latibule

THE BACKGROUND

These recolors of MixedUp's Screenshot Background Rug. I usually go for the white or the black if they're "serious" pictures (usually of character reveals of my show) but more fun colors when it comes to portraits of my gameplay sims (see below for the difference. Same set up, same lighting, different color background)

Lately I've opted for a clear background, as opposed to a set. I don't know, I feel like it looks way better when it comes to taking clear portraits of the sims you wanna showcase.

LIGHTING:

For lighting, I use two things:

The invisible Floor lamp in soft light, which is just everything to me both in terms of taking portraits and filming. Can't live without it!! And how much light you use really determines the vibe you want to achieve from a certain photoshoot. Here's an example of what I mean: Fun little gameplay portrait (bright) vs. Mystery series protagonist (dark)

If you would like to achieve different type of lightings (such as bisexual lighting, for example), I highly recommend colored lights such as this, this and this.

Of course, whichever lighting you choose, it helps to have a lighting mod such as this one!

OMSPs AND OTHER MODS

And then, of course, OMSPs are a must-have. These are the ones I use, but there's a HUGE number of OMSPs to choose from. I also use the look at me now mod, to get the sim to look at me (the camera).

And then, finally, I use poseboxes! There are a bunch of useful pinterest boards with poseboxes, such as here and here! For more whimsical portraits/facial expressions, I use Jaydee's boxes.

PROGRAMS

I use FRAPS to take my pictures and PHOTOSHOP C6 to edit them!

EDITING

Of course, editing is also a part of the ordeal. I don't do much, but I think it does make a difference I do things such as change the levels/brightness/hue of the photos, add sharpening, and smooth out any edges! I also sometimes add shadows, but very occasionally.

Here's a side-by-side with a recent sim I took:

RESHADE

I wasn't using reshade for this photoshoot in particular, but if you get it to work it helps with smoothing out some edges and adding shadowing. If you don't get it work, then don't stress too much about it because I don't think it makes that big of a difference personally! I have it off most of the time when I'm taking pictures, because I enjoy doing my editing in photoshop instead :)

If you do want it, though, here's an excellent video on how to install it for The Sims 2. I use Falkii's Turniphead reshade. The video itself also has a great reshade in the description, albeit one that's less colorful/bright (recommend more for filming than taking photos).

HOPE THAT HELPS!

I'm not sure I understood the first question very well. You either meant: When you send your VAs their script, or you meant: When your VAs send you their lines. Just incase, i'll answer both! LOL

First variation of the question: When you send your VAs their script

If you're asking me if I send my VAs only their lines, as opposed to the entire scene, like such:

VERSION 1: JUST THEIR LINES:

JONAH Hey.

JONAH That's nice.

VERSION 2: THE ENTIRE SCENE:

JONAH Hey.

NOAH F/ck off.

JONAH That's nice.

Then it's definitely Version 2, LOL! It's near impossible for the VAs to guess what tone they need to go with if they're just given their lines. Something I do, though, is: My scripts are super long (usually 70+ pages), so to not burden my VAs with all of that, I usually send them only the scenes that concerns their characters (unless they explicitly ask me for the entire script). This usually means scenes where they have lines, but sometimes I also include scenes they might not have lines in, if they carry context I feel is essential for how they play the scenes they do have lines in.

THE RIVER S1 SPOILERS: For example, even though Benji did not have any lines in the Noah-Raven confession scene in the season finale, I still provided his VA the scene so that he can be in the loop. So, when Benji is warning Faye of what he overheard, his VA understands the gravity of the situation because he got to read what Benji, the character, would have overheard. I hope that makes sense!

Second variation of the question: When your VAs send you their lines, do I share them with others?

I do not! VAs are usually given a certain amount of time to deliver lines (I give 4-6 weeks). If you're going to wait for one VA to deliver their lines before sending it to the other VA so they know how to react to it, then it's going to be near impossible to receive all the lines on time. Most VAs who voice act in the sims community for free do it as a hobby (bless them), so a lot of times they take up the 4 weeks + the extension, especially if things are hectic in their personal/work/school life. Waiting for one VA to send in their lines, to then send that to the other VA and wait again for them to send in their lines? And then to do that with a possible third, fourth, five person (depending on how many characters there are in that particular scene)...That sounds like a never ending nightmare to me, LOL.

An alternative to this is holding a sort of table read when you first share the episode. Some directors have been doing this recently: The VAs of a project and its director get together on a call and read the script out loud, and the director can sort of explain to each VA what exactly they want and how they should react to one another.

