Sign me up.  I am willing to help on the art (as a team member), a
render-slave, as well as web coordination.  I have access to several
machines and can setup any extra web space needed for this.  Actually I can
fit in anywhere help will be needed.

One note on this project.  Maybe it should be broken into two seperate
movies.  The first one created would be a 10 min short with simple animation
and sound just to test the setup of the organization.  That way big problems
are fixed before we start to invest alot of time.  Also, people wanting to
get started right away with rendering can work on the 10 min short while the
most difficult part, the story board for a 60+ min movie, is finished.

Mark Arrasmith
arr### [at] mathtwsuedu
ISS / Mathematics Instructor

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Might I suggest, for ease of coordination/communication, setting up a "chat
room" of some sort? I operate one on IRC, and I can easily set up another
 REALLY easily =) ). It's as close to real-time as it gets, and it can be
moderated, if need be. Plus it makes it possible to transfer files directly.

Let me know, and I'll even find IRC software for everyone, and give links to
resources.

I run the #povray channel on EFnet, and with the help of a LinkBot, you can
talk to people in the #povray channels on DALnet and NewNet.

Twyst=====================================
pov-ray news, reviews and tutorials
http://twysted.net
e-mail: twy### [at] twystednet
==========================================

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>Hi to all POV-Ray users!
Hi Johannes (and everybody else)

>I have read first the "POV-Ray is free..." thread and then the following
>"Group Movie Project" thread with growing interest, and while I don't have
>too much time myself (between my job, my TreeDesigner-project and my other
>hobbies :-) I think I can find some, so here comes my proposition:
>
>I would be willing to coordinate the following project:
>(This is a rough outline only)
[snip]

>The project is purely non-profit oriented. All profit that may be generated
>by selling the finished movie (or license or I don't know) - that is,
>everything beyond paying for actually producing the stuff (like preparing
>the distribution media etc.) - will go to a cause yet to be determined.
This
>could be:
>- the povray.org site
>- charity
>- the next movie project

I'd recommend a split between  1) and 3)  -- mainly because one man's
charity is not necessarily another's.  

But that may be getting ahead of ourselves a bit.

I have a national broadcast TV production & administration background (Now a
semi-retired, stay at home Dad.  (No, that does not mean I have loads of
spare time --quite the opposite :)    )  I have written a screenplay that
was independently produced (read: lost in obscurity)  and I will be happy to
help with this project, within my time limitations.

Let me make a few comments on what has gone before.
1)Distribution- If you make it, they will come.  I'd recommend rendering to
NTSC standards and time it to a 22 minute runtime on DV tape, for starters. 
This would make it extremely attractive to cable outlets such as SCI-FI, 
Discovery, TLC, etc.  This would lend itself nicely to a three act format.  
If this raises international interest, we could re-render to PAL, SECAM,
HDTV--- once the basic scene files and organization are in place, it
shouldn't be a big deal to re-render "to order".  There are tech issues
involved in all formats-- let's minimize the headaches by focusing on one
format/distribution at a time.

2) Subject matter- Again, let's focus on a market.  Computer animation is of
greatest interest  to those also interested in Science Fiction and
technology.... and CGI isn't well suited for Romantic Comedy :).
Eye candy isn't enough, though.  There has to be a good story(s)... and it
should be accessible to a reasonably broad market.  S-F comedy?  An
adaptation of some kind?

3) Coordination- Rather than try and run a web server, news server, web
chat,FTP etc.  let me recommend Hotline <http://www.hotlinesw.com>  It's
available for Win 95 and Macs in both client and server form, integrates
news, chat, resumable file transfers and operates on a non-crowded port.  As
a shareware product that provides a vehicle for group coordination, it's
worth a look.  
Regrettably, I don't think it comes in a Linux flavor yet.  (I appreciate
Linux users a lot.  You guys are more devoted than even we Mac folk) 

This is an exciting project!  Imagine users of all computer platforms in
many countries contributing to a single purpose!  Very cool.

On a quasi related note (or not), Richard Hatch is looking for CGI
volunteers to help him put together a presentation to revive Battlestar
Galactica as a series....seriously!

(Ok. I confess.  I'm a fanboy.  But it might not be a bad practice stepping
stone...)


Ian
<ian### [at] bellsouthnetwork>  
(remove "work" from above to email me)

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Mark Arrasmith wrote in message <6j9tgn$8ue$1@oz.aussie.org>...
>One note on this project.  Maybe it should be broken into two seperate
>movies.  The first one created would be a 10 min short with simple
animation
>and sound just to test the setup of the organization.  That way big
problems
>are fixed before we start to invest alot of time.  Also, people wanting to
>get started right away with rendering can work on the 10 min short while
the
>most difficult part, the story board for a 60+ min movie, is finished.


Sounds like a good idea to me. We will certainly have to discuss it once we
are over the initial phase of "recruiting" people...

Johannes -:- MovieProject Coordinator

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Sound advice. We will have to discuss this further.

About the Hotline shareware: I am a little bit in doubt to settle on a
program people *have to* buy (register) just to participate. And it would
leave all the nice Linux/Unix/whatever POV-Ray users outside, wouldn't it?

Johannes -:- MovieProject Coordinator

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Cool, sign me up!  That sounds like a really great idea, even better if we
can generate money for povray.org.  As regards to twyst's message, an IRC
group would be a good idea (for those who can type fast, anyway :-) as it
would make co-ordination a lot easier.  Maybe povray.org admin team should
add a povray.movie group to this server??

--
Alan Grainger
Member of DNRC
E-mail - scy### [at] geocitiescom
Homepage - http://alansworld.home.ml.org

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Hi!

The response in the newsgroups to the MovieProject has been great, we
already have got over a dozend team-members after only a few hours!

So it's time for a website. Visit us at:

http://www.algonet.se/~jhubert/MovieProject

Johannes -:- MovieProject Coordinator

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----------
In article <6ja5hc$99r$1@oz.aussie.org>, "Johannes Hubert"
<jhu### [at] algonetse> wrote:


>About the Hotline shareware: I am a little bit in doubt to settle on a
>program people *have to* buy (register) just to participate. And it would
>leave all the nice Linux/Unix/whatever POV-Ray users outside, wouldn't it?
I had thought about that right after I'd mentioned it... I'm just an
"integration junkie", I guess (G).  No point in making this harder to
organize than necessary.  I will ask them if a)there's a Linux/Unix version
in the works and b) if they'd be willing to donate a block of licenses in
exchange for a credit line (you'd be surprised how effective that is).  

Also, there may be other groupware/collaboration software out there.  I know
that Delphi offers free web based chat/board services.  That would mean that
all we'd really need to run off of "our" servers would be a FTP server or
equivalent.  

There are all sorts of options out there... and this may be jumping the gun
a bit, but the sooner we can establish a home base, the easier it will be to
organize.

Ian

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Ok,
I would love to join in on the festivities. :)  I can render and come up
with stories, but the only problem is my cpu speed.  I have a Macintosh
Performa 630CD, it is 33Mhz 68LC040.  For those that don't know, it
doesn't have an FPU, and is very slow...that doesn't stop me from
rendering though <G>.

I have lots of free time to work on this, so time isn't much of a
problem.

-Josh

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In case anyone is interested I've attached a synopsis of the short Sci-Fi
movie I've started making.  It might make a good "10-minute" project, as
was suggested earlier.

--Gary

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Attachments:
Download 'Scenes.txt' (4 KB)