Believe it or not, I’m still combing through the footage archives and digging up new stuff for our Odysee page. Most of it either is obscure DVD-only content, or has never been released whatsoever. Check out these sick links!
Continue readingJun 14
Ridgway Fangames
Back in the day, we tried our hand at a few choose-your-own-path interactive movies. The first was 2011’s Milkshake: A Malti-Path Adventure, created for an UbseyMovies fan art & video contest. The second was 2016’s Hay Maze, a Kommander Krunchy off-the-cuff short filmed while wandering around in a real hay maze. The interactivity was achieved with YouTube annotations, which were clickable links that could be placed anywhere in the video and connected to other YouTube videos, aka the next choice in the interactive movie.
However, as thoroughly established in previous reputable essays, because YouTube “sucks eggs” (the technical term), these interactive movies became unplayable after annotations were retired. However, we have decided to resurrect both of these shorts as actual downloadable games on itch.io, and we’re doing it using a brand-new label.
Introducing… Ridgway Fangames.
Continue readingNov 13
Earthbound: The Final Commentary Tracks
Despite the fact that the Earthbound Part Three DVD has become all but an impossibility at this point in time, (unless you guys decide to prove us wrong with a sudden surge of pecuniary support for said hypothetical DVD!) we’ve nonetheless gone ahead and recorded our contemporary thoughts about the commentary-less episodes of Earthbound. Yes, the Ridgway Films brain-trust – aka Elliott, Anton, and Phil Ridgway – have rejoined their vocal cords via the magic of Discord video chat to provide you with some fresh 2022 content, as they relive the final two EB episodes and get their surviving memories committed to lossless WAV format.
Continue readingOct 20
Earthbound: 15 Years Later
It was fifteen years ago today. Fifteen years ago, we rolled videotape on the first shot of the first scene of what would prove to be one of the longest and most arduous projects we’ve ever undertaken. It doesn’t feel like it was fifteen years ago. Time is weird.
Since finishing Episode 7 last year, and (more recently) moving all the episodes to Odysee, it’s felt strange to take a step back and look at the series as a whole. I used to cringe through the old episodes, but now I look back at all of it with nothing but fondness. Earthbound was the crucible that forged our filmmaking skills in an insanely fast amount of time. Between 2007 and 2012, we ran through five cameras’ worth of evolving picture and sound quality, leaping all the way from the home movie quality of VHS tape up to shooting in 1080p HD at a more professional-looking film framerate. We learned how to composite in After Effects, how to use a green screen, and how to rig and animate 3D models. And we learned so much about receiving constructive criticism from friends and commenters online. All thanks to Earthbound.
To commemorate this 15-year anniversary, I decided to do some more digging through the footage archives and see if there was anything unreleased that was still worth uploading. Hopefully you guys like what we found…
Continue readingAug 26
Stuff from the Archives, Volume 1
In the process of migrating all of our content from YouTube to Odysee, we’ve uploaded a bunch of cool, previously-un-uploaded stuff! In addition to the content that was previously only available through DVD releases (commentary tracks, bonus features, that sort of thing), there’s also quite a bit that has never been seen by non-Ridgway eyes:
- Shadow of the Pink Panther (Extended Unusable Footage Reel) (Recorded 2007-2008)
- The Trip to Lindsay’s Wedding (Unreleased Road Trip Documentary) (Recorded 2008)
- The Murder (Recorded 2010)
- Earthbound Episode 6: Deleted Scenes (Recorded 2010-2012)
- Earthbound Episode 6: 2010 Raw Footage
- Earthbound Episode 6: 2011 Raw Footage
- Earthbound Episode 6: 2012 Raw Footage
- Earthbound: How About Some Donuts? (Unfinished Music Video) (Recorded 2012)
- Earthbound: Prince Poo Is Watching Me (Footage from 2010-2012, edited in 2014)
- Earthbound Episode 7: Deleted Scenes (Recorded 2012)
- Earthbound Episode 7: Raw Footage (Recorded 2012-2014)
- Earthbound Episode 7: The Robbie Benson Tapes (Recorded 2015)
- Earthbound Episode 7: Giygas Fight Storyboard
- Silly String Samurai (Behind the Scenes) (Recorded 2016)
- Harry Potter and the Extended Universe (Storyboard & Table Read) (Recorded 2017)
- Mega Man Episode 3: Crime of the Century (Blooper Reel) (Recorded 2018)
There’s definitely more to come! Keep your eyes on our Odysee channel for more stuff like this!