Help with Machinima

[Were-Sandwich]

I'm thinking of attempting a Machinima using NWN 1. I have a few questions:

For dialogue, should I do:

Use pure text
Use pure voices
Use text and voices?


Text means more scripting/coordination, voices means finding voice actors.

Should I:

Do the whole thing on my own, using scripting to make the actors move
Get a person for each character, and use multiplayer to do the acting, with me as camera
something else?


As some person on the internet is definetly more experienced than me, I defer to your skills.

[TamerBill]

As someone who has experimented with NWN machinima I have the following tips to offer you.

Always film using the DM client rather than the game itself. Should be obvious, but there you go. Just so we're on the same page.
Get hold of a set of DMFI widgets for your director character, as they can save a lot of scripting, allowing you to do effects on the fly.

It is definately easier to do scenes if every major character is done by a seperate actor, but unless you've got a computer network and group of lackeys already this can be very difficult to arrange.
If you're doing it on your own, try to keep scripts to a minimum, as it will slow you down terribly. Remember that a DM can give orders to NPCs in-game, while it's paused; this is enough for basic movement and emotes.

Dialogue-wise, voicing is both easier and more effective, in my opinion. Voice-actors aren't that hard to get hold of, really, and it's easier to change after the fact.

[blackout]

Not to hijack the thread, but I too am working with Machinima. A Halo PC Machinima, hoping to make a comedy/action film. Suggestions for a plot, because I have a general direction here. I want to make people laugh while going 'OOOOH' at explosions.

[Were-Sandwich]

After sitting down and thinking about it, I've decided to wait on doing a Machinima for a while, and try using screenshot for a comic. Its just so much work.