unreal engine

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 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?

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 S2 Ep 35 Films & Discussion (April 2022)

Tracy Harwood Podcast Episodes April 14, 2022 2 Comments

This month, Damien leads the Completely Machinima crew with a review and discussion of Reallusion’s iClone films.  Alongside the few amazing creative projects by Warlord, Rene Jacob and Martin Klekner we discussed, finding a broad selection has been a challenge so we were interested to reflect on why there are so few iClone movies to see.



Video Version of this Episode

Show Notes & Links

2.23 The Sniper by Warlord (iClone 4), released 29 August 2009

The Sniper

14:47 Alien: The Message by direx1974/Rene Jacob (iClone 7), released 27 January 2022 (also check in on our interview with Rene Jacob)

Alien: The Message

17:25 Ricky begins the discussion on ‘what is a fan film?’

25:42 Continued discussion of ‘fan films’ and ‘fan culture’

34:20 Heroes of Bronze ‘Journeys’ by Martin Klekner (iClone 7), teaser released 4 March 2021

Heroes of Bronze

Interview with Martin Klekner on Reallusion’s blog (14 April 2021)

37:00 iClone vs Blender vs Omniverse discussion

44:48 Ben Tuttle’s short course for animators

53:42 Where is the iClone community and why aren’t there more creative projects to see?