Quick Pitch: Moviestorm helps amateurs write, produce, direct and edit their own digitally animated movies.
Genius Idea: Built on software-as-a-service (SaaS) principles, Moviestorm supports YouTube 3D output, advanced virtual camera controls, filters and effects typically found in high end, professional animation packages. Moviestorm's 75,000 users have produced music videos, satirical comedies, horror/thriller flicks and animated shorts.
Some of the Moviestorm productions have even gone of to become YouTube hits, such as the famous (or infamous) Male Restroom Etiquette, which has more than five million views to date. Perhaps more significantly, some Moviestorm users have won awards with films produced using the software. One of Moviestorm's most successful users is Iain Friar, who won the audience prize at the Atopic Festival in France and the Grand Prize at the Machinima Expo for this short film, "Clockwork":
For an idea of how the interface and UX work, check out this brief introductory tutorial:
The characters may look like something from The Sims, but some folks have still managed to do interesting things on this platform. The site also includes a community for networking with your fellow amateur animators and a marketplace where users can rent upgrade packs with new environments, props, audio and characters. Membership costs $7.99 per month.
What do you think of Moviestorm so far? Is this a site you would use for an amateur video project?
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