Machinima

Machinima (using games and game engines to make films) has been one of the many next big things in waiting for at least 3 years. 

I certainly remember doing a short documentary VT on the phenomenon in early 2005.  To be honest, in that time not a lot has changed.  The major machinima successes are still Roosterteeth’s Red vs. Blue and Strangerhood.  Other notable machinima achievements include the Dutch company Submarine getting their film My Second Life picked up by HBO earlier this year.

The problem is that game engines still don’t spit out real animation.  Machinima in many ways has more in common with puppeteering than frame by frame animating.  You control figures within a landscape and place cameras around their action, but you’re always working within the confines of the game’s graphics and physics.  It’s hard to give characters a soul when all their movements are governed by algorithms.  It all starts looking a little uniform.

Having said all that Moviestorm is a great tool.  If you’re a young director without big budgets and equipment, you can really experiment with this program, getting camera angles and editing just right.  It might not make for really engaging animated storytelling, but it’s excellent for pre-vis or even just getting experience matching scripts with pictures.  Download some radio plays and have some fun.

If you want to find out more about Machinima in general, check out The Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences.  They have examples of different work, festivals and range of alternative machinima engines.

Meanwhile, enjoy Red vs. Blue’s guide to the internet vs. real life: