What the Machinima?
Alrighty, I feel it’s my sworn duty to introduce some of you animation cats and kittens to my secret indulgence in an emerging geeky underground film genre: Machinima.
Machinima, or ‘machine cinema’ is an example of creatively using a game engine as a virtual set in which to ‘film’ a movie. You use the game characters as actors; it’s essentially real-time digital puppeteering. Of course, the quality and versatility of the film is highly dependent on the quality and versatility of the game engine; you’ll never get Pixar like results. But that’s part of the charm and the challenge of creating in this medium. It’s sorta like…underground low budget CGI filmmaking.
Earlier this year I created two ‘music videos’ for a Machinima contest using the World of Warcraft game engine, and both ended up as finalists (chuckle). They are pretty crude, being my freshman efforts in the brave new medium (not to mention the fact that Windows Moviemaker is pretty darn limited as an editorial device), but I thought, what the hey, you guys might enjoy ‘em.
»
On May 19th, 2006 at 12:00 am
OH—MY—-GAWD>>>> That dance number is the funniest freakin’ thing I have seen all week…I had seen Goth Girl, and loved it, but the dancing troll is what I am going to be watching any time I need a laugh, or 10! HAWESOME JUN!
On May 19th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I assume you found someone for your project? I sent you an email about it. -Steve
On May 21st, 2006 at 12:00 am
WOW! How on EARTH did you DO that?!?! That was really cool. the Goth Girl one was cool too but the Troll dancing. How did you get the movements down? that was cool! I can even kinda get that you manipluated him by moving the controller and stuff but when the other troll girls showed up and started dancing alongside him? MAN! That stuff was awesome! thanks for sharing Jun! You are a teue visionary!
On May 22nd, 2006 at 12:00 am
Uh, well I can’t take credit for the pre-programmed dance animation, heh. But I um, edited it and did the camera moves with my mouse! The troll girls are my gaming friends in disguise, helping me out.
On May 22nd, 2006 at 12:00 am
What program do you do these in? Do you do it on the actual game or in a seperate program ? I’ve always wondered. -Steve http://stephenstudios.com
On May 22nd, 2006 at 12:00 am
You film within the actual game engine, but use a motion screen capture device to ‘film’ what you see from your computer’s P.O.V. of the game. So you can shoot ‘takes’ and then you have to use an editorial program to edit the takes and attach sound.
On September 21st, 2006 at 12:00 am
Where can I find the song featured in /dance? Also, does a cleaner version exist or should I simply run it through a few noise filters?
On October 6th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Sorry this reply is so late, you probably have abandoned this blog, lol. In case you haven’t, you can download the music from my machinima films at our website, http://www.stonefalconproductions.com.