[game_edu] Machinama screening recomendations

[michael nitsche]

For the basics I once made a list of "classics" - all this is online  
(if you can't find it, let me know)
sorry for the long mail - this is just copy pasted from another document

best

michael

Area one: from playing the game to changing it for film
Quake done quicker – by Quake Done Quick Team (2002); a typical Quake  
speed-run as an example for the early Quake movie days

Diary of a Camper - by The Rangers (1996); accepted as the original  
first "narrative" machinima

The Hero – by Northern Brigade (2002); example for only in-game  
material arranged in a machinima-way using Battlefield 1942;
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Award Winner for Best Sound (2003)
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Nominee for Best Virtual  
Performance (2003)
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Nominee for Best Direction (2003)
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Nominee for Best Editing (2003)
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Nominee for Best Independent  
Machinima Film (2003)

Not Just Another Love Story - by Tristan Pope (2005); WoW movie that  
famously only uses in-game material to tell its story that reaches  
beyond the diegetic game world

Bender strikes back – by Ken “3DFilmmaker” Thain (2002); I think this  
is Counter-Strike but this time the characters are custom built, re- 
skinned animation figures; example for how own content started to  
enter the machinima domain


Anachronox: The movie (first part) – by Jake Hughes of Ion Storm  
(2003); not the first feature-length Machinima but a landmark  
nevertheless; note also that the piece did not originate from amateur  
enthusiasts but from within the industry and based on a game (Ion Storm)

1st Annual Machinima Festival Award Winner for Best Picture (2002)
*1st Annual Machinima Festival Award Winner for Best Writing (2002)
*1st Annual Machinima Festival Award Winner for Best Technical  
Achievement (2002)
*1st Annual Machinima Festival Nominee for Best Visual Design (2002)
*1st Annual Machinima Festival Nominee for Best Editing (2002)


Red vs Blue – by RoosterTeeth (2003);  example of RoosterTeeths  
combination of half-off-game dialogue within an entirely game-defined  
world overall the series won all kinds of prices and drives the fame  
of online Machima



Area two: as a film only
Thin ice – by Mike Berry (2002); all customized content; not sure, but  
this might use Machinimation; we have reached Machinima as an  
independent single-standing form

1st Annual Machinima Festival Award Winner for Best Direction (2002)


Hardly Workin – by ILL Clan (2001); a landmark movie in terms of  
animation and acting see a Post Mortem to get an idea about the  
production process here (http://www.machinima.com/article.php?article=153 
)

1st Annual Machinima Festival Award Winner for Best Acting (2002)


Bot – by Tom “EggMan” Paler (2004); a cinematic comment on games  
instead of a recording of one, done in the Unreal engine

$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest - Real-Time Non-Interactive  
Movie - Grand Finals - 2nd Place


The French Democracy - by Alex Chan (2005); political machinima that  
made a lot of waves

The journey – by Friedrich “fiezi” Kirschner (2004); use of customized  
Unreal-mod; art entering machinima

$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest - Real-Time Non-Interactive  
Movie - Grand Finals – 1st Place

In the waiting line – by Tommy Palotta (Ghost Robot/ Fountainhead  
Enter) (2003); one of the few early commercial Machinima pieces – and  
not surprising: a music video; Note how it refers back to game  
aesthetics and themes

2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Award Winner for Best Direction  
(2003)
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Award Winner for Best Visual Design  
(2003)
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Award Winner for Best Commercial/ 
Game Machinima (2003)

2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Nominee for Best Picture (2003)
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Nominee for Best Virtual  
Performance (2003)
2nd Annual Machinima Film Festival Nominee for Best Sound (2003)


Anna – by Katherine Kang (2004); Machinimation showcase piece –  
heading far more in a Disney direction than referring back to its  
Quake III origins

Won some prices e.g. Best Technical Achievement' at the Machinima Film  
Festival 2003


