Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Wed. Dec. 23, 2009


Kevin & Layne in "Sunset Old Folks Home"

Hey! Long time no see! About time I made another blog update. We've got a few new videos to wrap up 2009 in style: We have Marlin the Elite episodes 45 & 46 and a new live-action video called Sunset Old Folks Home. We even have the shooting script for you to take a look at.

We had planned to do another podcast before the end of the year, but Kevin has a cold, so we are unable to record. Who knows, maybe we'll feel like recording one over the break.

Also, we recently had another TP Game Event. Very fun as usual. You can check out video from one of the games here.

Now I know it's a little to late for Christmas present suggestions, but if you happen to get some cash this holiday season, might I suggest the TP Store? You can get a nice shirt or mug with our logo on it. No pressure of course :)

One last thing. There's only 1 thing we want for Christmas, and that's some more Twitter followers. So follow the TP Twitter account. It gets updated as soon as we post a new video or podcast or blog post.

So that's it. Have a happy holiday season guys! I'm gonna go eat a cookie.

Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Wed. Nov. 4, 2009

Well, I figured you've gone on long enough without a decent update. So here it is!

New VidAwesome:
Since my last blog post, we've pumped out 2 releases: Detective Awesome and the Day Job Whodunit and Marlin the Elite - Episode 43: Space Invasion. Both are very good (if I don't say so myself) and deserve a watch.

Upcoming Plans: Due to the little setback with the Xbox (it red ringed), we are very behind schedule on our Marlin episodes. Seven more episodes by Christmas is a tall order, especially considering there are only about seven weeks left. We're going to do everything in our power to try and make that happen, but no promises. And this tight schedule pretty much means you can kiss a 2009 episode of Project Blackknight goodbye. Besides Marlin, we have another live-action video in mind. We're working on the script, and it's turning out pretty funny. If we follow through, you can expect to see it sometime next month.

Game Event = Win (even without Kevin & Kyle):
We recently had our second Community Game Event this past Sunday, and it was just as good as the first. Thanks to everyone who was able to come! The only thing that could have made it better was the presence of Kevin & Kyle, who were sadly absent. Don't fret though. We'll have another one this year with all of us.

Website Troubles:
Some may have noticed that the home page of our website is lacking in the "What's New" department. We're having some troubles with the HTML. Hopefully, we can get it solved pretty soon. If you're fuming that you can't get out blog and Twitter updates straight from our homepage, blame Microsoft.

And Speaking of Twitter...
Follow us on Twitter! No, seriously. Follow us. We post updates pretty often, some even contain exclusive and fun content. For example:

"TP Fun Fact: All the footage filmed for Marlin the Elite Ep. 43 took up approximately 26.08 gigabytes of hard drive space."


And our special Halloween present to you guys, a cool Lemon Man wallpaper:



So check out our Tweets. Please?

Also, if you're a Twitter user that has access to the Twitter Lists Beta, you can check out our TP Twitter Accounts List. It has all of the Twitter accounts that are somehow related, like my Twitter, or our band's Twitter. This feature should become available to everyone else eventually, so don't worry if you can't access it now.

MachiniAwesome:

While surfing Twitter, I came across this thing called the MachinExpo. Basically you submit a piece of machinima that you've made, and if the judges think it's good enough, they'll include it in a special online screening. And if the judges really really like you're video, it could be nominated to win an award. Well of course I had to submit something. I sent Friend their way and waited for a reply. Turns out they liked it, and will be screening it along with 40 other machinimas (chosen out of a pool of 150+). But alas, it didn't receive an award nomination. Still, it's something, and from what I can see, we were the only Halo machinima chosen.

The MachinExpo will be taking place on Sunday, November 22 in the game Second Life. Now I don't have play Second Life or know much about it, so I won't be attending. If you do however, consider dropping by. The specific time and location has yet to be announced, so stay tuned to the MachinExpo website for further details.

