Hello, thanks for reading.
I have started a sis 2 series "Forever, Macey" on YouTube, so far it's been watched and enjoyed by, oh about 3 people, I'd imagine.

A couple people have given me some advice but I think they;re just being nice to be honest.

If I send a link to the first 6 - all that are currently out at the moment, would someone be able to give me advice, or, shout at me for being a noob, or something. Good or bad. I am here to learn, I love the sims.

Cheerssssss.

EP-1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSICSxFB_1I
EP-2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkr7kgz0VU
EP-3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtkWsD497iw
EP-4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-q4K...&feature=relmfu
EP-5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1PP...&feature=relmfu
EP-6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UULR...channel&list=UL

Alright. Well I just watched all 6.

I've never made a movie in the sims so I can't give you to much advice, but I do have some real life film making experience. my thoughts are sporadic and all over, sorry.

WARNING: spoilers.

It was odd, in some ways you made the movie realistic (some objects) but there were a lot of areas you overlooked...

The sims themselves had the exact same hairstyles over the course of the entire film, which lasted a month or so right? I highly doubt that Macey would wear her hair in a headband while in the shower.

The funeral seemed odd. No one was there. I thought the friend would have been there, later she said she had, but we never saw her. There is also a point where Macey is sitting on top of her sons freshly buried grave, I doubt she would have. Also, since he was just buried, there wouldn't be grass growth yet.

I wanted to know what happened to the son. some sort of accident, but what exactly? How was it so bad that he died?

The make up was fantastic. The tears, the wounds, I loved all of it.

I had some problems with the music. You didn't use voice actors, so it's fine there was music playing so it wasn't all just silent, but I would recommend having music without words while characters are talking. I knew a lot of the songs, so I found myself distracted when I should have been reading the dialogue. I loved how the different songs helped convey the mood, especially the 'angry' music that would come on whenever the bad guy was around, but that can be accomplished with just background music.

I don't know much about getting sims to talk for the movie, but it seemed as if their mouths were moving to long for most of the dialogue, but the facial expressions were really great.

The whole scene at the 'doctor' was terrible. I've never been to a psychiatrist but if they really do prescribe pills before even having a couciling session with me, no way I would be so easy going about taking the pills as Macey was.

Macey said the bad guy had been harassing her, but until the end, we never really saw it. He showed up at her house once, maybe there should have been a scene with him calling constantly, or showing up around her in public to make her uneasy or something. Just to prove he didn't just come by once, then sit in his basement plotting revenge. It would have expanded his controlling and over powering nature.

There were a few other odd things. The unopened computer present sat outside Macy's home next to the bushes for 'weeks' also, a random coffee cup was on the bedroom floor the night after Macey and Jack got drunk, and in one shot of the exterior of Macey's house, suddenly beautiful flowers had popped up all over her lawn.

The interior of Macey's house was really bare. I don't think a single mom with a child aged son would have such a bare and clean house. The rooms where main shots took place (ex: Harvey's room, the hospital room) looked nice and lived in, but the hallways and background shots were neglected.

Watch your framing. I understand a new videographer would have a hard time with roaming shots, but stationary shots should always be nice and lined up, unless the situation suggests otherwise, which most in this case, did not. Make sure you arn't clipping off the tops of people heads off centering many shots. There is somthing in photography called the rule of thirds. Imagine a grid over the screen, 3 rows and 3 columns. Always make sure the shot balances out.

Careful of your 'extras'. All the random townies that walk by. Mostly you did a good job in this area, just something you should always think about though.

Some of the transitioning efects (such as the screens that would say things like 'the next day') looked VERY out of place, and made the video look amateurish. Think, in most movies, to indicate time passing, they don't usually cut to a shot of words against a black screen.

The font you used in part 6 was easier to read than the rest.

One last thing, I'm wondering if your native language is English, because there were some typos, punctuation problems and grammatical errors that are commonly occurring when using a translator program. Make sure to take care of those.


Overall, for your first film, it's a great job. Most of the tips I gave you were small, but no mater how experienced someone is, if they leave out all the little details, the audience is just going to wonder why the scene looks odd.