On-line Documentary on Machinima

Hugh "Nomad" Hancock writes "Over at Machinima.com we've released "Artery: Machinima", a 22-minute broadcast TV program on the Machinima movement- film-making in real-time 3D. Originally broadcast on Scottish TV station STV, this documentary includes interviews with Uwe Girlich, the guy who got the whole thing started, sci-fi writer Charlie Stross, who is working with the Machinima group Strange Company, award-winning film director Peter Rasmussen, and Machinima makers including the Ill Clan (Hardly Workin'), Strange Company (Eschaton) and Nanoflix. Plus, lots of swords!" There's also a BitTorrent link to the documentary, courtesy GameTab.

Comments

Animated Worlds

[dTaylorSingletary]

I am a writer of alternative worlds, a sculptor of different realities and narratives taking place in such realities. I also do music that helps to describe these environments. However, I've always thought that the next logical step is film, and after that whatever comes beyond--immersive virtual environments. And yet, it is very difficult to get ahold of the technology and creative teams who would want to do this purely for the love of art, for the drive to create something new.

Are there any resources for the "imagineers" out there, like myself? Where we can contact those who are more technically oriented and feed them ideas, worlds, concepts, and general feelings and allow them to aid us realizing such visions? I've often seen that very good computer animators/modelers, etc. are without GREAT ideas at the core, and thus while technically adept, their creations are more pale than they could be.

In other words, where do animators looking for material and starting points "hang out" on the internet? Where can I start proposing my ideas to turn into realities?

This just in!

[Lord_Dweomer]

I know this is just the latest trend in game tech, but this could be an important milestone. William Gibson wrote a letter to the Director's Guild which had some very interesting ideas for our future in it. Here's the link. The relevant part is towards the end where it talks about how the kid makes the movie however he wants and can change settings on the fly. Such as giving all the characters dog-heads, or adding in a kung-fu scene.

What if game engines and machinima are the first step in this 'do it yourself' movie? Now all someone needs to release is software that makes the directing and editing of such a movie very simple, and BAM! new generation of home movie making. I wonder what kind of software can be used to simplify this work and enable Joe Everybody to get their hands dirty in the wonderful world of home video production.

In The Wating Line

[John Carmack]

Arguably the most professional and widely viewed machinima so far is the music video for Zero 7's "In the Waiting Line", produced by my wife's company,
Fountainhead Entertainment. This was a real, commercial production using machinima tools.

It was neat to see the Q3 engine playing on MTV, but it made me greatly regret the quantized normals in Q3 models, which resulted in a noticeable popping on the environment maps. This was largely my motivation for adding per-pixel environment map calculation to the new Doom engine (under the ARB2 path, at least).

John Carmack