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Completely Machinima Interview: Ben Tuttle, film maker

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes January 15, 2024 Leave a reply

Phil catches up with a long-time machinima creator Ben Tuttle, aka 4413 Media. Ben admits he cut his teeth on The Movies in the late 2000s, and then discusses Shockbreak, one of his latest productions. They get into the detail of how the film was created and generally Ben’s creative workflow using iClone, Character Creator, Unreal Engine and a heap of other tools integrated into the production process. They also discuss the merits of using AI and the difficulties of social media misinterpretations. Ben shares with us some teasers for some of his upcoming films.

YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes & Links

Ben Tuttle’s latest film, Shockbreak, released 19 October 2023 –

Using iClone on a new project, Redstrike –

Follow Ben’s YouTube channel for great tutorials on using different tools in the creative production process here

S4 E111 Machinima News + GTA5 Cinematic (Jan 2024)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes January 11, 2024 Leave a reply

This week, we discuss the critical turn we witnessed in 2023 towards machinima among creative industries professionals. We highlight why it is high time there is a major rethink on the role of indie creatives and fan fiction in general. We also review a beautiful cinematic made in GTA5, and also reflect on some of the challenges with a particular camera technique.

YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes & Links

European Film Awards, Best Short – Hardly Working, a machinima made in RDR2 by Austrian collective Total Refusal. Announcement of winner here and link to Milan Machinima Film Festival’s earlier presentation of their work here. Many congratulations to Total Refusal on this landmark achievement!

Back story notes links –

Sam Crane’s Stage award for his live production of Hamlet in GTA5

Tracy’s review of Oberhausen International Film Festival and links to our discussion –

and interview with the curators at Oberhausen –

Warhammer 40K partnering with Amazon for new shows and movies, with Amazon being given ‘exclusive rights to make content’ based on the Games Workshop brand. Announcement on the BBC news website here and the Games Workshop website here.

Lord of the Rings legal case between a fan book writer, their publisher vs Amazon and Tolkein’s estate – announcement on the BBC news website here and further details of the copyright infringement case here.

Cyberpunk Ultimate Edition Official Booklet – link here.

John MacInnes also recently released an overview of the legal issues, similarities and differences between realtime creative works and film production which you’ll find a very useful summary –

Damien’s film pick for this week –

Cinematic experience – GTA V Machinima by Syed, released 10 Nov 2023

S4 E110 Elden Ring Machinima: Overpowering Character Builds (Jan 2024)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes January 4, 2024 Leave a reply

Kicking off 2024 with machinima from a slightly different perspective: this week, Ricky introduces us to the #letsplay/#tutorial/#epicguideline/#showNtell genre in his favorite game of all time: Elden Ring. Its the first time we’ve heard just how much time he’s spent in game and we won’t draw attention to it just in case his partner is following us… but from the machinimas he shared with us, he’s by no means alone. We discuss their usefulness and impact in the world of machinima, why building OP characters is important and just how skilled these creators are not only in the game but also in producing documentaries about the game. We start with a discussion about a new laptop for gaming Ricky has found that is up to the complexities of the Elden Ring task, and then he gives a run through of two specific films, plus some name checks across the various different approaches to OP building and boss fighting he’s observed.

YouTube Version of This Episode

Show Notes & Links

Asus Tuf F15 Gaming Laptop link

Nizar GG channel link

ThingFishy channel link

Monk channel link

Fextralife channel link

GinoMachino channel link

Films discussed below –

The Strongest DEX Build You’ll Ever See in Elden Ring (GET OP EARLY) | Ultimate Warrior Guide, by Nizar GG, released 21 Nov 2022

How to Make The 20 Best Strength Builds | Elden Ring, by Thingfishy, released 4 Nov 2023

S4 E109 Teaching an AI: Backflip (Dec 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes December 28, 2023 Leave a reply

Backflip is a docu-style film, made over a period of three years where Nikita Diakur presents his progress using AI to teach a character to backflip. The character is the 3D scanned artist and the learning process applied is based on a technique he read in an academic paper. To say its chaos is an understatatement, and something anyone in research could probably have told him when attempting to replicate a finding in a publication (which of course is why LLMs using text alone will never be ‘intelligent’). It is also everything one would expect from a character rig with the physics of a double-jointed arachnid… but it sure is hugely entertaining to watch, and brilliantly edited together. Backflip is a must watch for anyone using AIs for animation, not least because it serves as a reminder of just how tough this all was pre-mid 2023!

We also begin the episode with some news updates: Half Life 2 @ 25 years, GTA6 trailer, Elden Ring DLCs and Baad Viibes (John MacInnes).

YouTube Version of This Episode

https://youtu.be/-iE2YKKQX9s

Show Notes & Links

Half Life 25th anniversay documentary and update –

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbZ3HzvFEto&t

The GTA6 official advert –

John MacInnes talking about Baad Viibes at the Unreal Fest, October 2023 –

Backflip – film by Nikita Diakur, released 27 September 2023 –

S4 E108 Cyberpunk 2077 The Movie – Trailer (Dec 2023)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes December 21, 2023 Leave a reply

This week, we review a trailer for a movie, although the full movie is now also available: Cyberpunk 2077, by Jack Hunt. In many ways this is an astonishing and timely feat, not least because the ultimate edition of the game released earlier this month too (5 December). We start by discussing The Witcher’s update, a piece of news that is highly relevant to the release of the film we review.

YouTube Version of this Episode