What is #machinima?! Good question these days, and this week we review a new video essay on tackling just that question… which is always interesting for us pioneers and vets to reflect on in this podcast. In the vid we review, Collin Aull introduces a few thoughts we’ve not really considered before, plus some comments we’ve discussed many times over the years, so its worth a listen as well as if you want to spot some of the older machinimas from those very early years in the narrative edit.
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes & Links
The Game of Video – Machinima Video Essay by Collin Aull, released 9 April 2024
Other machinima videos about machinime we’ve seen over the years…
Machinima with Officer Dan (2006) by Amorphous Blog Productions…
Street Talkin’ (2006) by Amorphous Blob Productions…
A performance by a camera ham, shutterbug or just a plain histrionic narcissist? This week’s review discusses an older machinima that has highly contemporary themes in it: carry-on-regardless, daydreaming, whatever, so long as the virtual camera is rolling. The film is called Daydream (2009) set to the titular song by Lovin’ Spoonful, created by Mystfit and made Valve’s Half Life 2. Needless to say, we loved the humor but what makes this machinima interesting is that it was a scripted production created by running a path sequencer inside the game, harking back to the early days of how machinimas were made but so is reminiscent of how contemporary tools such as iClone and Unreal now work.
This week we also begin with Ricky talking about ultra-wide monitors, using it to play Elden Ring (a mod required) and the #SAGAFTRA strike; and, Phil gives an overview of his remastering project of the Machiniplex collection and his homage to the great Hugh Hancock, founder the #machinima movement, the upcoming showcase of Bloodspell and also his own response to some of the hoopla that Hugh created at the time of its release in 2006!
YouTube Version of this Episode
Show Notes & Links
Film, Daydream by Mystfit, released 6 January 2009
Ben reviews some of the major happenings during November in the early days of machinima, including Phil and Damien’s first contributions; release of legendary machinima games Halo 2, HalfLife 2, World of Warcraft & GTA San Andreas. Red vs Blue Season 1 went gold and Second Life’s release of copyright statement are highlighted during this month, plus Hugh Hancock and Paul Marino made it to British TV Channel 4’s ‘The Toon Commandments’. Also a notable mention to Nvidia, whose GeForce FX series of graphics cards was launched in November 2002, signaling the dawn of cinematic computing. Listen up and follow the links on our blog post.
[buzzsprout episode=’9587827′ player=’true’]
Machinima Gold: Strange Company (L-R: Sally Brewer, James Payne, Hugh Hancock, Steve Wallace, a descendant of William Wallace (Braveheart), and Gordon McDonald) & Paul Marino on Channel 4’s The Toon Commandments (2000)
In this episode, Ricky, Phil, Tracy and Damien discuss horror and Halloween themed films, with some older and more contemporary content in games including Half Life 2, GTA4, Unreal Engine, Half Life Alyx, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead.
Tracy, Ricky, and Damien discuss the topic, “Is machinima capable of movie-length films?” Damien chose two-hour-plus long machinima films this month and this made us wonder if machinima is capable of sustaining interest over a longer period of time. We also talk about other related topics. Missing Phil in the discussion as he was unable to make it this month.
Here are the links to topics that came up in the discussion:
Recent Comments