This week’s film review is of [GTA5] 賽銭箱に身を投げる ロスサントス市警察, made by @mzanku – its absurdist humor but also deeply disturbing, which hits us all in different ways around half way through watching the film. Following our discussions, we conclude the creator probably didn’t intend for the work to be culturally appropriated as an interpretation of US police brutality, but that interpretation was nonetheless possible. In closing out the ep, Ricky discusses the new DLC for Elden Ring and the role cheese plays in enjoying it.
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes & Links
[GTA5] 賽銭箱に身を投げる ロスサントス市警察 or Los Santos police throw themselves into offering box by mzankurow, released 14 April 2024 –
Elden Ring DLC available to download from Steam here
Another ending, Draxtor Dupres’ Second Life series supported by Linden Labs, Drax Files: World Makers. Here’s his final report and here’s a link to a livestream he did to celebrate the achievements of the show –
Accolades
Sam Crane’s Hamlet in GTA5 won a Jury prize for best documentary at SXSW 2024, link to news coverage here, and the distribution deal awarded here.
Electro League and Weta’s War is Over has become the first UE5 film to win an Oscar, Best Animated Short –
Congratulations to @ElectroLeagueX and @WetaFXofficial on winning the Oscar for Best Animated Short with "WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko". This is a first for an animated short created in Unreal Engine 5, we couldn't be more proud! https://t.co/bH3yrA23Jf
ConvAI has announced a partnership with Unity for NPCs, and also teamed up with Second Life. Here’s a link to Wagner James Au’s New World Notes blog – and here’s a couple of useful links –
Stability AI has introduced a 3D video generator, information here
RunwayML has partnered with Musixmatch to generate video to lyrics, link to information here
and it has also announced a new lipsync feature for generative audio, currently on early access to its creators programme members
Hume has a demo of a voice-to-voice generator, described as an Empathic Voice Interface – link to sign-up for early access here
and if you need a little overview of how all things generative AI are developing, here’s a nice video summary by Henrik Kniberg –
Inspiration
To celebrate the phenomenal success of Gozilla Minus One at the 2024 Oscars, Nelson Escobar, the VFX creator of the Godzilla model, has released it as a free download for Blender. Link here –
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’s review is of a self-contained excerpt from a larger film, called Escape Game by @CrisUberman. This part of the film is the final chapter of the story, Danser Encore, voiced by @lionelmazari1990 with a song by @hksaltimbank. We delve into the inspiration for the themes in the film, which draws on the philosophy of Empedocles and Rosset, although we perhaps lower the tone a little with reference to Oscar Wilde!
YouTube Version of This Episode
Show Notes & Links
Excerpt of full film, Danser Encore by Cris Uberman –
Full film, released 28 Nov 2023, featuring Louis Fouche –
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
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