Spring4Sims – The Best Finds, Downloads & Hints for Your Sims

Spring4Sims: Let’s start with your name first: WLSE. Who’s really behind the W, L, S and E - what are your names, how old are you and what do you do in real life?
WLSE: Well, we’ll keep our names secret, of course! W, L and S are 16; E is 19. W, S and E are all cousins (S and E being sisters) and L is a friend of ours who we have known forever! W, L and S all go to school, whereas E is of studying Biology at University.

Spring4Sims: Haha, it almost sounds like a puzzle to me… Do the Sims actually look like you in real life?
WLSE: We try to make them look like us in real-life, the faces aren’t perfect but features like L’s larger chin and E’s nose are added. We’re always on the lookout for hairs but for now we’ve got the perfect combination. We assign colours, though, so you easily find out who we are if you can’t spot the faces.

Spring4Sims: How did you four get into making funny Sims videos?
WLSE: We’ve always loved the game, and we had lots of ideas to share that stories wouldn’t do justice to. It’s hard to get a story out there, as they easily get lost in the exchange. We tried making some movies (to varying levels of quality) and once we were happy we could make decent videos, we started publishing them.
As for deciding to make funny videos specifically, everyone likes a laugh and the game provides many hilarious outcomes.

Spring4Sims: That’s true. But did you have any skills before you started creating with The Sims 2? What tools do you use for making them?
WLSE: None of us had any skills when it came to movie making… we all just enjoyed the game and learnt as we go. We use Windows Movie Maker to edit our videos, nothing else. It’s simple, easy, effective and free (I sound like an advert, don’t I?!)

Spring4Sims: Haha, don’t worry about that. Are some of the stories based on something that happened to you in real life? 
WLSE: The movies are really based on events, we like to come up with situations that we know we could find ourselves in. L’s bravery/stupidity means he does accept a lot of ludicrous dares, even if it’s not climbing up an Easter Island statue.
In fact, E has tried to give up chocolate for New Year… with the same result as the video!

Spring4Sims: Yes, I liked the video with chocolate, probably because I have the same problem all the time. But considering there there are four of you, isn’t it hard sometimes to split the tasks?
WLSE: I wouldn’t say it’s difficult, to be honest. L is very much involved in the music and editing of the videos, he really enjoys that. S normally comes up with ideas and practices things as her computer has lower specification. W is in charge of shooting the movies, but it’s a very collaborative task. E is off at Uni now so she’s just a movie star rather than being part of the crew!

Spring4Sims: So, I see there’s not too much of arguing between you. But I think that one of the hardest things about making videos must be the humor. If the videos are not funny, people just don’t like them that much… How do you come up with all that awesome jokes?
WLSE:  We take funny elements from the game and try to expand on them, like alien abduction or simply getting chased by bees. I don’t think our movies ever really have any laugh out loud moments, but I believe they are entertaining and engaging to the majority of people, especially Sim players who have had the events we put into our movies.

Spring4Sims: I see. Can you tell us some secrets on how do you make some of the scenes? For example, I’m very interested how you managed to make that video with gnome. S was dancing with it, bathing with it or they were even having a WooHoo. It seemed really amazing – how did you do that?
WLSE: That is to us what the secret recipe is to KFC. I can tell, though, that it is a rather simple process with amazing results. We are all very proud of Gnome Love and if we are remembered for any movie, I think it is that one.

Spring4Sims: Oh, and I was getting excited to get some juicy information from you, haha! Anyway, how long does it take you to make one video? I’m sure quite a lot of time, because I think you need to prepare the scene, think about what happens and then prepare the interactions. I’m sure that the poses are the hardest part, aren’t they… ?
WLSE: Movies are a lot easier to shoot if you plan ahead. You don’t need to sit down with a pen and paper (although that can help!) but if you know roughly what each shot is going to be, and you know you can do it in-game the longest part becomes making the set. It only takes a long time to shoot a movie when you head into uncharted waters, which we did in Gnome Love especially. That took us a lot of time (and a lot of retakes) to get right but the video deserved it.

Spring4Sims: Alright. But now when I think about it, I don’t think I’ve seen any custom content in your videos. How’s that even possible? Do you ever use some? Or is it just the videos and that you want to keep that Maxis-friendly?
WLSE: We do have some custom content, although a lot is simply edits or recolours of Maxis content. If your idea and story is good, we don’t think you need a lot of CC to show what you’re trying to tell…. In fact, it can distract from the story. We try to recolour our own outfits, to suit our taste and to match our own colours. We joke we’re like the Power Rangers as we always wear the same colour!

Spring4Sims: Power Rangers, indeed, but much better! But they also had some pretty cool “pets”. Do you have any favorite in-game creatures? You seem to like them a lot.
WLSE: The witches are really cool, as there are so many different things you can do with them, and from a movie making perspective the lead to a lot of new stories, even if the spells don’t exist in-game. Some creatures, though, such as Bigfoot aren’t really that cool in my opinion, as it’s basically just a funny looking Sim!

