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Best Tools for Machinima?
wrinkledshirt asks: "As a former Creative Writing major with a huge interest in film, I've been thinking about trying to get into Machinima (com, org, and wiki sites -- basically, using game engines to make movies). Probably the most famous use of it for the Slashdot crowd right now is Red vs Blue, which makes use of Halo, but up until recently, most of the other options have involved FPS game engines, which would require a huge investment in time so as to create non-FPS-genre content for non-FPS-genre movies. Now that Sims 2 is here with its video-recording feature (and the promise of more contemporary realism in the expansion packs) and with Pete Molnyeux's The Movies coming out in 2005, is it possible that an amateur writer could make the Machinimatic movies of his or her dreams? Plus, what would the best tools be? What machine would you need? Would any single game engine help you create your own Citizen Kane?"
Would any single game engine help you create your own Citizen Kane?
Not right now, but I'm sure this is a direction the video games creators are contemplating because it's an area of expected growth. It would certainly make the creation of cinematics much easier for dev teams if machinima was considered part of the engine.
The problem is that in games like Doom 3 for example, the creation of cinematics is scripted heavily and designed into the levels. Models take weeks to build correctly and integrate, and you have to have strong modelling skills to achieve that. There is no separation of set and action or actors, for the most part. I understand that Half Life 2 has changed this kind of static nature, but it's still very early.
The games would have to have quick modelling system built in, or methods for generating random characters and skins, and voices.
I'm sure that in the next twenty years, this is the direction of video games. It would be a smart approach, IMHO.
You also have to consider the comparison between video game sales and box office/rental sales. Video games are beating the movie industry to a pulp, so film as a medium of expression is likely on the way out, unless the business makes some changes and continues to grow and support new vision. Indy film will always be of a higher quality than blockbusters, IMHO.
Look at the reviews for Alexander. Ebert said the film was crap. That's a film they spent $150mil to create!
With games like Halo 2 grosing $100 mil on the first day, for a much smaller budget compared to Alexander, the bottom line is clear. The age of movies is waning.
Quality of film has declined heavily as far as dramatic content, with the exception of films like LotR. I'm seeing the film expression as being played out for the most part.
The dangers of knowledge trigger emotional distress in human beings.
Would any single game engine help you create your own Citizen Kane?
1. Find game engine
2.Become Orson Welles
3.Profit!
KFG
Although using a game engine to do most of the work, you need to consider quite a bit:
- Will the game engine show the expressions necessary in your 'actors'?
- Will you be able to adequately time the sound effects and voice-overs? (I do NOT recommend using a synth, unless you are making a comedy)
- Do you have a strong understanding of programming? Because that's what you will need to do to correctly move characters/wireframes/objects/timing/etc
Although the engine will most definitely cut out quite a bit of production time, the best advice is to 'play'... learning how the physics work, and how the engine reacts to commands, etc are key to making something worth watching.
Atleast out of the 1,030,205 dopes, we'll probably get a few, clever gems.
Just like Slashdot comments.
I just watched an episode of Red vs Blue, quote:
-Oh you f'cking camping bitch
-It's a legitimate strategy!
I lauged a bit, but somehow I don't see the consept of making a movie out of a PC-game ever becoming a big hit for the average people...
I think it's a totally different thing to attempt to add Gollum to Jackson's LOTR then to make a gollum which would fit into a totally cgi environment. Also I think Jackson milked Gollum for all he was worth. If you couldn't do him quite as well, you'ld just have to keep the camera moving more and generally further back, not 6 inches from his face, everything still for a few seconds! I think machinima will be an artform with limited success, and the people who do have success will probably go on to become very highly regarded in a more mainstream field (directors, script writers, animators, game designers). If you can create a good script to fit what you can do though I can't see any reason why machinima can't potentialy be every bit as good as cartoon.
Never underestimate the dark side of the Source
I don't think anyone's ever created a Machinima "movie" that actually requires a viewer to own the game or platform.
Wrong. Quake movies are/were pretty popular. See link: http://www.quaketerminus.com/movies.htm
Basically, a ton of content (as well as a palpable universe) is available for an author to work with, without much more than some tinkering (i.e. Quake demo editing). So you can put out something creative and engaging without needing a huge amount of content creation background. No, it's not Pixar quality stuff. But like RvB (which is an offshoot of the idea pioneered by Quake demo editing), it's entertaining.