Interview with The Sims 2 Machinima Artist: BadBoy1115

Check out our interview with one of the top The Sims 2 machinima artists: BadBoy1115

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BadBoy1115 is one of the top The Sims 2 machinima artists. This artist has mastered the art of mirroring popular music videos of various singers and pop groups with The Sims 2.

We love his work and had the privilege of interviewing him. Check it out and see how this artist became inspired to make machinima, his creative process, and some words of wisdom for aspiring artists! Also, don't forget to check out his amazing machinima on his YouTube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/user/BadBoy1115

1. How long have you been making The Sims 2 machinima?
Well, I have been making machinima for about 3 years now. I was a huge fan of The Sims 1 back in the day and got The Sims 2 right after it got out in 2004.Then I played the game for about 2 years and explored it and learned everything about it then in 2007 when I thought I was pretty much done with playing the Sims,because there was really nothing else to do, I discovered machinima a whole world of new things to try out and that is when I made my first video.

2. What inspired you to start making machinima?
As I already said, I hit a dead end in playing The Sims 2 and I wanted to find some new things to do with the game because I loved it so much. I always found movies,series and music videos really extraordinary and wondered how do people do them! I knew there was a program called Windows Movie Maker in Windows XP so I decided to try to use it. I started off by editing some random clips from the Sims and really tried to learn to use all the tools.At that time I didn't have a Internet connection so I didn't watch any tutorials, I didn't have any custom content, I didn't even know that other people were doing videos with Sims and I was really surprised when I found out later. Everything just fell into place and I learned all the basics of machinima all by my self. I guess it was meant to be.

3. Of all the machinima you've created, which are your favorite and why?
Probably my last one the If I Were A Boy video because I feel it represents everything I have learned about movie making and Sims so far,and even though I don't think it's perfect i feel proud of my self when I watch it because it looks really good.

4. You're known for making machinima that amazingly mirrors real music videos. How do you make the restrictions in The Sims 2 work to get your machinima as close to the real video as possible?
Well, I guess you have to really know The Sims 2 really well to know how to bend the restrictions at your will and of course tons of cc, a good movie making program and a good photo shop to edit the video and do the things you can't possibly do in Sims, not even with all the hacks and cheats!

5. What process do you usually go through when creating machinima? Do you draw it out on paper? Draw out storyboards?
That is exactly what I do! I usually have the whole concept for the video and the basic shots I'm going to take in my mind ,if I'm not doing a remake video,and just put it on paper to make sure I don't forget anything. If I'm doing a remake video I analyze the official video real closely and then write everything down.

6. How do you decide on what music video to make next? Are they favorite songs?
Absolutely, I only do videos for song and artists I love and that is the main reason why I don't take requests from other people no matter how many views or subscribers I would get.

7. How long does it normally take you to make one Machinima video?
It takes a very long time, due to school and endless computer problems. A minimum 3 weeks to make the sets, characters, clothes, get the right custom content, shoot and finally edit the video which is the most fun part for me.

8. How do you remedy Artists Blocks?
Even though it may seem I have them a lot, because I have only done like 8 videos in one year, I have actually never experienced one before. I am an extremely creative person and I always have tons of ideas on my mind, which I think can be a bad thing because I have a really hard time choosing which idea I'm going to do and, in most cases, I end up doing nothing and I'm back in the beginning again. But I try to focus and prioritize my ideas. Even though I never have blocks, sometimes I need some motivation to do a video, because it takes a long time to do a decent video and it you can easily get bored with the whole project, so I watch a lot of music videos and other peoples' Sims videos.

9. Is there a particular genre of Machinima that you hardly touch, but would like to make a few videos of?
For now I have only done music videos but I plan to try many different genres in the future. I would love to do a series or a short movie of some kind. I have a lot of ideas on my mind but I think all of my future projects of that sort will be mainly in the fantasy, horror, and thriller genre.

10. Many people make Machinima from other video games. What do you think is the best/fun feature about making The Sims 2 Machinima?
First of all it's because The Sims 2 is a real life simulation and people can make movies of any sort and in other games people are very much restricted to the main storyline of the game and can only expand it. But in The Sims 2 you can make and do pretty much anything you want and that's the main reason I love The Sims franchise. And also while playing other games you pretty much just follow the already ahead programed story lines but in Sims you get to create your own which is amazing!

What cheats do you use the most?
There are two cheats I always type in before I start shooting:
moveobjects (on/off) and motherlode

While I'm playing The Sims 2 and not doing any projects I like not to use cheats because all they do is spoil the fun, but in movie making the make thing so much easier.

What are you looking forward to with The Sims 3 and how it may change the art of Machinima?
The new camera moves and graphics look awesome and I can???t wait to try it out. I think it will really make a difference in the way machinima is going to look.

Any words of wisdom to any aspiring machinima artists who want to make music videos with The Sims 2?
I get a lot of emails of people asking for help and advice and I always say to them that its important to just start somewhere and know that nobody was born fully skilled. The most important thing is to practice cause with practice you grow and learn.I also advise them to watch a lot of other Sim videos and try to learn as much as they can. But the most important thing is to to it with love and passion cause it will reflect on their videos.

Can you tell us a little bit about your YouTube channel?
I created my YouTube channel in January 2008. It was right before I got my solid Internet connection and found out that there were other people that were doing Sims videos and they were posting them on YouTube. So I decided to make my first channel BadBoy1115, the one I'm using now, and uploaded my first video that I did in 2006. The next couple of months I was learning how to make better videos until finally I created and uploaded my second video which I did much more professionally. From then on things kind of took off. Right now I'm planing to expand my YouTube channel with some new features that don't involve Sims but for sure I will continue doing videos in The Sims 2 and hopefully in The Sims 3 in the future.

See BadBoy1115's machinima here: http://www.youtube.com/user/BadBoy1115

Thank you so much, BadBoy1115 for the interview!