Podcast Episodes

Completely Machinima History with Ben Grussi: Halo Machinima

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 23, 2022 Leave a reply

In this episode, Ben reviews notable releases from the first days of Halo, including Steve Jobs reveal, the promotion of Nvidia’s GeForce2 GTS, Randall Glass’ classic Warthog Jump, the legendary Red Vs Blue release and others. See show notes and links on the CM website.



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

0:47 May 1999, Steve Jobs (Apple) and Macintosh presentation reveal for Halo

Steve Jobs reveals Halo game, 1999

1:57 2000, Halo promo for NVIDIA Geforce2 GTS 

3:16 15 November 2001 Halo for Xbox released

3:40 First machinima for Halo, released 6 June 2002, Warthog Jump by Randall Glass 

5:04 Red vs Blue premieres, 1 April 2003, by Rooster Teeth Productions

7:04 Halo released for PC on 30 September 2003

7:31 Fire Team Charlie starts up in 2003

7:56 Halo PC Custom Edition released on 6 May 2004 and a recently made Halo PC Custom Edition Fan Documentary by Subpixel, released 17 April 2020

8:57 On 6 June 2004, the seed of Sponsors Vs Freeloaders is planted –

12:09 HaloTV.net was launched on 10 July 2004 – this channel (pre-YouTube) offered 24/7 Halo machinima primarily of clan matches with commentary plus had a dedicated Red Vs Blue channel

13:10 The Matrix (Halo Remix) by Halo1007 released (Halo Footage – Matrix Voice-Overs, released on 5 September 2004

Matrix (Remix)

14:01 The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Dave Anderson, released 13 October 2004

14:55 Halo 2 released 9 November 2004 and Burnie Burns reports from Camp Bungie on the secret machinima test they doing in the game

16:26 The Codex series ran for 21 Episodes with an average run time 3-5 minutes and it’s prequel The Heretic, by Edgeworks Entertainment, released in 2005

17:39 This Spartan Life by Damien Lacedaemon aka Chris Burke premiered in May 2005

This Spartan Life

19:07 iGod… Holy Halo series by Fuzion Church, Crossroads Baptist Church and Chi-Ro Ministries, a Halo-based machinima to promote a Christian weekend retreat and to promote Christian principles in general – the episodes are covered on Halo.Bungie’s fan website (see Purple and Pink Mirrored), released 12 April 2005

20:55 First green screening machinima by AmandaJ3162, merging Sims 2 and Halo in You’re Fired, released 10 July 2005

You’re Fired

24:41 Company Rulz by Z-Studios and Krad Productions, a Microsoft game usage rules explainer, released in 2007 

Completely Machinima Interview: John MacInnes, screenwriter

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 16, 2022 Leave a reply

In this episode, Tracy talks to John MacInnes about game engines as storytelling tools, professional and indie filmmaking, the demand for long form versus short form films, the future of machinima and creativity in filmmaking.

John MacInnes was winner of the OSCARS’ Nicholl Fellowship for Screenwriting in 2011, screenwriter for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare (released 2014), winner of 2 Epic Unreal Megagrants for his virtual David Bowie project, founder of awarding-winning studio MacInnes Studios, and director of the 2021 Real Time Shorts Challenge.



YouTube Version of this Episode

Links and Show Notes

John’s website https://www.macinnesstudios.com/

John on Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_MacInnes_(writer)

About the Nicholl Fellowships, OSCARS™ – John MacInnes awarded Nicholl in 2011

John MacInnes at the OSCARS

Official trailer for Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFu5qXMuaJU

Real Time Filmmakers Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/1228815937315194

Winner of the Real Time Shorts Challenge 2021: Nemosyne by Kevin Stewart & Luc Delamare  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2bCJ6U367o&t

Time Stamps

13:25 Game engines as storytelling tools

23:36 Making realistic humans in game engines, David Bowie and the Epic Megagrant project and Grace the first digital popstar

31:29 Real Time Filmmakers Facebook group and the Real Time Shorts Challenge, including the winners

42:00 One good movie? The blessing and the curse of original thinking!

50:34 Professional vs indie filmmaking

54:00 Demand for long form vs short form films and the future of machinima

Completely Machinima S2 Ep 39 Films (June 2022)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 8, 2022 2 Comments

This month, Damien leads the discussion on another fabulous film selection by the Completely Machinima podcast team… Phil’s Stalker fan film by Sodaz is dark and disturbing; Tracy’s music vid picks are light and airy; Ricky’s is far from bland and Damien’s is a moving affair too! The team also discuss approaches to promoting a film once it’s been made, thanks to a question raised by show follower, Mike Clements.



