Have you ever dreamt of making movies? Coming up with a brilliant story, getting it all set up, visualizing the look and feel, editing clips together, scoring it, and then showing it off to others?

The Sims 2 gives you the chance to explore your inner director, but there are a few tricks that you might want to know first that will help out along the way.

When naming your movie, be sure to not use any spaces in the name before you upload it.

Pre-Production

Setting the Stage

The first thing you might consider is creating a set vs. building an entire house. This has a few advantages. You can make sure that walls and other objects don't get in the way of your shot. It cuts down on your polygon count and you can get the best out of the default lighting in game. Plus it costs less.

If you choose a pre-created house there are some ways to make this work for you, even if there is already a family of Sims living there. First create the Sims for your movie and move them into an empty lot. Then cheat their money up and move them back into the Family Bin. Then re-enter the pre-created house and kill off the Sims in that house so that their possessions will remain. Save the lot and move the new Sims you created into that house. You might now consider modifying the house for your shot in any way necessary, including removing walls, retexturing walls, floors, etc.

The Neighborhood can also be your stage. Create houses, parks, terrain and effects that set the right tone for the landscape of your movie.

The Cast

When you are creating your Sims - think about colors and contrast. You want to be sure that your main characters stand out in the scenes. Picking out bright outfits and making striking features is a great place to start.

Try using Body Shop to create some really unique skins and clothes, or use the in game Create-A-Sim to make your actors.

Next: Step 2 - Setting the Scene>>

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6