Update Go Bye-Bye:
So that concludes this surely record-setting update. Make sure you're tuned in to our YoyTube channel. You never know when something might pop up.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Sun. Oct. 11, 2009

In case you haven't been following us on Twitter, I thought I'd better give a little production update.

Our plan was to start filming Marlin episode 43 last week, but unfortunately, the Xbox we use to film on decided to Red Ring. So it's been sent off to be repaired and should be back within the next week. In the meantime, I've started some post-production work on a live-action movie we filmed back at the beginning of September. We hope to have it done by the time we get the Xbox back so we can start work on Marlin right away. Expect a trailer in the coming week.

Another bit of news, you might have noticed that our YouTube channel has been switched over to the new layout. Feel free to message us and tell us what you think of the color scheme.

And with that, I leave you with a sneek-peek photo from our new live-action movie.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Fri. Sep. 25, 2009 - Quick Update

Hello guys. Just a quick update. We released a video entitled "ODST OST Rap" (check it out if you haven't seen it), and submitted to Bungie.net hoping they would post it. And low and behold, they did! Here's what they said:

This is awesome.

"Here's some new music for ODST, not from Marty! Thomas Productions has created a song about the new music from the ODST OST, so click the link to watch the music video!"

(You can check out the link here for yourself)

And if that wasn't enough, Bungie posted a tweet about it!



And then Martin O'Donnell (composer of the Halo music) re-tweeted it!!



I have to say this really made our day (as if finally playing ODST wasn't enough).
And thus ends this blog post. Happy Birthday, Halo 3!

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Sat. Aug. 29, 2009

Hey there folks! It's been a while. Let me start out by saying that if you've just been getting your TP news from this blog, then you've been left in the dark for quite some time. I highly recommend that you go over to our Twitter page and follow us there as well. It's a lot easier to make a post there than it is to write a post here.

So time to fill you in. We went on location and filmed 2 videos, which will be coming out in the following week or so (one's 28 minutes long!). A short trailer for one of those will be coming in a couple days. We plan on filming another live action video at another local next weekend. We don't have an estimation on when you'll get to see it, but I'm pretty sure you'll enjoy it :)

In machinima news, we have filmed 2 Marlin episodes. We are currently on track to start releasing them on September 4th. The next one should be out on the 13th. After that, we don't know; I'm pretty sure we'll be occupied with a little game coming on the 22nd. Now unfortunately our goal for getting PBK out this summer isn't going to happen. We've just been busy doing other things. If all goes super well, we might get it done before the release of H3 ODST, but I kind of doubt it. Just know that it is coming, and we're not just going to drop the series.

Now a few of you have been asking about Halo 3 Dance TV 3. When is it coming? Is it coming? We're casually planning it out. We want to find songs that YouTube will (hopefully) let us use. If you have any suggestions, please send me an email. So we don't have an estimation on when we'll be getting to that. Possibly January '10?

In other news, I hope you've noticed that both Marlin and Cotton Swab have Facebook pages and Twitters:They both have some very interesting stuff to say... maybe even clues to future episodes?

And that's it! I leave you with a brand new picture from our 28 minute-long movie.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Tues. July 14, 2009

Hey guys! Time to fill you in on what's been going on. First off, we finally put out a new podcast episode! In it, we talk about PBK, the new Mythic maps coming with ODST, plus our reviews for "Up", "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen", and "Public Enemies". Right after we finished recording the podcast, we acted out some stuff for the next episode of Project Blackknight (which, by the way, should be coming out before the summer ends).

Next up, we had our first Community Game Event on Bungie Day (7/7). It went off spectacularly! We will defiantly have another one of these before summer ends. If you were one of the unfortunate few who were unable to attend for whatever reason, don't worry. I made a little video of it so you can see what went down. One more, longer video of the event will be coming...very soon.