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

STALKER Fan film – Contract by Sodaz, released 8 December 2021

Married to Your Melody by Imanbek and Salem Ilese (Unreal Engine 5, Matrix Awakens City), released 21 April 2022 and artist website

Lion’s Feet by I Break Strings, video by Tom Jantol (iClone 4), released 13 May 2022 and WiL’s artist website

screencap Lion’s Feet video by Tom Jantol

MOVING OUT || Somewhere in Space || A No Man’s Sky Cinematic Series by Geeks Actively Making Entertainment, released 5 June 2021

How to Fly by David Blandy (GTA5), released 22 April 2020

screencap How to Fly

Portfolio of David Blandy on Vimeo, and a rather insightful film, Backgrounds, released 19 February 2013

Discussion: what do you do with your machinima film once it’s made? Question by Mike Clements

Completely Machinima S2 Ep 38 News (June 2022)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes June 2, 2022 2 Comments

In this episode, Damien, Ricky and Tracy discuss the release of Reallusion’s iClone 8 and Character Creator 4, the use of OpenAI for generating machinima scripts, legalese and Star Citizen’s users rules update, latest contests and challenges for machinima creators, technical notes and project updates, including Pooky Amsterdam’s announcement of her latest project, the world’s first Metaverse musical



YouTube Version of this Episode

minus the copyright problems!

Show Notes and Links

0:35 Feedback from our listeners, thanks Ben Tuttle, 3DChick, Mike Clements, CD and Pooky Amsterdam

6:40 Getting started with Nvidia Omniverse Machinima, ostensibly for the Make Something with Nvidia Machinima contest but also really useful to just learn about the toolset

9:17 Using machinima techniques for the new Batman film

Virtual production set up on Batman

11:29 Damien compares the fan-made Star Trek Pike to the release of Star Trek Strange New Worlds

13:34 Release of iClone 8 and Character Creator 4 discussion

21:48 Milan Machinima Film Festival update and using OpenAI to generate scripts for machinima

24:12 Fair use and transformative use and the case of Star Citizens’ updated machinima and fan film content rules and guidelines and its relationship to Squardron 42 (maybe?)

34:10 No excuses: Nvidia Omniverse Machinima competition closes 27 June 2022 – and here’s the link to Ricky’s interview with Dane Johnston as the Machinima app was being launched last year

36:09 Reallusion’s Pitch and Produce competitive support programme

37:14 Showreel of 100 3D renders of ‘infinite journeys’ and the weekly CG challenge by Clinton Jones aka Pwnisher (paid subscription on Patreon channel)

38:40 2nd Annual Film Festival for Fantasy Faire in Second Life, organized by Saffia Widdeshins and Chantal Harvey.  Congratulations to winners – links are HERE and Pryda Parx epic fly through the Fantasy Faire sim is HERE

Award (Wafflie) winner at 2nd Annual Film Festival for Fantasy Faire

41:19 Especially for Ricky: Elden Ring’s new VR mod by Luke Ross (Patreon channel)

VR mod for Elden Ring by Luke Ross

47:30 Facial motion capture in Roblox coming and using BHaptics for immersive storytelling

48:43 Review of best software for video editing via Shopify website

49:06 FSFilmz Cyberpunk short tutorial

49:36 Pooky Amsterdam’s new project stage play, Mambo Motel update and website HERE, the world’s first Metaverse Musical!

screencap Pooky Amsterdam’s metaverse musical, Mambo Motel

Completely Machinima S2 Ep 37 Films & Discussion (May 2022)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes May 11, 2022 Leave a reply

In this episode, Phil, Ricky, Damien and Tracy discuss a range of films that riff off Guardians of the Galaxy, well apart from Phil’s whose pick is an astonishing map size comparison review! Discussion explores experimental filmmaking reviewing a machinima made in World of Warcraft; the possibilities of machinima as a pre-market concept testing tool for TV series; and, the influence of fans generally.



YouTube Version of the Episode

Film Notes and Links

0:48 VIDEO GAME Maps Size Comparison | 2021 by MrRanker (Blender, Adobe After Effects & Premiere Pro) released 19 Sept 2020

19:05 Blu x @Teflon Sega meta-saga!! Ep4 by Xanadu (Unreal 4.27) released 9 Mar 2022

Is this a Guardian of the Galaxies riff? (Blu x @Teflon Sega meta-saga Ep4)

32:26 Star Trek Pike – Fan Made Opening | Made in Star Trek Online by ZEFilms Productions released 1 July 2019 and the possibilities for using machinima as a pre-market concept testing tool

Fan vs Studio – Star Trek Pike

41:36 It just a virtual kiss by Juan Poyuan (World of Warcraft) released 19 Nov 2021 (log into Vimeo to watch)

It Just a Virtual Kiss

53:00 Discussion: What is experimental machinima and why do it?