Filming Tips
Introduction
I have spent the last couple of years learning all sorts about machinima. I have done loads of test and found all the things that work and
looks great. I have also scoured the internet looking for others and their experiences to see if I can learn anything from them, and I
certainly have. I've made all sorts of little things, (much of which is not available for viewing on Laila Mania), but Simville will be the
first time I try a large project.
I decided before I start Simville I should refresh my mind of everything I have learned and decided to put this page together so I can
share it all with you. I hope you can make use of it.
Filming Tips Menu
Thinking About It
Character & Set Building
The Filming Process
Editing
Back-Up
Debugging Tool Guide
Cheats by Expansion Packs
Thinking About It
Watch Movies
There are so many great movies and movie makers out there, it's worth watching as many as you possibly can. Get a feel for what can
be achieved, observe and decide what you think makes a great movie and what makes a really bad movie.
Read reviews to see what the majority of the audience felt was great or horrible, this way you can get a real feel for The Sims 2
machinima community. If you don't know where to start looking for great movies then start here with my 'Movie Makers' page. You can
get lost in great movies by visiting my links and then moving onto their movie links.
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Play The Game
My personal opinion is you have to be a simmer to make movies using this medium. If you are not a sim fanatic, whom loves to play
the game and get lost in the lives of your sims, then I would say that this isn't the machinima medium for you. I say this because
knowing this game inside and out is the first real key to making a success. Knowledge is power!
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Prepare for Filming
Optimise
Your PC needs to be working at its best before attempting to film with The Sims 2. It's very demanding on a PC, particularly with all
the expansion packs installed and top graphic settings, most home PC's cannot run the game to it's full potential, but there are things
that can be done to help.
There is basic care that should be done for your home PC regardless of what you are doing with it, for instance you should regularly
let your virus scanner complete searches and destroy all harmful files and you should defragment your PC from time-to-time, best to
perform this after uninstalling software or destroying harmful files. Make sure you have done these things very recently before you
start filming.
Turn off all unnecessary programs such as internet browsers and instant messaging services. Your Sims 2 manual can give you the low
down on everything you can turn off and how, some simmer even turn off their virus programs while filming, (but never forget to turn it
back on after). All of these things can affect the final picture quality you can achieve.
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Test
There are various different graphic and sound settings plus different picture sizes you can film at. I went to town on testing what
the best result was that I could achieve with my PC while recording. I started with everything on max (the ideal) and worked backwards
till I found something that gave me a good quality movie, luckily I didn't have to reduce much and all I filmed was sims doing things
around the house.
My advice would be to reduce the things that bother you the least if they are gone. I like to have smooth edges on and I like to have
background noise from the game. Keeping sound on can dramatically reduce your picture quality, an option is to record sound from the game,
make them into sound files and add them at editing, but my PC did these things just fine. Another thing I really like is to have the
neighbourhood showing in the background and again this can also be very demanding, if I had to pick between background visual or sound I
bin the sound and keep the visual. Testing is the only way to find the best result.
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Idea
This is the most important part of your movie. I think without a good story that has direction and purpose, people will lose interest
and not continue to watch your work. I am always filled with great ideas for movies, but I have to be honest, writing is not my strongest
point and so I need all the help and advice I can get. I often mess up my ideas when I come to writing the script; this is why I have made
this page, keep my notes of everything I have learned together.
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Storyboard
This part of the process has been so important in my work, this is where I decide on characters, sets, order and direction of the story
and pre-conceived ideas of great screen shots or directing. It is literally a flow chart process of my story, with a clear beginning, middle
and end; I decide all my characters personalities, what their participation will be, everything. It's all decided here apart from what words
will be spoken.
I still do this process if I'm making a music video only I know there will be no script writing after, this is the final process of writing
before I start filming, so in these cases I like to spend a lot more time on my storyboard.
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Character & Set Building
Character Building
Just a few tips, nothing to heavy. Its common practice to create your 'actors' in body shop, this way you can have multiples of the same
'actor'. There are a couple of good reasons for this, one being you can make minor alterations to the original design, such as add custom
skins so your sims can look ill or beaten up. Another good reason is to change their features, you can change the shape of their eyebrows and
mouth to make them look happy, angry or sad without them needing to 'emote' in-game.
One more good reason to have more of the same sim is to give them different personalities so they will do different things for longer. Movie
makers may have numerous versions of the same character in one house making filming a varity of scenes quickly and easily, it also gives you
the opportunity to have a spare sim 'hold' the plumbbob during a shoot.
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Set Building
There are a few basic rules with sets, these rules are not so important with small lots, but essential for large lots if you want them to run
smoothly. To be honest I can only think of one occasion where you would use a large lot, my advice would be to keep sets on small to medium
lots only.