Something that also took place on Bungie Day was the release of The Essential Marlin: Volume 1 CD! If you've been keeping up on the blog, you'll know that it is a CD of original music (and an exclusive outtake) created by me for Marlin the Elite. The CD will set you back $12.99. Most of that goes to Cafepress for the supplies, but the rest (all 3 or 4 bucks a pop) goes to TP so we can make cooler videos for you guys! There are 20 tracks that last around 40 minutes, so it's kind of a win-win situation. So head on over to the store (cafepress.com/marlintheelite) and pick up your copy. If you want to hear some samples of the CD first, we have a few songs up on our YouTube page for you to check out.

Also, we've been releasing episodes of "Random Sauce". The latest one (which was just uploaded 30 minutes ago) happens to be my personal favorite. This leaves us with only one more episode that we haven't aired yet.

To conclude, I will be going away on a trip for about 4 or 5 days, so there won't be any new videos during that time. However, I will try and post one more video tomorrow before I leave.

So now, I leave you with some awesome Marlin fan art by Morgan :)




(click the images to make mongo)

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Sun. June 28, 2009

Hey guys! Guess what... it's time for an update!

Lately, we have been pumping out videos like you wouldn't believe. We've accumulated a nice little queue that you have yet to see. When will we get to see these videos, you may ask? In due time. We want to spread them out and make 'em last. However, I can give you a little insight on some of them. One video is very (dare I say it), patriotic, and the other (which will be released this upcoming Tuesday) is a new take on an internet video involving a cat (and some keys). And then, we have 4 complete Random Sauce episodes all ready to go. I don't believe you'll see any this upcoming week, but the following week should bring more crazy. In the meantime, enjoy the latest video: Random Sauce: BR.

Aside from new videos, we have some more exciting news. The Marlin CD I've been talking about now has a release date. The Essential Marlin: Volume 1 (that's the name of the CD) will be available July 7 (a.k.a. Bungie Day). It will retail for $12.99 (plus shipping of course) through the Marlin Cafepress shop (www.cafepress.com/marlintheelite). The CD contains 20 original music tracks composed by none other than... me. Some of the tracks have never been heard before, including a little voice outtake. The money that we earn (about 3 or 4 bucks per CD) will go right back into TP to help us purchase stuff like props, supplies and equipment. I will be posting a few tracks on YouTube so you can get a feel of what you'll find on the soundtrack.

Also, we're planning a Community Game Night/Day event, where fans can play custom games with us. That's right. Us. We'll feature some maps that we've created, plus some old favorites.
The whole goal is to have fun. So when can you expect to get your fun on? July 7 (a.k.a. Bungie Day, a.k.a. Marlin CD release day) at 1:00 P.M. (PST). Keep an eye out on our YouTube page for an informative video with more details on how to join in.

So, that's it for now! Quite a lot compared to my usual posts.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Sat. June 20, 2009

Well well well! Here we are again to bring you another TP update. We have finished up Marlin Season 4, and have been working on other stuff.

We finished our Behind the Scenes of Marlin the Elite video a while ago, but we just recently put it out. So our first video is a promotional ad for our friends at Gruntsrus.com. Check it out if you haven't already. We have a few episodes of our new machinima series Random Sauce in the can, and will be releasing the first episode within the next few days.

Also, we're close to setting a release for the Marlin the Elite music CD that I've been talking about, which will contain original music that we (and when I say "we", I pretty much mean "me") made for the series. It will have 20 tracks and will sell for about $14.00. I will post a few of the song on our YouTube account so you can get a sampling of what you'll be getting.

So that's it for now! I'm gonna go look for some Game Fuel!

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Tues. June 2, 2009

Time for another little update! We just released Marlin the Elite episode 39, as well as 38 and 37. Marin episode 40 will be coming within the next few weeks. This will be the last episode of the season. Like last year, we're going to take a break over the summer to work on other stuff. We'll then resume making Marlin the Elite in the Fall (most likely September 4).

