NDI/Priceless History
For the bored or for the interested, here is the complete history of NDI/Priceless! This is a history of NDI/Priceless from the moment of its conception in 2005 to the day this website was created in 2009.
2005:
Ben Degn and James Garcia, longtime friends since boy scouting, stumbled across the program Game Maker. With this program, they created their first set of games under two studio names. James took the name Phazon Studios (Which eventually evolved into Phoenix Technologies) while Ben took the name Cytoplamic Studios. While Ben's first game (Commander Cosmos and the Scurge from Planet X) was technically proficient, he lacked any graphics whatsoever. On the other end, James' first game (Robo Jo) looked a lot better, but lacked in technical skill.
This is the last incarnation of the Cytoplasmic Studios logo before it was scrapped to move totally over to Nth Degree Innovation.
Gradually, the two realized that in order to be successful, they would have to combine their efforts. James drew up a few concept ideas, but this was the one that stuck. Born of this endevor was the new Nth Degree Innovation (or Innovation to the Nth Degree as it was first called for a time).
First ever Nth Degree Innovation logo.
2006:
A slew of games poured from this new company, including Hue, Etch, Power Planet 1 and 2, Sphere, and Masters of Time and Space. Eventually, a new logo was formed after a brief stint with the Anim8tor program. Eventually the game company fell by the way-side as Ben and James struggled with new ideas. Failed or never released games include Commander Cosmos 2, Lab Rat, Game Maker Destruction, The Brain, Robo Jo, Gravity, Metroid the Return, Metroid the Chase, and Ion.
The new Nth Degree Innovation logo was originally meant to be animated, but the sheer filesize of it made that impossible. Hence, a series of cool loading images were built around it, but never actually used.
Around June of that year, during the annual Boy Scout Rummage Sale, James spent a week over at Ben's house, whereupon they hatched a plan for a new project, this one involving film. After consulting with their friend Austin Offenbacher, the three collaborated to produce the first Idiots on Parade. This short film achieved a mild success among friends and family, but the lauch date of IOP and the Nth Degree Innovation myspace page (June 22, 2006) became the recognized birthday for Nth Degree Innovation. No recognizable logo for Nth Degree Innovation was available at that time.
Later that summer, in September, the three filmmakers got together again for a new short film. In just two days, the 17 minute long Breakfast with Jesus was formed. A monument to both indie filmmaking and hearasy, the short film was the first commercial product of Nth Degree Innovation, and won the company an impressive $9. The movie was eventually packed away and is not frequently refered to any more.
At some point during this year, the first Nth Degree Innovation webpage was started on Freewebs.com. The old page was never updated past April in 2007, and now lies dormant with old links to the two gaming websites that eventually went under, taking most of the Nth Degree Innovation games with them. Some of the games were eventually salvaged and put up on this new website.
Also by this point in the year, IOP had gone through several re-edits and had become the 17 minute version now seen on myspace. However, the original film boasted 30ish minutes, most of which were bloopers. The bloopers actually were longer than the original collection of skits that made up the film. Also, many of the original skits can no longer be seen in the final version.
The name "Nth Degree Innovation" was renamed "Nth Degree Innovation Studios" following the addition of possible other departments to the company. A new logo featuring a film reel was introduced at some point either late this year or early on in the next year.
This logo was used only for a short time, and was not used in many actual products of NDI Studios. However, it remains a good logo and crops up from time to time.
2007:
This year was basically nothing for NDI Studios. Not only were no new games released, but no new films made their way to the surface. As a Sophomore in High School, Ben had no formal contact with James, who had just found and fell in love with the girl of his dreams the previous September. Ben also got a steady girlfriend in September of this year, and thus further divided his time away from the company. For most of the rest of the year nothing new was released online.
However, a trailer for IOP 2 was quickly done and released on the myspace page. It was a simple <2 minute trailer, but it got the blood rushing for NDI Studios. That summer, Austin, Ben, and James got together to shoot some footage for IOP 2 that was never used in the actual production, but was used in the IOP 2 official trailer released in 2008. Also, James worked on writing a script for a new movie (Originally titled Mafioso, then Lemmon Valley Mafia, then Kingpin), but he never finished it.
In August, a new version of IOP was rehashed and released on the NDI Studios myspace page. This new version was the first to feature the new "Hot Air Balloon on the Moon" logo that eventually wound its way out of style with NDI Studios. It is currently the only online video to retain this logo.
Around Christmas time, however, James produced a series of short films of rather low quality (Writers Block, Corona 500, Pool Shark, Sleeping with Allie). These, along with IOP, were the only films to feature the "Hot Air Balloon on the Moon" logo. Many of them were eventually taken offline when the page was redone on youtube.
2008:
The golden age of NDI Studios dawned with the breakup of Ben and his ex-girlfriend in January. The first true NDI Studios film "You Just Lost, and How" was released the following day. Although it had bad lighting and was a bit dull, it was the first in a series of many, ever developing videos. Shortly thereafter, "Meltin Monkey" was released. All these videos met a very limited release. These new films featured the new logo, which has become a staple of NDI Studios material all the way to the present.