I've personally never held one of these because I don't think it's really necessary. Letting my VAs wing it and working with the material I get has worked for me so far, and i've been doing this for six years now! I don't think it's necessary to overcomplicate things with stuff like that, especially when the machinima making process is already so hectic in the first place

As for the second question:

My VAs do know each other! Most of them have been working together for six years now, and they've become really close friends. The sims community is a very tight-knit community, so all the VAs usually know each other, but some VAs of The Rivers did meet through The Rivers and are now close friends <3 Which makes me super happy.

With The Rivers, I didn't introduce the VAs to each other (they all just befriended each other over time), but I did make a discord for the VAs of my other project, The Foundlings, so they can get acquainted before we started working on the series.

So, as someone who has done both (not introducing vs. introducing the VAs before a project starts), I can tell you that...... It doesn't really make a difference, LOL. Of course, it's so nice seeing your VAs become friends, but if we're talking about its effect on the series itself, or the quality of the voice acting, it doesn't really change anything. At least, not with me.

You need to keep in mind that the voice actors are voice acting from the comfort of their homes, and not together in a studio booth, like with a real-life voice over project. So the VAs being acquainted isn't going to do anything for the characters' chemistry, for example, when they're not voice acting off each other's energies to begin with. I hope that makes sense!

Basically, a subtitle series is very different from a VO series. Sure, filming subtitle series before I did a VO helped make sure I knew how to FILM (how to manage the parameters, camera movement, how to pose the sims, what animations to use, etc), but it didn't make my transition to a VO series any easier in terms of SOUND EDITING. Which, really, is what makes or breaks a VO series!

MY EXPERIENCE WITH GOING FROM SUBTITLE TO VO: When I first started The Rivers, my first VO series, the sound quality was (to me) just God awful. I have a hard time rewatching the first couple of episodes because of it. The audio of my VAs were botched because I didn't know how to edit their background noises, the sound effects/ambience were off or too low, and the music was WAY too high. It probably doesn't bother viewers much, but as a director who's been doing VO for 6 years now, it bothers me a LOT. And back in 2016, I had already been doing subtitle series for 6 years, so I can honestly say from experience that, where sound editing is concerned, having previously worked on subtitle series didn't really do anything for me when it came to creating a VO series.

TIPS IF YOU'RE JUST STARTING: If, like you said, you've never started filming, I would advise that you start off making short machinimas instead of jumping head first into a VO series, especially a fantasy series with a lot of characters. Filming short machinimas (under 5 minutes long) is great because you can practice filming, pacing, sims making, set/world building, coloring, etc... Without it being a super large commitment. I definitely recommend them, ESPECIALLY if you don't plan on starting off with a subtitle series.

Like I said, having a subtitle series before a VO series did nothing for me in terms of sound editing, but it helped make sure I start off my VO series with decent(ish) filming and pacing (though it has evolved a lot from that, but we're always evolving)! I used to make SO many short machinimas before and during my transition to VO, and they helped a lot. I don't do them anymore, because I don't think I need to since I found my style, but they were a lot of fun.

It'll also help a lot with your engagement, because it's a perfect way to introduce people to your series. Not everyone will be inclined to sit down and watch a full episode without knowing much about your filming and writing style, but people will always have time to watch a quick, short video. That's how I made my first friends in the community, that gave me to push to transition to VO!

SUBSCRIBER COUNT AND VOICE ACTORS: When I first announced The Rivers, I actually announced it as a subtitle series. Like you, I barely had any subscribers (would get maybe 4-6 likes on a video, despite having done it for a few years), and did not think anyone would be interested in auditioning.

I don't think the subtitle series I was publishing at that time was what helped me gain enough fraction to decide to make the switch to VO. It was actually a mix of both machinima shorts I was putting out, and me trying to become more involved in the community. I would comment on people's stuff, engage with them on twitter and other socials, and just try to make friends. The sims machinima community, especially the sims 2 machinima community, is VERY tiny. Which has its perks, because we're quick to welcome each other since there's so few of us left. I would advise that you get on Twitter (if you do, let me know so I can follow you there, hehe). From there, you can post a casting call whenever you're ready, and I (and i'm sure other directors in the community) will be happy to RT to give it some engagement!

ON A SIDE NOTE, Don't be afraid to request voice actors! When I was holding auditions for The Rivers, I barely had any male voice actors auditioning for my series, so I ended up requesting most of them (like Jonah and Noah's VAs). I also ended up requesting VAs for The Foundlings (like Alec's VA), even though I had subscribers at that point! There's no shame in requesting VAs when you haven't found the perfect voice for the characters you had in mind :)

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS It is difficult to gain engagement as a sims 2 director. I don't want to pretend that it isn't. It's very rare to have the numbers that Sims 4 directors make, because people don't want to give a game as old as The Sims 2 a shot. But if you're looking to share your story with a group of passionate bunch, then don't be afraid to give it a shot :) And i'm happy to help with rt-ing or reblogging! x