We've already started making and planning some other machinima videos as well as live-action videos. One of those videos is "Behind the Scenes of Marlin the Elite", where you'll see how we make an episode of Marlin the Elite. We will also start up a new machinima series called "Random Sauce". Like the name suggests, each episode will be very random and very short. The series won't have a set run, so production will be very casual (basically whenever we feel like it). And then of course, we'll be working on Project Blackknight ep. 2. It will most likely be posted to just Vimeo.com and not YouTube, but of course we'll have more info on that when the time comes.

Also as a last note, I tweaked the website a bit to make it a little bit cleaner. Thanks to those who gave feedback on the forums. So that's it! As usual, please follow us on Twitter. You know you want to!

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Sun. May 10, 2009

Hey readers! Here's a quick update from the land of TP. Marlin the Elite episode 36 is now out. Please head on over to YouTube and watch it. This week there will be no new TPCast episode (sad face). There just wasn't a whole lot of new stuff to talk about. However, we just filmed Marlin episode 37 today, and I can say that it's going to be rather awesome. Expect to see that this week. To close up, please go vote in the TPMAs. Only one week left to get those votes in!


Above Photo: Marlin, Grandma, and Lemon Man in Marlin the Elite - Episode 36

Friday, May 01, 2009

Fri. May 1, 2009

Happy May Day folks! It's update time! YEA!

First up to the plate, we have Marlin the Elite Episode 35: Trip to the Mall. It's fresh up on YouTube, so go and check it out! Next up, we have some production updates. We plan on filming Marlin episode 36 very soon and getting that out the door within a week (give or take, of course). We also have a new live-action video planned. Also, keep an eye out on the new TPCast feed for another episode of the TPCast. You guys actually had sent in voicemails, so now we're gonna get a chance to actually play them! If you want to send in voicemails for future episodes, just leave a message at 208-474-2690 (you'll hear some weird robot lady answer, but don't worry; it's the right place).

Next, we're gonna take a little time to highlight YOU: the reader/viewer/listener, and of course when I say "YOU", I mean the people who sent stuff in and made themselves noticed. First, I would like to thank the two followers of this blog: "Platnumeye" & "Jeanjean". May they be an example to you fellow fans. Please subscribe when there is a subscribe button... please follow when there is a follow button, that way we know you're listening to us (and we sure like that).
Next we have our loyal Twitter audience ("TKG14", "Swayyd", & "oranOneedle" to name a few). Thanks to these people for giving into our spam campaign. For the rest of you, give in and click this cute little linky. To finish off our little fan highlight, we have these fan pics sent in to Lemon Man by Toby C. These truely make us feel special.





And finally, to round off this update, we have a BLOG EXCLUSIVE! That's right! This is a short video of Kyle recording a line from Marlin episode 34, which was shot by Kevin on his cell phone (hence the Ye Olde Quality). I believe this is the first video ever that shows us doing the actual voiceovers. I have a feeling it won't be the last. So here it is. And remember, vote in the TPMAs!


Thursday, April 30, 2009

Thurs. April 30, 2009

Well, happy almost May everybody. Don't really have an update for you. But what I do have is a sneak preview picture from Marlin the Elite episode 35 (which, by the way, should be out either tomorrow or Saturday). Enjoy!


Sunday, April 26, 2009

Sun. April 26, 2009

Well folks, we've got quite a bit of news to dish out. First up, we have Marlin the Elite Episode 34: h311. Please go watch and rate. Next, we have a new episode of the TPCast out! Rejoice! However, it's on a different RSS feed than the old one. Why you may ask? Well, because we have a new TPCast website silly! Head on over to tpcast.blogspot.com to subscribe to the new TPCast RSS feed and listen to TPCast episode 52. Remember, the old TPCast feed will no longer be updated with new episodes, so you MUST subscribe to the new RSS feed if you still want to get new episodes. For you iTunes aficionados, the new feed should be coming to the iTunes Podcast directory soon.

