Although not as widely recognized as it should be, Playstation Home has been able to not only provide a free social space within the PlayStation 3, but it has also given artists a platform where they can exhibit their work. It is a place where people can play games, listen to music, watch movies together, meet new friends, and fall in love, amongst other activities. All of this is done within a virtual environment. Home also allows users to create content and showcase their work within the Community Theater. There are a good amount of interesting and enjoyable shows, but Platinum’d is the first live action mini-series. It features an independent film-like quality, in terms of the cinematography, acting, and direction. It is also the first series which has debuted in PS Home and moved to the Playstation Network. This opens up the possibility of other filmmakers, budding or established, to see that Home is a viable space in which you can showcase your work because there is already a built-in audience.

Platinum’d is the brainchild of USC senior Brandon Winfrey. He is the creator, writer, and lead actor of the series. Originally broken down into 10 episodes, which were shown in PS Home’s Community Theater, when it made the transition to the PlayStation Network the episodes were bundled together. With episodes 1-3, 4-6, and 7-10 being available to download. Three directors each took the reigns of different episodes. Colin Windmuller directed 1, 2, 5, and 6. Producer Kelly Nygaard directed 3, and 8. Matt Galuppo directed 4, 9, and 10 as well as cowrote and produced the series. Per the official Platinum’d web site it states “Platinum’d Cast includes several students from the University of Southern California”. Several students that attend USC are crew members as well. This just goes to show that USC will continue to foster the gifts of talented filmmakers as they have done in the past with George Lucas, Sam Peckinpah, Don Murphy, Brian Singer and countless others. Cade Peterson (PlayStation®Home Community Programming Specialist at SCEA), whom some of you might recognize as GlassWalls from the official PS Blog, is the Executive Producer.

Everett or ‘D’Edge’ played by Brandon Winfrey is your typical college student and hardcore PS3 gamer. His character and delivery felt like Ben Stiller or the actor Joel David Moore, in a good way, where he is confident enough, that it masks his insecurities. Platinum’d revolves around the character ‘Edge’, but is an ensemble show. Emily Goss is ‘Jess’. Her character is Edge’s chemistry partner. Emily provides an intelligent and cute girl next door quality performance, who is harboring a secret. When the series starts off we learn that Edge has lost his college sports scholarship (he was a cheerleader) and will probably not be returning to school the next semester. Instead of going to class he has been playing PS3 and racking up trophies so he can have more than his nemesis ‘BzBee’. Keye Chen portrays this character and with his exaggerated expressions feels like a younger Jim Carrey and could easily be on SNL or any other sketch comedy show. After a somber conversation with Edge, Jess leaves his place only to come across a flyer for a contest that would help Edge to get the money to stay in school. The contest is to get all of the PS3 game’s platinum trophies. With a deadline and the task at hand Edge sets out to win the contest, but things aren’t as easy as they seem when dealing with a roommate who randomly walks into your room and rambles off random and insane questions and musings. Along with a competitor who seems to have more time to trifle around with him in real life, rather than play games.

‘Jeff’ the roommate is hilariously played by Trevor Adams, while Jennica Hill stars as ‘Verona’, ‘BzBee’s mainly silent friend. Actress Erin Williams makes an appearance as ‘Stacey’. Towards the end of the series people may recognize three different cast members of the PSN exclusive reality show “The Tester”. First season contestant Amanda Brockman known on the show as ‘Amped’, along with the winner of that season Will Powers aka ‘UnCyrus’, and second season contestant Leo Kovalik Jr. ‘Scooter’ all make an appearance along with the Executive Producer Cade Peterson. When you watch all of the episodes together the running time is around 71 minutes. Essentially the creators have made an independent feature that has been broken down into pieces. It’s obvious that Brandon Winfrey understands screenwriting and the directors understand filmmaking techniques as there is a proper three act story arc. There are a few technical issues within some of the scenes e.g. some audio and differences in coloring between some of the frames, but they are so few and far between that it can be forgiven. Also since this is completely independent, you can tell that they put their heart into this project, and each had to probably take on many different duties on the production end. What shows on screen is that even if you don’t have a huge budget for your project, you can still be creative and that will outshine any technical hitches that will occur.

If I could compare this to any other program I would have to say it felt like the British show “Spaced” which was the great director Edgar Wright’s first project. There are a ton of subtle and not so subtle games references that any PS3 fan will pick up on and enjoy. They have also created characters that could be used in several different story lines and will still be engaging. There are some great shots and coverage throughout the show and I am impressed with what they brought to the table. I also can’t forget about the soundtrack produced by Andrew Prahlow. The music ranges from an 8-bit sound to an epic orchestral score and can be found at http://andrewprahlow.bandcamp.com/. Overall, I enjoyed what this group of talented people produced, and look forward to seeing what they have in store for us in the future.

Check out the official Platinum’d website at platinumd.com/

VN:F [1.9.17_1161]

Platinum'd: From Home to the PSN, 10.0 out of 10 based on 2 ratings