I have made tutorials for set building which are viewable on 'My Sim Page' under 'My Uploads', this way it's easier for me to illustrate my
ideas for set designs. I hope they help!
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The Filming Process
One of the most important things to do before you start filming is to know what kind of cheats and hacks are out there to make filming
a lot easier, so don't forget to read through that section from start to finish. But here are some other ideas which can make the filming
process even easier.
Organisation
Being organised is so important, keep your cuts safe and ordered, you will appreciate this when you come to edit your movie and I find it
easier to shot the scenes in order, it also helps continuity.
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Animations
It is general practice to keep all plumbbobs, bubbles and all the other animations out of your movie, it help keeps the realism. Of
course some stories embrace such items like my Simville series, however it only acknowledges plumbbobs and even then rarely
showes them.
The are even more animations such as stars that can appear above your sims head, it's best to try to keep this out. There are
cheats and hacks to help with this.
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Directing
Tight shots make filming a lot easier. Shots from a distance can make things really tricky, it means more to keep your eye on during
a shoot and leaves more room for error, and if it can go wrong, it will go wrong.
Make sure that walls are always up when shooting indoors and that you can't see over the top of the wall to the outside, it's really
un-cool and nobody wants to see it. You can get ceiling tiles to help with this, it's actually really great to have shots showing there
is a ceiling in the room...well I think it is.
You don't want your sims doing what THEY want to, so make sure the 'Free Will' is off on the options menu, in addition always film an
excessive amount of extra film, believe me when I say this helps so much when getting the lip syncing right.
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Cameraman
The Sims 2 has a 'cameraman' feature built in and it helps get some great shots. When in game just hit TAB and it puts you into
cameraman, using the arrow keys you can move about and using the mouse you can 'look' all around without limit. This feature can help
you get some great shots and with a little imagination can make a nice looking movie into a great looking movie.
One of the biggest challenges I have been faced with is moving shots. It's so hard to get a steady moving shot, but practice makes
perfect and it's worth the work, because the outcome looks great (A good editing suite can help with this).
Lastly you can save camera shots which can be useful for various things, this can be done by holding CTRL and numbers 4-9.
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Editing
I find the easiest way is to edit a scene at a time. My screenplay is always broken down into manageable scenes, I then shoot them in
order and when I feel I have enough I come out of the game and do all the editing till it's complete. There are a few good reasons for
this, one being if I don't have enough footage it's easy for me to go back and get some more as all my characters and sets are still set
up for this scene and secondly I find it easier to manage the entire project. When one scene is signed off, then I don't have to think
about it again.
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Sound & Picture
I can't say 100% what should come first, sometimes I find it easier to edit to the voices and sometimes I find it easier to record the
voices over the top of the animation.
I figure it out by recording the voices first, we have a few rehearsals and then go in for the kill and record the lot. I will then shoot
and edit to the voices adding background noise and music last. However I often come up against a moment where I just can't lip-sync it and
I've already exhausted the tricks for hiding their mouth i.e. looking past the back of their head and to whom they are speaking with. So
I make it look as good as I can then I record the voices to that particular scene again, only this time we work to the picture.
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Top Three Tips
My top tips in bullet form:
1. Crop the beginning and end of any shoots you use, you don't want people to hear the pause function going from the game.
2. Transitions are great fun, but don't over use them or your movie will run the risk of looking unprofessional, use these effects sparingly.
3. If you have a long scene don't keep the picture static, vary your camera angles a bit.
I've since come across other people giving filming advice and these seem to be pretty key, almost text book these days.
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Green/Blue Screen
Yep you can use the hollywood tricks for the sims aswell, most editing suites offer this function to you. Just make a green or blue screen
in the background or floor (depending on what you want to impose to the scene) and then when editing change the green or blue to an image
and you have a new looking set. It is so versitile, with this technique you can make sims walk around in a real-life backdrop.
It's often called 'Chroma Keying', you can arrange for the editing suit to make a certain colour transparent, leaving you to replace it with an
image of your choice. Just make sure that the colour you make transparent isn't repeated in clothes or items on the set, or it will show
through them aswell.
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Credits
Just make sure these aren't to long, get anything real important in there and leave the rest. If the amount of custom content and voice
actors is extensive, you could credit them on your website (if you have one) saving file size and streaming time on your movie. However it
is nice to have a couple of basic titles and credits in an appropriate font for a film.
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Back-Up
There are various things you can do. There is a very basic back-up, which I would suggest if you are looking to use the debugging tool or
general 'Boolprop' options. In the 'My Documents' folder there should be an 'EA Games' folder, in there you will find 'The Sims 2', just copy
this folder and somewhere else on your hard drive find a safe place to paste it. This just means that should you encounter a problem with your
game you can put your copy over the place of the original to 'restore' the game as it was before everything went wrong.
