Milan Machinima Film Festival

Projects Update (Jan 2023)

Tracy Harwood Blog January 23, 2023 Leave a reply

This week, we have some more interesting project updates to share with you.

Recognition

We were thrilled to hear that Sam Crane’s GTA Online version of Shakespeare’s Hamlet has been recognized, being shortlisted for an award for innovation at the The Stage Awards 2023 – we love that they spelled Auto incorrectly too (Audio)! Awards are announced on 30 January and hopefully Sam (aka Rustic Mascara) will keep us posted on his Twitter feed during the event. All the best, Sam! You can still find the performance on YouTube, link here –

Unreal

Using Unreal Engine, this short is another example of how beautiful this toolset is. This short by The Blender Bender team (Thomas Thielemann and Alexander Korabelnikov), released 26 Sept 2022, was inspired by David Attenborough’s Our Planet series, and with an even more stark message than the original series –

Also using Unreal Engine, we were interested to see that Sava Zivkovic, who’s film Irradiation we reviewed back in October 2021, is working on a new project, this one called Beckoning. He’s also just been awarded an Epic Megagrant to support development of the project – well deserved for sure. Here’s the link to the trailer for the new project – must say, very much looking forward to seeing the finished work.

Not Unreal but seriously unreal, this is an ‘insane battle’ scene demonstrating the astonishing simulation capability of the Epic Battle Simulator 2 engine. This one, SPECIAL FORCES ARE LANDING ON THE ISLAND OCCUPIED BY SAURON, was released 5 November 2022, by the Battle Simulator Center team –

Virtual Production

A short film, called Goliath by DonBittersil (screencap is our featured image for this post), has showcased virtual production tools using Unreal Engine, having been shot at LA’s Orbital Virtual Studios. For those advancing from purely screen based production techniques, this is an interesting insight into scaled-up processes – check out the film and the ‘making of’ videos here –

You may remember we shared Jackson Wang’s beautifully choreographed music video called Cruel a few weeks back, well this is another one from his Magic Man album, using virtual production techniques. Its also a stunning example of his creative work and the usefulness of the VP process –

Avant Garde?

An interesting article appeared on MUBI’s website about a cutscene collective, called Total Refusal. This team of gamers do what machinima creators have done for 25+ years, that is, use the game for some other creative purpose. Its nice to see that MUBI is keeping up with the times of course, and they would certainly do well to follow our friends at the Milan Machinima Film Festival to keep up to date with this particular ‘Avant Garde’ scene format. In the meantime, this is an example of Total’s Refusal’s creative works, a trailer for Hardly Working (RDR2) –

S2 Ep 46: Film Review – Facing the Wolf

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes September 15, 2022 Leave a reply

In this episode, we focus our discussion on Facing the Wolf, a series of films by Iain Douglas and Mark Coverdale, submitted to the Milan Machinima Film Festival 2022.  The film presents a series of provocative ideas which provoke Ricky, Phil, Tracy and Damien to have a deep discussion on the role of information, ambiguity and audience investment.  What are your thoughts on the film series?



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes and Links

Facing the Wolf, by Iain Douglas and Mark Coverdale, released 2021

Poem, Coverdale – https://www.artschoolmodpoet.com/facing-the-wolf-poems

A trilogy of poetic machinima –

Facing the Wolf: i, Douglas and Coverdale, released 16 July 2021

Facing the Wolf I

Facing the Wolf: ii, Douglas and Coverdale, released 16 July 2021

Facing the Wolf II

Facing the Wolf: iii, Douglas and Coverdale, released 16 July 2021

Facing the Wolf III

1:35 Interview with Matteo Bittanti, Milan Machinima Film Festival

5:00 Ricky poses an interesting question: is machinima an animation style or a form of art that ideas can dominate, as opposed to feelings?

27:56 Discussion: for idea films, do you have to have more information than the film provides to appreciate the work?  What is the role of ambiguity in filmmaking?  How much time should audience invest in understanding a film?

Useful lnks

Luis Bunuel’s An Andalusian Dog (1929)

An Andalusian Dog

Bertolt Brecht’s alienation effect

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 36 News (May 2022)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes May 4, 2022 2 Comments

In this episode, Phil leads the month’s news for machinima creators.  We kick off with the Nvidia’s Machinima Contest, the Omniverse Create and Machinima apps, GTC conference recordings, the addition of Reallusion’s ActorCore library to the Omniverse platform and ask ‘how well do laptops cope with RTX cards’ (what do you think)?  Damien reviews Concert Creator AI for piano with a rendition of Battlestar Galactica’s Kara Remembers piece, Tracy talks about another of her projects demonstrating creative applications of AI (the Art AI Festival) and Ricky highlight’s Phil Tippett’s completed Mad God film project.  Other film contests reviewed are the Real Time Shorts Challenge and the Milan Machinima Film Festival and the news of an upcoming Shakespearean performance in GTA Online by Sam Crane.  Tracy reviews Draxtor Dupres’ major pandemic machinima film project comparing virtual life in Second Life and Animal Crossing.  We discuss the Unreal 5 City Sample, Unity’s Enemies (hiding under the UE bushel) and Ricky’s Paperback Show.  Phil also teases us with rumours about GTA6.      



YouTube Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

2.35 Nvidia Omniverse Machinima contest, assets and prizes

4.18 Nvidia’s GTC conference recordings – worth the watch!

6.23 How are RTX cards coping with heat in laptops?

6.34 Nvidia Omniverse Create and Machinima apps

10.17 Reallusion’s ActorCore library now available for Nvidia Omniverse

12.51 Concert Creator AI creator for music and Damien’s animation of Kara Remembers (Battlestar Galactica) test

screencap: Damien’s test of Concern Creator AI

16.16 Art AI Festival in Leicester, creative application of AI including a YouTube channel of presentations

19.49 Mad God by Phil Tippett, film now completed and available on Shudder TV (subscription-based horror streaming channel)

screencap: Mad God (teaser)

22.43 Real Time Shorts Challenge competition (John MacInnes) overview

25.29 Milan Machinima Film Festival overview and Critics’ Choice Award, We Are Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made On (Shakespear’s Tempest performance) by Sam Crane (GTA Online) and current project to perform Hamlet in GTA Online

28.57 Virtual Cultures in Pandemic Times by Draxtor Depres, comparison of life in the metaverses, Second Life and Animal Crossing, during the pandemic

34.47 Matrix Awakens Experience City Sample available for PC

screencap: City Sample (Unreal Engine)

39.52 Unreal 5 update is great for machinima creators (Kim Libreri’s keynote and The Matrix Awakens: creating a world tech talk)

42.10 GTA 6 rumours!

43.20 Unity realtime cinematic, Enemies and Unity for machinima

screencap: Enemies (Unity) teaser

46.23 Don’t forget to read!  Phil’s recommendation: Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris, acquired from Ricky’s Paperback Show and book store

Completely Machinima S1 Ep 20 Phil Rice’s Film OBIT (October 2021)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes October 7, 2021 Leave a reply

Following an introduction to our Halloween themed October podcast, we start this month off with a discussion about Phil’s latest film, OBIT. Phil talks about his inspiration, the challenges of working in RDR2, the soundscape and the original music by the amazing Marco Simone.



Introduction section –

PEDS by CJ Ambrosia and Season 3 Playlist (CJ recommends watching 26 to 34 ‘so you’re not completely lost’!)

Tracy’s interview with Hypatia Pickens, aka Sarah Higley

OBIT discussion

OBIT by Phll Rice

Links to film –

YouTube

Vimeo

Phil’s website

References –

Shane by George Stevens

Marco Simone musician

Milan Machinima Film Festival