Spring4Sims: Yeah, I think you’ve taken a big advantage of the witches. And they’re really great in your videos! But let’s move on to another topic. The community is now all excited about The Sims 3 and you’ve already written you’re going to create movies with the new game. How about The Sims 2? Do you think it will eventually die? Or will you stay faithfull to it?
WLSE: I think it’s very difficult to back track. Once you’ve played The Sims 3, I’m assuming it’ll be difficult to go back to the set recolours of The Sims 2. Although the modding community won’t be there at the beginning of Sims 3, they weren’t at the start of Sims 2. I think overtime the new features of The Sims, with the custom content from the community will, well not render The Sims 2 obsolete, but make it annoying less playable and malleable.

Spring4Sims: Will you use the same characters for The Sims 3 or create new ones?
WLSE: As the characters are based on real people, we’re hoping to bring them into The Sims 3. However, we may add some “secondary cast” as it were. We’re not making many promises, yet, as we haven’t played the game and wouldn’t like to commit ourselves to anything!

Spring4Sims: Of course. Were there sometimes moments when you thought “I’ve had enough – I quit”? If so, what made you hold on and go on?
WLSE: There have been a lot of those moments, especially when making tricky movies that require a bit of set-up. Normally, it’s our own persistence to keep going, although if a movie won’t look good or be funny you can normally tell.
We’ve never really wanted to “give up” The Sims altogether, although we have had dry spells where it has been very difficult to come with ideas for movies.

Spring4Sims: I think we’ll agree that it’s the community that usually keeps the creators going. Can you tell us what do you love the most about it?
WLSE: The community – well, the majority of it – it very positive and people are always leaving our movies nice comments. We then want to make more movies to keep them entertained. As for other aspects, away from movie making, the community seems very eager to help new creators and players out. The Sims franchise would be nothing without the community behind, and I’m sure The Sims 3 will become very popular when the first bits of CC start popping up.

Spring4Sims: How about the YouTube community? Do you think it’s the right place for you to become popular? 
WLSE: I think YouTube alone can’t get you everywhere, but it’s a very good place to start! It can get you a lot of fans, but to get the exposure from the Sims community you need to advertise your movies on the BBS and other forums. I love YouTube’s simplicity, you don’t have to pay or log-in to watch videos, you can just go there and enjoy yourself.

Spring4Sims: That’s true. Have you ever thought of how long do you think you’ll be able to stick with it?  I can truly say for myself that I’ve been growing up with the Sims games…
WLSE: I think as long as the game remains fresh and the community still exists there will always be a market for a game like The Sims, on whatever platform or under any name. It reaches out to people in a way most other games can’t; it’s customisability and aspect to all ages and both genders is something you don’t find it many other video games, or anything for that matter!

Spring4Sims: If you could give some advice to people who are only starting with making the Sims videos, what would it be?
WLSE: As clichéd as it sounds “Practice.” The only way to get better is to make a movie, then watch it back. You’ll always find something you don’t like about it; that you rushed maybe or that could have gone better.
My other advice would be to get your movies out there; no matter if you think they’re bad. If you think people would want to watch them, get them out there! Although the videos that are low-quality and of a Sim walking around don’t make you a Sim movie maker, and will generally annoy people who watch them. Make sure you post stuff people will want to watch!

Spring4Sims: What were your most favorite expansion packs so far and which would you like to see in The Sims 3? (Or what new would you like to see in TS3?)
WLSE: FreeTime was a very good, all rounder expansion pack, as was Seasons. You didn’t need to go anywhere to bring the new features to you, unlike Bon Voyage, for example. They added some very nice objects and animations, which for a movie maker and for a player are very helpful.
As for The Sims 3, I think an expansion pack which added more hobby objects, like FreeTime, would go down very well. I think expansion packs such as “Theme Park” and “Zoos”, although they would be very good, would cross circles with already successful games and wouldn’t be done well enough to give the themes justice.

Spring4Sims: Do you even have time to play the game? Or do you only create the movies? Also, do you sometimes play other games than the Sims?
WLSE: We do all play the game; it’s where we get a lot of our inspiration from. A strange event can lead to a whole movie, and sometimes it’s nice to take a break and know you’re Sims and sets won’t be scrutinised my others!
L enjoys a lot of other video games (especially driving and shooting) but the rest of us pretty much just play Sims. We all enjoy a good game of Mario Kart Wii, from time to time!

Spring4Sims: What other hobbies apart from the game do you have? 
WLSE: W joys the cinema, especially Disney movies (lame, but they’re so cool and everyone loves them secretly.) L is really into BMXing and goes out most weekends on his bike. S is a British Champion at gymnastics, and spends a lot of her time training. E used to be a gymnast to, but now enjoys Uni life, which for her means staying in and gossiping with her flatmates or curling up with a good book.

Spring4Sims: Oh, you sound like you all have very busy lives besides makin your fantastic videos… Here’s a some space for your final words – if you think there’s something more you’d like to tell us, then speak up your mind!
WLSE: I can’t think of anything else, really. Thanks for interview us! You’re site is very nice and a very good place to find custom content! Keep up the brilliant work!
Spring4Sims: Thank you for your patience and bringing the awesome videos, guys!

Visit WLSE’s Studios site for news or tune into their YouTube channel for some awesome videos. You can also follow them on Twitter.

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