Another, better way of backing it up is to burn this same folder to a CD or DVD. This means that should your PC suddenly blow-up one day you
have your sims saved, this is even more practical if you use a flash drive or memory stick. It is easier to keep up-to-date this way then having
to burn new CDs. I tend to use this method, I only do it once a month or when there has been a major change to the game, like a new house that
took me ages to build.
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Cheats by Expansion Packs
All the Expansion Packs (EPs) have their advantages and can offer tools for making great movies. My advice is to own them all, (but I would say
that). Here is a list of the EPs advantages, this way you can see what is currently available to you with what EP's you have (if any)
and give you the opportunity to know what to get if you wish to add to your collection, but please be aware that The Sims 2 on it's own
can do a fine job of movie making, it can just be a bit restricting.
All cheats need to be entered into the cheat bar, you access this by pressing Ctrl, Shift & C together. In the top left-hand corner you
will see a bar appear with a flashing curser. The words I type in bold is what you would put into this bar to activate or de-activate a cheat. If at
any point you want this bar to disappear type Exit into it or press ESC. I won't be listing every cheat here, only ones I feel are really useful
when filming.
All the boolprop cheats in my list are active, to switch off the cheat replace the word true with false or the word false with true.
General Cheats
kaching: Gives 1,000 to the household.
motherlode: Gives 50,000 to the household.
moveObjects on: Allows you to place any item anywhere.
aging off: Stops your sims in the selected household from growing any older.
sethour [0-23]: Change the time.
terrainType [temperate/Desert/Dirt/Concrete]: Changes the terrain typr of the lot.
unlockCareer Rewards: Does what it sayd.
Slowmotion [0-8]: 0 is normal speed and 8 is the slowest.
boolprop snapObjectsToGrid false: Allows you to slide objects rather then having to stick to square grid.
boolprop renderSelectedSimLevel true: Walls will not cut away from a selected sim.
boolprop lockTiles flase: Place floor tiles anywhere on your lot, good for hiding the road.
boolprop constrainFloorElevation false: Raise and lower the terrain no matter what lies upon it.
boolprop carsCompact true: Inceases detail on cars in neighbourhood screen.
boolprop showFloorGrid false: Hides the square grid in build and buy mode.
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University Released 03/11/05
EP Advantages
Items: Musical instruments (125 new items) & Cow plant (I love the cow plant)
Building: Place objects diagonally & Construct higher then 5 floors
Other: Young Adult Life Stage
EP Cheats
boolprop allow45DegreeAngleOfRotation true: Use the comma key to rotate the object at 45 degrees instead of 90.
boolprop dormSpecificToolsDisabled true: The disabled buy and build options become available.
setHighestAllowedLevel [level]: Allows you to build higher then five floors.
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Nightlife Released 16/09/05
EP Advantages
Items: Cars, Bowling Alley & Karaoke Machine (125 new items)
Building: See neighbouring lots, Roof Angle cheat & Neighbourhood decorations
Other: Hide most symbols above sims heads
EP Cheats
familfunds [familyname][value]: You can choose the amount you add or take away just add a +/- in the value part.
showHeadlines on: Shows/Hides all thought and speech bolloons.
roofSlopeAngle [15-75]: Change the angle on all rooftops on a lot.
unlockCareerRewards: Unlocks all career reward items.
motiveDecay on: This will stop the need bars from decaying.
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Open for Business Released 03/03/06
EP Advantages
Items: Elevator & (125 new items)
Building: Amend owned community lots while in-game
Other: Cheat to remove plumbbobs & Change the time of day
EP Cheats
Forcetwins: Use this on a pregnant sim, then at birth twins will be born.
Plumbbob toggle on: Makes the plumb bob disappear.
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Pets Released 18/10/06
EP Advantages
Items: Pets
Building: New Roof Angle cheat (change individual rooftops on one lot)
Other: None I can think of
EP Cheats
boolprop DisablePuppyKittenAging true: Aging cheat for cats and dogs.
IndividualRoofSlopeAngle [15/75]: Change the angle on individual rooftops on a lot.
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Seasons Released 01/03/07
EP Advantages
Items: Fruit & Vegetables
Building: Greenhouses
Other: Seasons (Rain, Snow, Lighting, Sunshine, etc)
EP Cheats
bugJarTimeDecay off: Captured bugs in a jar will live forever.
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Bon Voyage Released 07/09/07
Items: Tent
Building: Hotels
Other: Holidays (Locations: Oriental, Beach, Forest resort)
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