Fake Science – by Dead on que (2002); still some game elements (the  
Barney’s from Half-Life) but applied in an entirely different way

Winner of Best Visual Design at the Machinima Film Festival 2002


More recent work e.g.:
Clear Skies - by Ian Chisholm (2008) example for two engines mixed up  
in one movie

Best Long Format Film Award - New York Machinima FilmFest 2008
Jury Award Winner - MachinExpo 2008
Sound and Vision Award 2008 - EON Magazine
Jury Award Winner - MachinExpo 2009
Best Film 2009 and Best First Film 2009 - Online Machinima Film  
Festival 2009
Ranked #1 EVE Video of All Time - Massively.com

See also the work by Phil Rice, Hugh Hancock (for the oldtimers:  
Ozimandias; Hancock is the grand old man of Machinima), Martin Falch  
(End of Tales trilogy shows how the machinima artist evolves over  
time), myndflame, Jun Falkenstein (she has a traditional animation  
background and it shows)



Area three: as live performance
Dance, Voldo Dance – by Bainst (2004); still all in-game but using  
some post-production editing and a good example of performance in  
Machinima as well as one of only two real music video here (there are  
spades of music video out there and it is no surprise that MTV 2’s  
video mods jumped on the wagon)

Excerpts from an episode of “On the campaign trail with Larry & Lenny  
Lumberjack” – by ILL Clan (2003); live performed Machinima with TV- 
touch and the usual Improv quirkiness of the ILLs

This Spartan Life - by Chris Burke (2005-); talk show in Halo with all  
the issues that ensue

Leeroy Jenkins! - by Pals4Life (2005); internet phenomenon



Countless others on the fringes

Dead Fantasy - by Monty Oum
Baron Soosdon's music videos
Tom Jantol's anymation



On Jan 13, 2011, at 10:27 AM, Nic Colley wrote:


> This one just Popped up the other day. The Trash Master. Full length  

> movie made entirely from GTA and is not that bad.

>

> http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/11/feature-length-film-the-trashmaster-made-entirely-in-grand-the/

>

> An old stand by is Red vs. Blue. It is one of the longest running  

> machinama that I am aware of. It is made with the Halo franchise. I  

> recommend that you start with episode 1.

>

> http://redvsblue.com/home.php

>

> Sent from my iPad

>

> On Jan 13, 2011, at 3:33 AM, "Michael Herring"  

> <khakionion at gmail.com> wrote:

>

> It's only tenuously connected to Half-Life 2, but if time permits I  

> recommend "What's In The Box?"

>

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU_reTt7Hj4

>

> ./Michael Herring

>

> On Jan 13, 2011, at 12:18 AM, Hanli Geyser wrote:

>

> Hello everyone,

>

> I am putting together a screening list for a Honours course I am  

> teaching in Digital arts. It is an introductory course which focuses  

> on the construction of narrative in various digital media.  I would  

> like to include some machinima in the weekly screenings.

>

> Which works would you recommend?  There is very limited space  

> available since this is only a semester course so I want to make  

> sure that I select wisely.

>

> Any and all advice is welcome.

>

> Thank you

>

> Hanli

>

> --

> Hanli Geyser

> hanligeyser at gmail.com<mailto:hanligeyser at gmail.com>

> 083 400 8773

> _______________________________________________

> game_edu mailing list

> game_edu at igda.org<mailto:game_edu at igda.org>

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu

>

> _______________________________________________

> game_edu mailing list

> game_edu at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu

> _______________________________________________

> game_edu mailing list

> game_edu at igda.org

> http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/game_edu



----------------------------------------
Michael Nitsche
Associate Professor
Digital World & Image Group

Georgia Institute of Technology
Digital Media/TSRB  318A
85 Fifth Street, NW
Atlanta , Georgia 30308-1030
http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~nitsche
http://dwig.lcc.gatech.edu/
email: michael.nitsche[at]lcc.gatech.edu
p: +1 404 894 7000
f: +1 404 894 2833