In this ep, we discuss two machinima films dealing with thematically similar issues, albeit presented with different treatments: Vigilante is made in GTA5 and tells the shocking story of how the lead character became cyberpunk. The second is a futuristic yet somehow more traditional gender-based story made in UE5. It is presented as a proof of concept for a proprietary tool made by its creator, who is none other than the VFX Oscar-winner Tim Webber in his directorial debut.
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes & Links
GTAV – Vigilante | Episode 1 | Cyberpunk Machinima by Weedens, released 25 March 2023
FLITE | Hyper Realistic CGI Sci Fi Short Using Unreal Engine, released 1 Dec 2023
An interesting video featuring Tim Webber, talking about his approach to visual effects
This week, we take a look at a spectacular particle show in a machinima that has been documented and edited by Tutsy NaVaRaThNA in Second Life. The show is called Flowers of Evil and was created by Lalie Sorbet and Chrix as an interactive installation inspired by the most scandalous literary works of Charles Baudelaire, with the support of a Second Life Endowment for the Arts. Tutsy’s documentary is accompanied by an hypnotic composition by French club DJ and musician Sahale (from his Bouddha Bar XXI album), music that takes its inspiration also from the Flowers of Evil (or Fleurs du Mal). All round, this is a mesmerizing rendition that we could well imagine being enhanced with VR as a live experience… and that’s not something you hear us state all that often.
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes and Links
Flowers of Evil by Tutsy NaVaRaThNA, released on 29 Jan 2024 –
Full recording of the show by Lalie Sorbet and Chrix here –
A website dedicated to Baudelaire’s Fleurs du mal https://fleursdumal.org/ which includes links to the various editions, the first of which do not include the censored works – those you can find the 1866 Les Epaves (the scraps)
This week’s podcast episode is our curated news omnibus for this month. We cover lots, and enjoy reflecting on the significance of the stories we highlight for the world of machinima and virtual production.
btw, the international internet pipes failed and microwaves fried our apps during this recording session, video corrupted and monsters ran loose among us, so enjoy the voice data we’ve managed to resurrect and video clips we’ve added – we’ll be back next week in full glory!
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes & Links
Fan communities under pressure?
Valve’s Steam policy and recent take downs for Team Fortress 2 and Portal fan projects – article on Games Radar here
Half Life 3 aka Entropy Zero (and 2) projects – Fandom.com overview here and video –
New Moviemaking Toolsets
Blockbuster Inc, Prologue version now on Steam here
Demo by Orbital Potato here –
Replikant now in free beta on the Unreal Marketplace.
Replikant has a Youtube channel with plenty of tutorials on it already, and there’s a great demo of it which gives you a sense of the animation quality it produces –
And for those wanting a quick and dirty tutorial on UE5, check this out –
Steamboatin’ Along!
Minecraft Steamboat Willie which is a fun take on it, made by Red and Blue –
Fewture Studios’ trailer for The Return of Steamboat Willie, made in Unreal Engine –
Screams
The origins and impact of the Wilhelm Scream – BBC shorts here
In all our years of involvement with machinima (over 75 years between us!), feature length has been something we’ve rarely found watchable… but with this week’s pick, we were proven wrong, mostly! Emesis Blue, made in Source Filmmaker using the Team Fortress 2 characterisations by Fortress Films, is an incredibly well-made if very complex story that was crafted over many years.
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