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| STORY | |||||||||||||||||||||||
A specific set of ideas and customs lead these people to seek to spread, to have more, to expand... and they have the means by which to do so at their disposal. Their cultural identity is cherished in and of itself, an ongoing expression standing testament to their goals, accomplishments and ambitions. How best to express this identity is open to debate and interpretation. Competing economic, political, military and diplomatic interests threaten to undermine all that is and all that could be. Then come the others. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| STRUCTURE | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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With the occasional exception for the sake of simplicity or "creative license", Age of Nations (AoN) adheres to the 'rules and conventions' of Rise of Nations (RoN) in its writing and structure. All characters to appear throughout the series will represent a category of the game's land units whose nature is defined in-part by that unit's existing in-game characteristics. All episodes will be linked together in one or more ways including primary and secondary story arcs and multi-part installments.
AoN is created using a combination of hardware and software. Personal computers, microphones and digital camcorders are the pieces of hardware in use. Besides Rise of Nations itself, the software combination of HyperCam from Hyperionics, Adobe Premiere Pro 7 from Adobe Systems Incorporated and Video Edit Magic from DeskShare is used in the technical production of the series. A number of audio editing programs are also being employed, the most prominent of which is Audacity, an independently collaborated program distributed via SoundForge. It is used in the editing and compilation of each episode's soundtrack, as well as the recording of dialogue of some voice actors. Due to the inability to zoom close-up on any given unit or other object in RoN, 'live' action footage is incorporated within the pilot and has the potential to be present in degrees in future episodes. Permission to use this game's copyrights and trademarks for the purposes of creating and distributing AoN was secured by its development team at Apolyton Civilization Site (ACS) from RoN developer Big Huge Games (BHG) prior to the series' development. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| MACHINIMA | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Machinima is a blend of machine and cinema. It is both a collection of associated production techniques and a film genre, or film created by such production techniques. As a production technique, the term concerns the rendering of Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) using 3D engines found in video games. As a film genre, the term refers to movies created by this technique. Machine refers to a computer and/or video game system, while cinema can refer to a number of elements including genre and production practices.
"Machinima" was spelled slightly differently when first-born: "machinema". Due to a number of assorted reasons, including pronunciation concerns based on its spelling, this was soon changed to the more commonly recognized and adopted "machinima" spelling. For more information on this evolving media form, visit Machinima.com and Wikipedia's entry. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| EXTRA | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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EX104: "SAY WHAT?" (April 24th, 2007) When being filmed, what do the live actors portraying series characters actually say to the camera? Find out in this special production where snippets of these individuals' 'real' names, voices and words are revealed publicly for the first time. Director Stan "stankarp" Karpinski's voice can be heard in the background giving instructions from time-to-time. [ Discuss... ]
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ENDS1P: "END SEASON 1 MUSIC VIDEO (Episodes 108-114)" (April 10th, 2007) Creator/Producer Daniel "DanQ" Quick put together this video montage of clips from Episodes 108-114 of the series. Set to the theme of Nickelback's "If Everyone Cared". [ Discuss... ]
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EX103: "SEASON 1 COMMENTARY" (January 29th, 2007) During the recording of Episode 109's commentary, Creator/Producer Daniel "DanQ" Quick and Voice Actor Tom "padillah" Padilla talked more than could be fit into the episode's runtime. Moreover, discussion quickly turned more general to the series itself. Recorded on October 27th, 2006. [ Discuss... ]
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EX102: "APOLYCON '06 GREETINGS" Commentary (August 10th, 2006) Creator/Producer Daniel "DanQ" Quick takes a solo run in the exposition of this special production. Topics of discussion include but are not limited to the 'blended' nature of this series, dialogue edits and having an ensemble cast represented well enough on-screen. Quick also wrote the script. [ Discuss... ]
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EX102: "APOLYCON '06 GREETINGS" (July 20th, 2006) Written and produced for official registrants of ApolyCon '06. It uses the opportunity to poke fun at Apolyton Civilization Site from which the conference was based, Rise of Nations, and the series itself. Includes a number of characters "breaking the fourth wall" and introduces a never-before-seen character. This work was first shown 'live' at this event in Timonium, MD on July 8th, 2006. [ Discuss... ]
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EX102: "APOLYCON '06 GREETINGS" Promo (July 13th, 2006) Preview of scenes from this special clip. Written and produced for official registrants of ApolyCon '06. While this full work was first shown 'live' at this event in Timonium, MD on July 8th, 2006, this "sneak peak" was included first on the 'UltimatePack 1.0' CD all attendees received later that day. [ Discuss... ]
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MIDS1P: "MID-SEASON 1 MUSIC VIDEO (Episodes 101-107)" (June 29th, 2006) Creator/Producer Daniel "DanQ" Quick put together this video montage of clips from Episodes 101-107 of the series. Set to the theme of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". [ Discuss... ]
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EX101: "SKYPE CONFERENCING TEST" (February 2nd, 2006) Creator/Producer Daniel "DanQ" Quick, Co-Executive Producer "DarkCloud" and Director Stan "stankarp" Karpinsi test the conferencing capabilities of Skype in helping produce bonus features for the series. At least, that's how it starts out... Recorded on December 15th, 2005. [ Discuss... ]
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| DISCLAIMER | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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This is an independently owned, operated and non-corporate endeavour. Any and all trademarks/tradenames referenced remain the property of their respective owners. Names, places, characters and incidents are the product of the authors' imaginations or are used ficticiously, and their resemblence, if any, to real-life persons or events is entirely coincidental. |
