What’s it like to be an in-game stuntman? This week’s review is of a fun take, with a more serious undertone, on the NPC’s perspective of life in the background of a game for a very average player. The concept is hilarious, the execution needs a little work, but overall we loved this one by For Science and filmed in Star Citizen.
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes & Links
Film, released 27 September 2023 –
Damien’s picks this week take a look at two of the first Stafield machinimas by @TheKShow and @Mod81Gameworld respectively. The first is a ‘tell and show’ with a neat cinematic demo invoking Starship Troopers, and the second is a slightly more original lore-based teaser for an upcoming series called The Mantis. We begin this episode with an update on Star Citizen’s new spin off game, Squadron 42, which is now ‘feature complete’ and their launch of a new contest which can be entered on TikTok, leading Tracy to speculate on their strategic response to the release of Starfield! Ricky highlight’s a recent important update to Second Life’s render system which has important implications for machinima creators.
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes & Links
Our film picks this week –
Starfield: The feature nobody talks about, by The K Show, released 15 Sept 2023
and the second film,
The Mantis Teaser, by Mod81 Gameworld, released 25 Sept 2023
Inside Star Citizen: Inside CitizenCon, overview released 9 Nov 2023 –
and Squadron 42 now ‘feature complete’, with a video update here –
and here’s a link to the machinima contest for TikTok entrants
Examples of Second Life’s PBR (physical based render) system –
This week we present a critique of two very contrasting machinima productions – one took literally months to make and the other just a few days. In our first pick, the creator has asked: just how big are the maps in games these days? Well, vast actually – and quite frankly it blows our minds to think that so much effort has gone into answering the question. The film is called Longest Walkable Distances in a Video Game, by How Big is the Map. Our second film is a review of a creative experiment in Unreal Engine, called The Alchemist’s Confession by Cory Williams – it was inspired by a found marketplace asset and is experimental in a number of ways, not least in the five days it took to make it. Ricky highlights the weakness in the writing albeit the film is technically masterfully produced and acted, using mocap and LinkedIn (yep, you heard that correctly!). We also start this episode with some links we hope you enjoy and a discussion about the voice characterisation of G Man in the Half Life series.
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes & Links
Longest Walkable Distances in a Video Game / Maps Size Comparison by How Big is the Map, released 2 Sept 2023
An Alchemist’s Confession by Cory Williams, released 27 September
and he’s also created a how to, Behind the Scenes
Fractal Pi video mentioned by Tracy, by Chirag Dudat –
All G Man’s speeches, by No Click –
Not strictly machinima, but something we’ve named mAIchinima! This week, we discuss two films using generative AI to create narrative works. In both cases, the techniques employed emphasize the sound – music or voice acting – but whilst one is intentional, the other is not. We share our thoughts on these works and discuss some of the current limitations and benefits observed, which leads us into a timely discussion about style in filmmaking. We also discuss some recent developments in AI for creatives, such as the role of Glaze masking and Nightshade corrupting tools.
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes & Links
Our films this week –
Nina | Denvery Pluto | Episode 2 by Dean Corrigan, released 13 Sept 2023
Prelude to Dust by Dark Machine Audio, released 5 Sept 2023
The generative AI tools we mention in our preliminary discussion are Glaze and Nightshade, information about both can be found here. You can also find out more about Glaze and how it works here –
Ricky’s games mentioned: The Lies of P by From Software and Lords of the Fallen, available on Steam.
Recommended USB microphone reviewed by Ricky is by J Lab, called Talk, link here.
Artist mentioned is Lynd Ward and film style we discuss is Waltz With Bashir, trailer here –
and another artist is H R Giger, whose work on Alien encompasses a distinct style.
In this episode, we review one of the first avant garde machinima pieces created by the community. The film is called 9, by German machinimator Claus-Dieter Schulz, has been restored by Phil and is re-presented on his Machiniplex Remastered channel. It is a notable example of modernist cinema which moves towards abstraction and it is clear to see that Claus-Dieter was inspired by the likes of Oskar Fischinger, Hans Richter and Stan Brakhage. There were very few in the early days of machinima that turned in this creative direction, where most creators were instead inspired to devise original stories inspired by popular films, TV series, commercials and products, so our discussion reflects on this point as well as the early reactions to the work we recall.
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes and Links
Film link, released originally in 2009 –
Claus-Dieter’s blog here.
Original sound design with Martin Gurtner –
The only film that Oskar Fishinger ever made is on YT, called an Optical Poem, released originally in 1938. Link here –
Filmstudie by Hans Richter – a 1926 silent short which includes a musical score sampled from Darius Milhaud. Link here –
Clips of Stan Brakhage’s work, Mothlight 1963 –
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