Lastly, we've just opened up voting for the Third Annual Thomas Productions Movie Awards! If you've been hanging around TP for the last year or so, you know what's go'n down. For those of you who haven't, it's basically where you vote for your favorite Thomas Productions videos from the past year. Well voting's open, so just click this link right here to go vote! We set up a poll for you to take that's a lot easier than previous years where you have to send in an email. The downside is that we're only allowed 25 submissions (one of which has already been used up). So to make sure you're vote's counted, go and vote right now! The deadline for getting votes in is Sunday, May 17. The plan is to announce the winners on a special LIVE episode of the TPCast. More details will be coming as we get stuff solidified.

So that's it for this update! We'll be capturing Marlin episode 35 and getting it ready in the following week or so. Until then, keep being cool :)

Friday, April 17, 2009

Fri. April 17, 2009

Welcome update readers! It seems like I haven't posted an update in a long time. I have however, been posting quick updates via Twitter. You can follow these updates by joining Twitter and following us. With that, time for some updates!

Marlins on YouTube
Unfortunately, all older episodes of Marlin the Elite (1-30) have been taken off of YouTube. However, you can watch them all on the Videos page of our website. New Marlin episodes will continue to be posted to YouTube.

New Videos
We have a few new videos out since the last blog post:So please go and watch those.

Website Updates
I've made a few website updates in the last couple days. On the main page I've added a Twitter widget so any updates will display there. Also, the Photos page has been updated, so that the Photo Archive will display right on the page. New Marlin photos have also been posted there.

Future Video Plans
I've been getting a few questions about Project Blackknight. From an outside point of view, it would seem like we've forgotten about it. Of course, we haven't. We had planned to release episode 2 in the Spring, however, we have shifted our priorities to resemble last year's. We plan on first finishing up Marlin the Elite Season 4. We have an internal goal of finishing them up by around June 10th (or around when school gets out). Then, we will complete and release PBK episode 2 over the summer while Marlin is not in production. Remember that we're going for sort of a mini-movie vibe from PBK, so it takes a lot more time to produce.
So inkeeping wth that schedual, I captured Marlin episode 34 yesterday, and we filmed Marlin episode 35 today. Episode 34 should be out by next week.

And with that...
As a special preview for Marlin fans, we have a screen shot to share from Marlin the Elite Episode 34. Enjoy!


Saturday, April 11, 2009

April 11, 2009

Well, it's been a long enough wait! Marlin the Elite episode 33 is finally out. Click here to start watch'n! We already have episode 34 filmed, so there won't be a very long wait in between. We might do a live action Easter movie today, but if that doesn't work out, HAPPY EASTER!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

"Friend" Machinima Featured on Bungie.net!

The other day I submitted our "Friend" machinima to the Bungie.net Blog, on the off chance they would post it. Well low and behold, they did!


This is what they had to say:

"This machinima is quite the eye full, clocking in at one second shy of a full ten minutes. But the editing is nice, it's in High Def, and the premise is pretty unique. Give it a watch."


You can see the article for yourself here.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Sun. March 15, 2009

Well finally, Marlin episode 32 is out. Please believe me when we say we'll try and get the next one out sooner. Since the last blog post, Halo Wars has come out along with the limited release of the Halo 3 Mythic Map Pack. I'm sure you've seen our Mythic Map Pack video... right? (well for those of you who haven't, here it is). We've come out with a few other live action videos, so please go check those out. There's at least one more that I have in mind for this month.

And so, this blog post comes to an end. If you feel ripped off, you don't have to be. Follow us on Twitter and you'll get lots of little status updates like,

"Marlin the Elite Ep. 32 will be captured sometime this week."

Or,

"
Finished making song for the next Marlin episode. Can someone say ORGAN?"

Or even,

"
Finished voiceovers for Marlin 32 exporting for YouTube now!"

