Week 8: Machinima: From Game Platforms to Animation Studio
Submitted by Peter Morse on Tue, 15/08/2006 - 21:12.
Week 8: Machinima: From Game Platforms to Animation Studio
This week we are looking at Machinima, a new and evolving form of filmmaking that uses game engines to construct virtual environments with virtual characters, who can be scripted to perform roles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machinima
Machinima artists take the raw materials provided within interactive games and manipulate them in new ways, creating a unique combination of game play, animation, and real world cinematic techniques. By filming within live game space, machinima side-steps the time consuming rendering of each keyframe which occurs in traditional animation, and costs drastically less than real world filmmaking.
By using game characters as actors, manipulating their behaviours and reccording voiceovers, machinima artists can give their 3D worlds a depth and humanity beyond the usual shoot-em-up mentality of interactive gaming.
A quick introduction to the concept of machinima can be found at Machinima.org's FAQ page: http://www.machinima.org/faq.html
The readings this week are:
Playing the Movies (at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image) - http://www.acmi.net.au/playingthemovies.jsp . Read the essay by the curator, Helen Stuckey: http://www.acmi.net.au/essay_playing_movies.htm
The Xbox Auteurs -
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/07/magazine/07MACHINI.html?ex=1281067200&...
Machinima & the Filmmaker's Virtual Immersion -
http://www.luciferjones.org/machinima.htm
The Machinima Standard - http://www.machinima.com/article.php?article=423
One Word for you Hollywood: Machinima -
http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/12/technology/machinima_hollywood/
Machinima Technical Theory: http://www.strangecompany.org/Resources/differences1.htm
Some questions to consider:
What is the relationship between mcahinima and the film and television industry? Is it a challenge to conventional media? Is it subversive? What sort of future is there for Machinima? Is it related to contemporary developments in filmmaking - such as the use of virtual sets and computer generated characters (cf. Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.)
What relationship might we predict between game developers, machinima artists and the film industry in the future? Will they be partners or competitors?
Is there an emergent aesthetic of machinema? if so, what characterises it?
If you were a machinima artist, what would you like to explore in terms of genre, different games and concepts? Would you go for hard hitting political drama or light entertainment? Why?
How might machinima operate on a deeper level, as self reflexive tool to explore human interactions and community within the game space?
For a great example of a new machinima series from 2005, go to: http://www.thisspartanlife.com/ They have taken the talk show format and put it in real time game space with hilarious results!
Machinima Sources:
A very extensive machinima archive at the Internet Archive: http://www.archive.org/details/machinima
The start of it all: Red vs Blue http://rvb.roosterteeth.com/archive/
Documentary about Machinima: "Artery: MAchinima" (22mins) - http://www.machinima.com/article.php?article=327
Software:
Stunt Island: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stunt_Island
Machinima specific software: http://www.lionhead.com/themovies/
Commercial Sites:
Machinima Magazine:
