Three Ten Pictures

I’ve discovered Xtranormal.

Dear me, this is the end.

Xtranormal’s a site where you can do everything that I’ve ever dreamed of doing–quickly, easily, poorly, and entertainingly.  It’s like QuickBASIC for filmmakers.  It makes movies.  All you do is type and click, and it makes you a movie.

Here’s how it works: you log in.  You pick “actors,” these cute little 3d cartoon things.  Then you type in text dialogue.  Then you click on a couple icons that put in camera angles.  Then you publish.  That’s it.  It’s so simple it’s inane.

The site also allows you to download a beta version of this program called STATE, which allows you to be a little (not a lot) more cinematic in your choices.

So I’ve been playing around with this thing OBSESSIVELY over the past two days, and I’m hoping it gets out of my system soon.  The mind reels, though… there are so many possibilities as to how Xtranormal and STATE will change the way we communicate.  While it can’t replace the more advanced 3D animation software–the next Toy Story will DEFINITELY not be made on STATE–it is simple and fun.  I’d say it’s probably the best way for very young filmmakers to hone their chops, especially when it comes to writing and basic camera work.

It has its flaws.  The dialogue sounds like it’s being spoken by a HAL-9000.  In addition, you can only make dialogue scenes… which prevents you from being especially ‘cinematic.’

Anyway, yesterday I made this short film in a couple hours.  It’s pretty strange, and it’s called ‘Null.’  You can view it below.

Xtranormal’s probably best when you’re doing silly short skit-style vids like the one below, but it may have some dramatic potential.  Who knows?

In closing, I’ve posted an experiment.  I copied some text from an interview transcript from my in-progress feature film Razorwire–yeah, you remember that one?  And then I turned it into the below video (this portion of dialogue will probably be in the film, by the way).  It’s unintentionally hilarious when spoken by monotonal Lego people: