This is a sponsored guest post written by Matt Kelland on behalf of Moviestorm. Post powered by Sponzai.

Moviestorm is enabling a new generation of amateur film-makers to realize their visions.  It offers easy, affordable animation tools that can produce sophisticated high-quality films on practically no budget. After several years in development, Moviestorm has demonstrated that home movie-making needn’t be limited to cheap hand-held cameras and clips of the kids goofing around. Its virtual movie studio allows users to break free of the limitations of the real world, and allows them to direct, film, edit and distribute 3D animated movies without any knowledge of animation techniques or 3D modelling. And best of all, it’s free, and comes without any copyright restrictions. 

Iain Friar, known as IceAxe, is one of Moviestorm’s many successful film-makers.  His short film, Clockwork, a dystopian vision of a totalitarian Britain after a Soviet invasion in the 1980s, is winning accolades and awards around the world, most recently the audience prize at the Atopic Festival in France and the Grand Prize at the Machinima Expo.  Clearly influenced by both 1984 and A Clockwork Orange, with a visual style that evokes both Communist era propaganda posters and more recent animated movies such as A Scanner Darkly, it is a stark, powerful film that belies its modest origins.

Iain, who’s 42, works in marketing, and started making movies just 18 months ago. “I’ve always been a hands-on person, in music, sport, and everything else,” he says. “I thought it would be fun to shoot a music video, but I’m not the most technical of people, and it seemed extraordinarily hard.  I remember when computer games started using in-game animation to tell the story instead of video clips, and this interested me, especially now that game technology has become so sophisticated. So I bought a book, Machinima for Dummies, which had Moviestorm on the CD, and I was hooked. I liked Moviestorm because it did what I was looking for, even though I didn’t really know what I was looking for at the time, and the Moviestorm community was very supportive.  I initially made comedies, but I could see that the movies people respected were more dramatic, so it seemed that was the direction to go in.”

He spent four months working on Clockwork, and then the same again on his next short, Cloud Angel, a steampunk thriller set on board an airship.  Apart from the voice acting, he made the entire film himself at his home in Basingstoke, England.  “I’m lucky that my friends are so willing to step up to the mike and read my silly scripts!” he laughs. His next film is Gridlock, a science fiction comedy which he is co-producing with another successful Moviestorm director, James Thorpe.  For this, they’ve stepped up the production costs a notch: they hired a recording studio and got the local amateur dramatic group to do the voice acting.

Iain is realistic about his future, though.  “Am I ambitious? Yes. Do I want to keep it as just a hobby? Well, probably yes, because I imagine that if it became a full time activity, the fun might go out of it. I make movies as escapism. That said, I think that this industry would be really interesting to work in, because it’s embryonic; I’m not sure what direction it will go in. It’s exciting!”

Moviestorm’s CEO, Jeff Zie, is hugely enthusiastic and supportive.  “Iain and the many other Moviestorm users are an inspiration to us all,” he says. “We’re really proud that we’re giving talented people like this the tools they need to unleash the creative potential they never knew they had, and to produce these wonderful films.”

Try it and see!

You can download Moviestorm for free: Windows and Mac versions are available. If you want, you can expand your virtual film studio and buy extra costumes, sets, props, and sounds in their marketplace. If you’ve ever wondered whether you might be the next Tarantino, Ang Lee, or J J Abrams, now’s the time to find out!

Tis the Season for gift giving in a big way once again. Whilst giving gift in our very large family encompasses the entire year, many in our family do celebrate Christmas. Personally, I could just as well skip the gift giving part, as the majority of my family just had birthdays!! Alas, I to will pick up the spirit of the Season and spread some joy, in spite of this.

Searching around for new ideas for gifts is fun, and it also gives me a chance to add to my own wish list as well. At the top of my list of course is the Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6″ Display, Global Wireless, Latest Generation) which can be found at Amazon. This device simply has to be the coolest gift for an avid reader such as myself!

Let me give just a few examples of why I think this a virtually awesome gift for book lovers (pick me! pick me!). First of all the Kindle is 3G wireless, which lets you download books right from your Kindle; no annual contracts, no monthly fees, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots. Just imagine how wonderful to be able to pull out my kindle wherever it pleases me! Oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

This sweet little device reads like real paper, without glare, even in bright sunlight. Plus we can read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on, a significant improvement from the previous battery life of just 4 days. Holds up to 1,500 books… not that I really need that many, but heck let’s just build a virtual library, shall we?

The Kindle Store has more than 360,000 books available, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus top newspapers, magazines, and blogs. So there are little or no worries that avid readers will find what they are looking for. Whether you prefer biographies, classics, investment guides, thrillers, or sci-fi, thousands of your favorite books are available. The ultimate vision for the Kindle Wireless Reading Deviceis to have every book ever printed, in any language, all available in under 60 seconds. Now that is a lofty goal!

I actually discovered The Kindle last spring and mentioned it in another post, which gives more details about the features, and of course more of my own thoughts. All in all, I believe this to be a Virtually cool gift!

I wouldn’t want to spoil it for anyone who has not yet seen New Moon, by giving away everything, so I will just let it be known that my daughter and I saw the movie today and it was pretty good! While there was a lot of romantic vibes going on, and I think they could have thrown in just a wee bit more action, I really liked it. The intense scenes brought about a feeling of tragic loss for one poor soul, the one who would be left out of the ‘true love forever’ scenario. Now, if I did not already know the outcome of this Saga, I may have felt a bit differently… hmmmm.

Anyhow, I will say that there was a whole lot of eye candy, enough to set even my own heart beating just a bit faster than normal. This is definately NOT a family movie, and is really geared more towards the romantic types who crave a bit of excitement. Of course the girls will probably go a bit crazy over the shirtless scenes (and not a few males as well I suppose), yet it is tastefully presented in my own opinion.

I simply crave action at times, and I would have liked to see a bit more excitement going on in a world created to house vampires and werewolves, but that is just me. I can see the producers wanting to set the scene for romance, yet I feel this movie would have attracted a wider audience if it would have carried a bit more intigue and action. Although I liked this movie, I would still say the first movie in this Saga was just a bit better. Without having given too much away, I hope, I will just move on into a new moment in my life and hope others get as much enjoyment out of this vampire saga, as I have thus far.

Now here is a place that will get those virtual exploration vibes moving into full gear! Kids (and big people too!) need some active stimulation to get them interested in finding out about their world. There are so many diverse cultures and exciting places to explore, and it just takes a glimpse of the home page at National Geographic Kids to spark some real live interest in learning more.

There are lots of fun games and activities geared towards teaching about interesting things around the planet. As a parent I am well aware of how it sometimes takes a lot to get our kid’s attention when it comes to learning. If we keep it fun, while stimulating active imaginations, we can pretty much count on retaining some pretty important facts about life on this Earth. I love to teach through interacting activities online and off, so I get excited when I find new places to explore with my daughter.

So if you have kids, or just wish to play around a bit whilst discovering new places and facts, well then you may wish to take a few moments to visit Kid’s National Geographic and beef up your trivia knowledge of the world around you.

I would like to make special mention of someone whose life and achievements crossed my mind recently. Richard Garriott has lived quite an adventurous life, as to bring about in a soul such as mine, just a bit of envy. Born in Cambridge, England, as the son of astronaut Owen Garriott, Richard, also known as “Lord British”, seems destined to carry a legacy of incredible experiences, on and off planet. Although Richard can accredit his claim to fame to his unprecedented success in creating the still popular game Ultima, he appears to be seeking new adventures in the realms of space, following in his father’s footsteps.

While my son probably played Ultima until his fingerprints wore off, I learned more about Richard Garriott after encountering a totally fun game called Tabula Rasa. Unfortunately for me the game got scrapped due to an overabundance of projects on the table, yet it gave me a glimpse into the fascinating life of Richard Garriott. Now, I know I have an oversized imagination, which seems to kick in, like every second of my life! Yet I believe Mr. Garriott surpasses even my own unlimited zeal for the extraordinary. A man after my own heart, I must say, and I would love to explore as much as this man has been privedged to delve into. In a world where we seem to set our own limitations, I am happy to see someone willing to take a chance and step outside of the bounds of conformity.

Besides being a video game mogul, Richard has also maintained a thirst for adventure and exploration. Not only is he active in the adventure sports of scuba diving, hang gliding, sky diving, caving, and rappelling in addition to other water and winter sports, but Richard also enjoys taking his love of adventure to the next level. He has participated in two expeditions in search of meteorites on the continent of Antarctica during which he was able to witness spectacular views of the continent he still describes as the most beautiful place on earth.

Tracking mountain gorillas in Rwanda and dug out canoeing down the Amazon both seem tame in comparison to his deep ocean hydrothermal vent expeditions in order to study extremophile bacteria and his involvement in one of the first non-salvage dives to the Titanic. Richard also took part in the 2001 Atlantic Sands expedition which discovered and performed salvage operations on the world’s deepest wooden shipwreck which is believed to have sunk in a storm sometime around the year 1810.

Richard is an active member of the Explorer’s Club. And in support of the traditions of the Explorer’s Club, Richard plans on taking the club flag with him on his mission to space.

Well then, aside from wishing I could jump into Richard’s shoes and visit the atmosphere around this planet, I would like to thank Richard for the hours of roleplaying enjoyment he has brought to myself and the world. If anyone is interested in tracking Richard in his imaginative endeavors, please take a few moments to visit Richard Garriott’s Space Mission to see what new adventure this amazing man has in store. And seriously, this mans home alone is as intriguing as his journeys. Richard is an avid collector of some pretty extaordinary objects and art. Did I mention I was fascinated with this man??

We all leave them, wherever we choose to travel in the cyber realms. Sometimes our steps are light, and they take us on many journeys into little known worlds, and some pretty awesome adventures. Some people just like to explore, and don’t really leave their mark by participating in discussions or commenting on the amazing amount of information we are priviledged to have access to.

Personally, I weigh in with my own thoughts upon occasion, whenever something strikes a chord in me, so I imagine I have left my own mark in a few virtual realms..

Seriously, I do not believe most people realize the power our footprints (fingerprints) radiate in the realms of our vastly interconnected net. We are pioneers in a realm of advancing technologies that can swing in either direction, depending upon how open our eyes are to the synergies of the world around us.

There is so much to learn. There is such freedom in knowing we are not bound to our own little worlds; if we realize how fast this life is moving, and take advantage of the opportunities which lie at our fingertips, we shall have a fantastic journey ahead of us. The alternative is simply unnaceptable.

I would like to think my virtual footsteps are light, yet create good things for those whom I encounter, in a virtual manner. It is amazing to me how we can all touch each other in a small way, without actually encountering each other face to face. We can direct our thoughts and energy throughout the the cyberspere, and each of us create an impact upon those around us, in so many different ways that we cannot even begin to imagine!

I am truly excited to step forth along this virtual path, and see what lies beyond the next horizon… Enjoy!