Director Interview: Beatriz from Storia Studios

Beatriz is a machinimator whose videos are so good they leave us shook! Her YouTube channel, Storia Studios, shows off her talent for film making, simming and making poses and animations. How did Beatriz discover the sims? How is she SO good at machinima? The answers are in the following interview!

Welcome Beatriz, we love your videos! Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

Thank you so much for this interview, this is an absolute pleasure for me. I don’t have enough words to express how happy it makes me to see the SimsFilmFest interest in my projects! I’m a big fan of your work and I think you guys are doing an amazing job.
So, yes, my real name is Beatriz Vigário Castro, I’m from Portugal and I’m 22 years old! I graduated in “Sound and Image” and I’m currently finishing my “Film” master’s degree in London. I want to be a Producer, but I’m also interested in being an Editor or something related to storytelling inside the film industry. I’m fascinated by Asian Culture, my favorite director is Hayao Miyazaki and I’m a big fan of Studio Ghibli. I love music, mostly Korean Pop, but I’m also a big fan of Symphonic Metal. I know… very similar… ahah. During my free time I love to draw, but my favorite thing to do is to create sims machinimas.

An artist and a filmmaker! No surprises there. When were you introduced to The Sims? 

I started playing The Sims 1 at my tutor’s house, when I was 10 years old. I remember finishing my homework very quickly, so I’d be able get to the computer first and play The Sims 1. Such memorable days… I was really addicted to The Sims and when The Sims 2 came out I remember asking Santa Claus for it. Since then, up until The Sims 4 release, I wished for a different expansion every single Christmas. I’m thankful to my parents for giving me the opportunity to play in this amazing world since I was little.
It was in The Sims 3 that I found my calling. I started to create stories with Masumi (my Sim) through photos. I wanted to make videos to go along the stories, but I couldn’t because it was a very complex process. I watched a lot of music videos, films and short-films from all the sims’ versions, and I kept thinking: “How do they do that?”
In 2014, I heard about a Brazilian Sims Festival with the theme “Winter” and I decided to give it a shot. It was an adventure: While I was at the beach (on Summer Vacation), I drew and wrote the story and at home I tried to learn everything I could about mods and tricks, so I’d be able to record. I was very happy with my first machinima “Winter Lady”, and to this point it’s still my most viewed video. And so, with the release of my first machinima, Storia Studios was born. It’s still active to this day, even though I can’t make as many machinimas as I’d like.

Masumi Kimiko appears in most of your videos. Is she your simself?

I created Masumi around 2012. She’s a reflection of my admiration for Japan. We have the same age and date of birth, but she is Japanese and perfect! A successful model, director, actress and a little of everything. I fell in love with her as soon as she was created, and I think she’s everything I wanted to be. She went through some upgrades during the years, but she has stayed the same since “Winter Lady”. She is my main actress, the face of Storia Studios and my way to contact my friends from the Sims’ Online Community.

 

 

Have you done any professional filmmaking? Because your filming skills are insane.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate it! Well, I’m a film student for almost 7 years and I’ve worked in a lot of projects like short-films and music videos mostly. I can’t say I’m a professional yet, because I’m still studying, but yes, I’ve a lot of training in the area. However, I’ve been using my machinimas as a tool to upgrade my filmmaking skills, because when I’m creating a machinima I do almost everything I do for a film project. I work on an idea, a storyboard, screenplay, animations, shooting and editing. Even editing Masumi’s photos through Photoshop helps me improve my skills.

Your latest video, “Inside My Dream”, is a very unique project. Blurring the lines between sims and reality is something simmers love to discuss, but rarely have we seen it on film! How did you get this idea?

Inside My Dream is my most recent project and the most challenging up until now! I’ve been using The Sims in my school projects since my first year of film study. People are always impressed with the possibilities the sims provides. I made a lot of research projects about machinimas and the sims, so this game/life-simulator has been my main focus for a long time. I’ve used The Sims so much as a tool for college presentations, via storyboards and even trailer, I’m known as “The Sims Girl!” “Inside My Dream” was one of those moments where I could combine my academic life with my hobby.
I was briefed on making an experimental project film, and the word “experimental” instantly reminded me of The Sims. So, I had the idea to create a video where both realities would intertwine. Having now finished it, I can say I’m pleased with the final result. The project itself reflects my dreams and what I can do in the dream world that I can’t in the real life. Essentially, a metaphor.

The experiment was a success! It is an amazing video. You are also the creator of a Facebook group for simmers called “Sims Station.” What is that about? And can just anyone join?

Sims Station was a project that started off as a boring group only for Portuguese people. The people who were on the project gave up, so I created my own Sims Station Group. I was the person behind all the design, concept and name, so I guess it was already my “baby” from the start. “Sims Station” has grown a lot since it was founded, and that makes me very glad. I started to spread the word on Simbook, and, quickly enough, Sims Station became a sims community place for people to interact. Sims Station is changing a little again, considering I wanted to give it a new design and backstory. There’s a lovely machinima lined up, about the history of Sims Station. It’s going to take a while, because of my university projects, but I can tell you guys without a doubt that it will be my next priority.
Then, Sims Station will be back with a lot of news. And, yes! Everyone from sims players, sims profiles, sims creators, sims directors, sims “everything” are very welcome to join Sims Station’s group and page. We’re two people in this project: me and Safira, and we will always give our best to this community. The new concept for the Sims Station Machinima will be universe and galactic themed, and I’m really excited to show it everyone!

Thank you for your time, Beatriz! We here at SimsFilmFest love you and your videos!

Thank you very much for this opportunity, it was a pleasure! Thank you for choosing me to do this interview and for giving me the chance to talk about my love for the sims. I love you guys too! Please continue with this initiative and I hope that the sims machinima world grows more and more. I can’t wait to watch the entries at SimsFilmFest!

 Storia Studios YouTube Channel

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