And maybe even,

"Layne just took a giant poo which got clogged somewhere"

Well, now that you mention it, not all of those are true.
I just made up the first three.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Thurs. Feb. 19, 2009

Well well. It's been a while. We've had quite a few videos come out since the last blog post. Sean Connery's Gaming Corner, Running Riot, Marlin episode 31, and our latest, The California Weather Report... just to name a few. We've also acquired a Twitter page. This will enable you to get news on what we're doing in between blog posts. We've embedded our Twitter updates on the right side of the blog page, so you can get updates without even going to Twitter. However, if you join Twitter, you can press the "Follow" button on our Twitter page, and every time we post an update, it will be sent to your Twitter account. Neat-o! So please do that.

An update on current stuff. We recently did the puppet work for Marlin ep. 32. That should be coming in the following weeks. We've also been putting little live-action videos. We might continue to do that. As for Project Blackknight (don't worry, we haven't forgotten about it), we've filmed a few scenes for it. We still have quite a few more to go. Like we said, we're not trying to crank these puppies out ASAP, so there are going to be breaks in between... rather... lengthy breaks. But we're still continuing with it.

So the moral of this blog post is...
Follow us on Twitter!

Friday, January 30, 2009

Fri. Jan. 30, 2009

Our new machinima has been finished up and has been thrown onto the interwebs for you to snatch up. It's titled "Friend". Click here to view now! Here's a little background on the video:

For a while, I've been wanting to do a "deep" machinima that leaves the viewer open to interpret the film. This is that machinima. The film defiantly has a sort of moral to it. If you wish, you can read the intended moral below, but I recommend that you watch it first. Enjoy!

Moral:

Even life's greatest joys seem dull when there is no one to share them with.


That's it for this post. Marlin # 31 is coming soon!

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Thurs. Jan. 22, 2009

It's time for an update! Yea! We're working on 2 machinimas right now, one being Marlin ep. 31, the other being a stand-alone. We're going to finish up the stand-alone one first, then Marlin 31. I've captured about half of the footage and edited it, so tomorrow I'll capture the rest. I'm not going to officially announce what it is yet(although I can tell you that it is not Halo 3 Dance TV 3). However, I have provided a screen grab of the movie being edited:



Isn't technology great?!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Fri. Jan. 16, 2009

Well, a lots been go'n down that I thought I should inform you guys about. Our Marlin videos are being taken down from YouTube because of a deal that fell through between YouTube and Warner Music Group:

From the YouTube Blog:

"We work with the music industry worldwide -- with major and independent labels and publishers, rights collecting societies, and with artists and songwriters directly -- to build user-friendly licensing arrangements. With these partners and our cutting-edge Content ID technology, we've created a win-win situation the likes of which never existed before YouTube: a system that gives artists a brand new revenue source and a great way to connect with their fans. That said, despite our constant efforts, it isn't always possible to maintain these innovative agreements. Sometimes, if we can't reach acceptable business terms, we must part ways with successful partners. For example, you may notice videos that contain music owned by Warner Music Group being blocked from the site."


So contrary to the last post I made, expect all the Marlin videos to go away for good on YouTube :( However, we're working on getting all of them up to our site. We will be updating the links on our video page as we get more of them up. New Marlins will begin as usual in February, and we will upload those to YouTube, the only difference is that we'll be using almost (if not all) original or royalty-free music so that this doesn't happen again. If you wish to see older Marlins, Seasons 1 & 2 are now on the Video Archive section of our website. Just scroll down and find the Marlin episode you cant to watch. Season 3 will be coming soon.

On a happier note, we pumped out a few new live-action movies: Horse's Horrid Hairdo and McJuice. Both have a heavy case of the randoms, so expect insanity. Please go watch them!
That's it for now!


Sunday, January 04, 2009

ATTENTION TP FANS!

Some of our videos are being taken down because of the music they contain. Just know that we are reworking them with original music and they will come back up when they are done. Sorry for the inconvenience.

TPCast