Broadband Jungle Blog

The Jace Hall Show on Crackle

Mike Shields in Mediaweek reports about the first bona-fide hit on Sony's fledgling broadband network "Crackle". Apparently The Jace Hall Show racked up 500,000 plus viewers within only a few days since its launch in June.

"The new series, the latest in a string of originals which have either launched or are scheduled to premiere on the fledgling Crackle.com, appears to be right in most young tech savvy males’ wheelhouse.

Uber-producer Hall, who’s worked on projects ranging from the third Harry Potter film to World of Warcraft, uses the talk forum to indulge viewers’ love of entertainment, particularly gaming, while also showcasing Jackass-like high jinks such as indoor skydiving.

Hall also features celebrity interviews with the likes of That ‘70s show veteran Wilmer Valderrama and Chuck star Zachary Levi."

Here a clip from the very well produced segment co-starring Zach Levi.

From Crackle: Jace Hall, Ep 3: Zach Levi! Cliffy B! And Cung Le!

Machinima.com

A player dedicated to the genre of Machinima—'machine animation'—created by using low-end consumer real time 3D software found inside computer games.

The site explains the process nicely:
"Machinima creators act out their movies within a computer game. We treat the viewpoint the game gives them as a camera - Shooting Film in a Virtual Reality."

Giving the clips a distinctive computer game feel, the results are stunning. Some of the storylines are breathtaking and highly imaginative, and both the genre and the site have come a long way since Machinima.com launched in January 2000.

Machinima made appearances on the Matrix 4:1 TV-series on the WB, music videos on MTV and a recent Coca Cola commercial; the site also features its own Machinima Film Festival page.

Viewing tips: The Afflicted, a compelling sci-fi drama by Kate Lee at Chat Noir Studios about “a future world in which strong emotions have been genetically eradicated, and humans have become efficient information processors.” The impression that we are experiencing this story from within a computer game makes its impact even more haunting.