the pandemic to actually do that. I hope I will manage it somehow.
Since the movie is not finished yet I will give you different links.
