How to Make Project Threads Look Professional

If I were a voice actor browsing through a forum, and I came across a post like that, I'd move on. Because first of all, it didn't tell me what your project was about, or what kind of voices it needed. Not all voice actors on the internet even use Xbox Live, so giving a gamer-tag is just about useless. And since when did they call people helping you online "body actors"? And why include that in the same post? Overall posts like these are unprofessional and dull. And yet, people who makes these posts wonder why nobody pays them any interest.

If you're too lazy to explain your machinima, people will assume that you don't care about your project, and rightfully so. If you don't care about how your project is presented, there's a fair chance it will do no better when you post it up online. Making your machinima look interesting and appealing could make all the difference for your project's notoriety.

The bare minimum you need for your machinima is all included in the How to Post a Project post.


Project Title: ____

Description: ____

Crew: ____

What are you looking for?: ____

Deadline: ____


While having all this information is good and descriptive, it doesn't grab my attention. When posting a project, you must be as specific as possible. A more professional template would go something like this:


Project Title: ____

Introduction: ____

Plot Description: ____

Machinima Engine ____

Cast: ____

Crew: ____

_{Software Necessary: ____}

Deadline: ____

Notes/Disclaimers: ____

What Roles Are Open: ____

Body Actors/Puppeteers:

<sub>Requirements: ____

Maps/Expansions Needed: ____</sub>

Editors:

_{Software: ____}

Voice Acting Roles:

<sub>Character: ____

Description: ____

Audition Lines: ____

Format (.MP3, .WAV): ____</sub>

Email/Contact Us: ____

Repeat Deadline: ____



Be descriptive with each parameter. Include images occasionally for Characters and possibly a banner. Abide by the rules. Your images should be no larger than 800x600p. Use italics and bold sparingly.

Size and underline allow for transition from topics.


DON'T OVERDO IT THOUGH.


Halo Reach and Halo 4, allow the ability take screenshots and access them through their website. Which you can use to enhance your thread (NOTE: As of November 10th, Halo 4 files can not be accessed through the site, this will be fixed soon though). Aware that not all of you use photoshop, or can't trim the oversized images you save from the Halo website. Not to worry, you can always edit them on image sites like Photobucket (as we did with the examples below).

So whats the point of all this? All this will you separate you from the hundreds of other machinimas being posted out there every day. If you want attention for your machinima, you must make the distinction.

Here's an example of how your project thread should look:

[PLEASE DON'T MESSAGE ME ABOUT THIS, THE FOLLOWING IS NOT A REAL MACHINIMA.]

-- Flood Rising (Halo 4 Machinima) --