The Blender folks have taken the wraps off the title of their latest open movie project, codenamed “Durian”.
The fantasy CG short will be titled Sintel, and they have also released the design of the main character, and storyboard + preliminary animatic of the first minute.
Wow… Seriously amazing what you can achieve with Open Source software nowadays.
I can’t wait for the new short! 
Yep, I just saw it yesterday.
Have you guys also seen the latest ‘first minute’ preview?
Of course. I really like how the animation is coming along.
In case anyone missed that preview, here’s the link.
Laugh out loud… the codename is one of the most popular fruits in Malaysia and Singapore. Those who are not accustomed to it describe it as a fruit that “stinks like h*ll but tastes like heaven.” 
And the title… just reminds me of the telco operator in Singapore and its ‘John Lasseter’-style commercials. 
But B.O.T. … the trailer looks great, but it’s very cryptic, and I’m not really sold on it at the moment. I did enjoy Big Buck Bunny, the first Blender short I believe, when it was screened at my school. I don’t know what’s their second film (does anyone know?)… this third production looks almost feature-length, but unless they reveal more, it’s looking very ‘Final Fantasy-ish’ at the moment (visually spectacular, narratively bankrupt).
Still… Dragons + Unlikely Heroine + Awesome Scenery = Possible Win?
thedriveintheatre:
BBB was the second Blender short.
The first one was Elephants Dream, and that one I would wholeheartedly call “visually spectacular and narratively bankrupt”, indeed.
It’s really nothing more than a weird CG demo, in my opinion.
I think BBB was already way better, I really enjoyed that one. So assuming they keep improving rather than repeating old mistakes, Sintel should be worth watching.
I don’t like their point of view on storytelling though. At the moment, their collective mentality is “screw the story and emotional depth, we’re going to develop the plot through lots and lots of fighting.”
Ugh… 
They lost me there. I’m a sucker for emotional depth and a good developped story.
Czarine:
You could always leave a comment in the trailer thread.
It might be too late for this film (it seems to be more or less finalized, plot-wise), but Sintel certainly won’t be their last project.
No, I don’t want to change the way they make movies. They should do whatever they think is best and whatever they like. I’m sure of lot of people would like what they do, but it’s just not my cup of tea. I’m not all for changing everything I don’t like.