The Stegosarus logo is something of a mystery to non-NDI fans. The original thing was, on the day Ben was dumped, he visited James at his then job at Scolaris. He bought one of those cheap bath foaming soaps, and when James and Ben put it in water to watch it dissolve that night, it produced this really cheap stegosarus, which was then translated onto the new logo for the rebirth of NDI Studios.
At this point, all NDI videos were relocated to the Youtube Page, established on February 9, 2008. February and March of that year saw the release of Alameno Cab Service, Must Love Dogz, and the shortShort Films made by James. The days of NDI had begun, and films turned out at a rate of a couple per month on average. A lot of projects were eventually removed from the youtube page for bad quality. One of the most disturbing projects known to NDI were the Telepedophilia projects, of which 6 episodes were produced. These were scrapped and removed because they were just plain creepy.
Two major things were initiated this year. The first was the founding of Priceless Films in March, 2008. The birthday for this division is officially known as March 24, 2008. The reason for the founding of a new division was to acommodate a new breed of videos: ones that focused more on serious themes and true filmmaking than just purile jokes and quick humor. "Noise" became the first product of this new division, and won NDI/Priceless several awards at the local Lumiere Film Festival.
Priceless Films was born out of a necessity to provide a new face to the new breed of filmmaking. Ben and James both knew that they couldn't keep the old face of the comical NDI Studios and try to apply that to a serious film. Thus, this new company was created as sort of a new department. It still falls under the NDI logo, but has its own seperate image, so to speak.
The second major event was the 2-week long NDI festival for filming IOP 2. This was the first time that Ben, James, Austin, and Canaan (The 4 primary members of NDI) were together on film at the same time. Building upon the success and style of the original IOP, the 4 completed the project in only one week (along with the help of James' new Canon high quality camera). IOP 2 remains the premier accomplishment of NDI Studios to date. It was released on June 22, 2008 to mark the 2-year birthday of NDI Studios. A special logo was designed for the occasion.
This new "2-year" logo was espeically designed for IOP 2. Since it was quickly replaced with the "Sword and Reel" logo later in the month, it's duration was short-lived. However, it was featured in not only IOP 2, but in the tribute "Whip it like NDI" video released prior to June, 2008. The video was eventually removed from the net for copyright reasons, however.
Also, at that time NDI Studios had be hired to its first project as editing a Powerlifting Competition video for a local gym in town. The project was finally completed during the 2-week stretch, and entered NDI into the realm of professional filmmaking. Later that summer, they were hired to do several videos for the WARCStock festival held in Reno, Nevada by the WARC office. This was the first paying event for NDI/Priceless, and was the first official introduction to career filmmaking.
During the 2-week period, Ben and James also produced "One Question," the second Priceless Film. This one was unquestionably better than "Noise," but it sadly never made it to a film festival for comment. Also developed during that time period was a new logo for NDI Studios. This new logo is an auxilary to the Stegosarus logo, but it is no less important.
The "Sword and Reel" logo was composed of pictures of Ben (holding a fake dollar-store foam sword) and James (holding an old film reel). The sword was purchased during the NDI Film Week, and is currently signed by the four major actors during that week in commemoration of the event. This logo can be seen on all current film productions stemming from NDI/Priceless.
In July of 2008, NDI's first series "We Need a Title" was born. Using the ideas created in TV shows like "The Office," WNaT features both live-action and interview style footage. Although not much of a hit on the NDI page, it remains a favorite ongoing project of the NDI Studios staff.
Back in the games department, a week-long game madness drove Ben to finish the long-awaited "Orion." However, a majority found the game to be basically ugly, and future projects were either trashed or put on hold. It is unknown whether or not future games will come from NDI Studios.
Closing off the year was the release of several more Priceless Films, including "Stalemate," and "The Note," as well as a few more professional projects for local businesses in the community. Thus, the year of 2008 ended with high hopes for NDI Studios.
2009:
The year of 2009 openned up smoothly for NDI Studios. The first film to be put out was "Reverse" by Priceless Films. In addition, scripts had been drafted for several works, including "The Painter," "Jonathan," "The Secret," and other films. These scripts were always up on hold in the past, and James has intentions of filming them for NDI/Priceless in the near future.
WNaT continued its filming with the start of season 2, including Episodes 5 and 6. Other projects trickled in slowly, such as James' experimentation with both the new Adobe After Effects and a new Green Screen.
Some of the most exciting developments thus far are the production of our comedy web series "Batwoman: Behind the Mask," which respresents the first time NDI Studios has gone outside the original four members for help in making movies, and the trend will continue for future projects. "We Need a Title" is coming to a close, scheduled for August, and will feature Jaide Nichols as well as Canaan Peterson and Austin Offenbacher as guest stars. James has already written the script for our next webseries, and Ben has a lot of plans for NDI Studios when he moves to Arizona at the end of the summer.
This concludes the history of NDI/Priceless, from its obscure foundings in the world of game-making to the now successful career in filmmaking. New prospects for NDI are always on the horizon, but those new updates can be found in the "News" section rather than here. Thanks to those who have read our history, and I hope it helps you further understand the importance of NDI Studios, not just as a film company, but as a life project.
-Ben Degn March 16, 2009