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S6 E423 Frozen in Battle: TMC’s MechWarrior Dioramas as Digital Sculpture (Sept 2026)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes September 16, 2026 Leave a reply

This week, Tracy and Damien explore TMC’s MechWarrior 5: Clans – Clan Mech Dioramas Director’s Cut, a striking collection of battle scenes that sits somewhere between machinima, virtual photography and digital sculpture.

Tracy introduces TMC, the German filmmaking collective whose work evolved from in-game footage and fan-made Hired Steel films into sophisticated Unreal Engine virtual production. That journey ultimately brought the team to the attention of MechWarrior developer Piranha Games, which commissioned TMC to create official cinematics for MechWarrior 5: Clans.

Unlike the narrative action of Hired Steel, the Director’s Cut suspends its battles in time. Its camera glides through intricately composed three-dimensional tableaux, revealing ruptured armour, weapons fire, smoke, sparks, water and airborne debris that would ordinarily pass almost unnoticed during gameplay. Tracy considers how this moving “digital eye” transforms spectacular combat into something contemplative, combining the monumental scale of war machines with the intimacy of painted tabletop miniatures.

Damien compares the experience to walking through an art gallery, where each frozen moment exposes the extraordinary detail underlying a fast-paced game. Their discussion concludes by imagining how these dioramas might become fully explorable VR environments—allowing viewers to move freely through the scenes rather than remaining bound to the filmmaker’s camera.

Audio Only Version of this Episode



YouTube Version of this Episode

https://youtu.be/T-hKVCu_FRE

Show Notes & Links

MechWarrior 5 Clans: Clan Mech Dioramas Directors Cut by TMC released 14 Jan 2026

This interview with Constantin and Bernhard gives an excellent account of their work with the game Developer based on their fan production, Hired Steel.

TMC’s YouTube channel contains both projects.

If you want to check out our previous reviews –

Projects Update 1 (Apr 2023)

Tracy Harwood Blog April 17, 2023 Leave a reply

This week, we highlight more creative talent than we can ever hope to include in our weekly film review discussions.

Interloper Ep 4 LIVE

You may recall we reviewed the Interloper series a couple of months ago, convincing Phil that this was ‘for real’! Well, maybe it is, as in this episode, which was streamed live on 22 March in a very interesting approach to storytelling on a ‘grand scale’, Anomidae continues the saga. We certainly concur with comments on the video that suggest this transcends into the paranormal. I’m sure it will enthrall just as much as the first episodes did –

Hired Steel Ep 3

The Hired Steel team are producing some outstanding work, and this is another episode from the TMC team that we first reviewed back in July last year, released on 10 Feb. These guys are going from strength to strength and what’s really great viewing is the way that character empathy is built through the storytelling. Nice work, do check it out –

Little Nightmares Rap Song

JT Music (formerly JT Machinima) released a video to ‘Hungry for Another One’ in SFM, working with Harry101UK, released on 21 Jan. This is a real treat both aurally and visually. These guys are top of the pops for machinima music vids. Enjoy –

Death Train [S2FM]

A great short by Vladislav Zharkov released on 27 May last year, this is actually a scaled back version of a project for which the creator originally had a much bigger vision. Its a great concept and one we would definitely encourage the creator to continue to develop. In the meantime, he’s focussing on the music –

SL The Tragedy

Finally this week, we present a wild west story not from the world of Red Dead Redemption but from Second Life. In this film/music video set to Lady Gaga’s 911, Godiva SL has created a fun and fast-paced story, released on 24 Jan (its also the feature image for this blog post). Its well edited, the horse and hounds even gallop to the beat of the music, and takes you on a real journey –

Completely Machinima S2 Ep 41 Films (July 2022)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes July 14, 2022 1 Comment

In this episode, Tracy, Damien and Phil discuss another great selection of recently released films from creators using a diverse range of engines.  Firstly, two films inspired by the recent release of Top Gun Maverick: a British take on the story followed by a trailer of the movie remade in a serious flight sim – to which Tracy asks ‘why?’ and Phil responds with his best Rocky impression.  Then films made in Mech, Star Citizen and Unreal Engine 5 – meantime, the team are expecting good news in the near future (Ricky’s escape from Elden Ring).



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

1:21 If Top Gun Was a British Film Part 2, by Squire (released 31 March 2022)

6:49 DCS World Movie | Top Gun: Maverick Intro by Phenom (released 16 June 2022)

If Top Gun was a British Film Part 2 (Square)

13:05 Discussion: Why recreate scenes from big budget films, such as Top Gun Maverick?

20:00 Hired Steel: A Mech Machinima – Episode Two, by TMC (released 25 February 2022) and the review of Episode One in Completely Machinima S1 Ep 16 Films (August 2021)

Hired Steel: A Mech Machinima Ep 2 (TMC)

27:40 Star Citizen – News – RED LINE Episode 2 (Elite Expeditionary), by EE Studios (released 13 April 2022)

35:57 Unreal Engine 5 Concept Short Film by JSFilmz (released 17 June 2022)